$4 million grant will develop ‘electric corridors’ on E. Idaho, Utah, Wyoming freeways

Electric vehicle drivers will soon be able to quickly charge their cars on Interstates in eastern Idaho, Utah and southern Wyoming thanks to a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Rocky Mountain Power received the grant to develop 1,500 miles of electric highway corridors along Interstate 15, Interstate 80, Interstate 70 and Interstate 84, according to a news release.

The corridors will feature DC fast chargers every 100 miles and AC level two chargers in major communities, including Idaho Falls and Rexburg in Idaho.

Construction is slated to start this year and take about three years to complete. The Idaho segment is tentatively set for construction in 2018, said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Paul Murphy on Thursday.

The grant will also help develop programs to encourage electric car-sharing and the use of electric bikes and buses.

The project’s target is to double the number of electric vehicles in the region to more than 50,000 cars in the next 10 years. This could result in the annual reduction of 251 million pounds of CO2 emissions and 24.9 million gallons of gasoline, according to Rocky Mountain Power.

“Our goal is to have enough charging stations to help electric vehicles go from Disneyland to Yellowstone and everywhere in between,” Cindy A. Crane, Rocky Mountain Power President and CEO, said in the news release.

Idaho National Laboratory is one of the project’s partners, others partners include: Utah Office of Energy Development, University of Utah, Utah State University, Salt Lake City, Utah Clean Cities Coalition and Breathe Utah.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 11:15 AM with the headline "$4 million grant will develop ‘electric corridors’ on E. Idaho, Utah, Wyoming freeways."