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First EV Charging Station Funded by the Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator Program Opens

Oct. 10, 2024

Charger at rest stop

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office) applauds the opening of the nation’s first Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility (EV-RAA) funded electric vehicle (EV) charging project in Blue Earth, Minnesota. The new and improved charger is conveniently located at the welcome center at the interchange of Interstate 90 and Minnesota Highway 169, and adjacent to the Jolly Green Giant statue and museum and the Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce – making it an ideal location to charge where people live, work, and play.

The EV-RAA funds were used to upgrade a previous fast charger to a higher power level charger with one Combined Charging System connector and one CHAdeMO port. The station also has a dual port Level 2 charger available. The EV-RAA grant program has made nearly $150 million available for American communities to repair roughly 4,500 existing EV charging ports as a part of a White House-led goal of having 500,000 EV chargers in the ground and operating by 2030. In order to be eligible for the EV-RAA grants, there must be a broken or non-operational publicly available charger at a direct current fast charging station.

“The first-ever EV-RAA funded station in Minnesota is a great example of the progress that can be made when different entities, including state departments of transportation, communities, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Highway Administration, come together to effectively build out the national EV charging network,” said Gabe Klein, Executive Director of the Joint Office. “Already, we’re hearing stories from Blue Earth about tourists and locals alike using the charger, showing the need for charging in the community. We congratulate the city for working to make EV charging reliable for all.”

This effort is funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, created as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to help states build convenient, safe, and dependable EV charging infrastructure across the nation. The Joint Office is working with all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico to ensure the success of the NEVI program, which is now bringing the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision of a clean energy future to fruition.