The heavily traveled 870-mile corridor “will shape international commerce and travel, both in and far beyond the North American context for decades and generations to come,” said U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a May 16 press conference in Detroit.
The Binational EV Corridor will begin in Kalamazoo, run east on I-94, before entering Canada through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, said Jeff Cranson, director of communications for the Michigan Department of Transportation.
“Our goal is for EV drivers to be able to travel far and wide without having to wonder or worry about finding a place to charge. Not just in the U.S., but across North America,” said Buttigieg.
Charging stations will be located no more than 50 miles apart along the route, a primary passenger and freight corridor. There are now 215 charging stations along the corridor on the Canadian side, with, “more to come,” said Omar Alghabra, Canadian minister of transport.
“Today is only the beginning. Because we will continue to build green corridors between our two countries,” said Alghabra, in some of his comments at the press conference.
The corridor project builds on Michigan’s own plan to expand electric vehicle charging, and the broader national effort, funded by the 2022 infrastructure law, known as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program.
“The state is in the process of selecting the most cost-effective contractors for installing EV charging stations across the state,” said Cranson. “The goal is to complete the full alternative fuel corridor network without spending the entire NEVI allotment, so that some of the $110 million in federal funding can be allocated around the state to support EV charging capacity in communities.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed $65 million for EV charging infrastructure, as well as another $64 million to help transition fleet vehicles to electric.
“And I have proposed a sales tax cut up $2,400 off of an electric vehicle to lower costs for the consumers so that every person gets the opportunity to drive some of these advanced mobility options that we’re building here,” said Whitmer, in some of her comments at the press conference.
Michigan is a top state for clean energy job growth, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
“We are predicted to dominate battery manufacturing by 2030,” said Whitmer.
