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Electric Vehicle Growth Rapid

January 6th, 2021 by Mike Vasilinda

A new report suggests the number of electric vehicles in Florida will grow exponentially in Florida over the next decade.

Named the EV Roadmap, the report suggests Florida is in good shape now, but must do more to provide charging stations in rural areas.

Denise Schmidt is one of 60,000 electric vehicle owners in Florida.

“This is one of the best charging stations,” said Schmidt.

We met Denise at a charging station near I-10.

She was on her way home in Watersound on the panhandle coast, and stopped to shop while her car charged.

“This is a supercharger, so in thirty minutes I can charge a 150 miles,” said Schmidt.

A new report by the State Energy office which is overseen by Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, predicted that by 2030, there will be a 120,000 new EV’s sold every year.

“And so when start putting these charging stations up across the entire state, that’s when we have to start focusing, making sure that we are putting them at apartment complexes in low income communities. Making sure that we putting them out in our rural communities,” said Fried.

Today, most charging stations are within a few miles of the coast, posing potential problems for EV owners during a hurricane evacuation.

“God forbid somebody has bought an electric vehicle to help our environment, and then get stuck during a hurricane,” said Fried.

By 2030, one in four vehicles sold in Florida will be an electric vehicle according to the report.

That means the state will have one fourth less gas tax revenue to build roads.

Legislation also passed last year requires the state to start planning for an electric vehicle future.

In December, FPL, the state’s largest utility, was given authority to charge 30 cents a kilowatt hour for EV Charging.

FPL has an ambitious plan to put charging stations at 50 mile intervals on major highways, but the state has yet to develop incentives for expanding the stations to rural areas.

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