Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott, Vermont’s congressional delegation, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT), top officials from the Federal Highway Administration and Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, and cabinet members, today announced the opening of the state’s first federally funded public electric vehicle (EV) fast charging station in Bradford. Vermont is the sixth state in the country to install fast chargers under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.
The four super-fast NEVI charging stations can simultaneously charge 180 kilowatts per hour and are located in a municipal parking lot known as Denny Park at 6 South Main Street in downtown Bradford.
“My team has prioritized EV public chargers for years and put Vermont on the map as a national leader, with the most public charging ports per capita,” said Governor Scott. “Coordinated deployment of these federal funds will help close the remaining gaps in Vermont’s charging network and bring every EV driver closer to the power they need to get to their destination efficiently and conveniently.”
The new fast chargers in Bradford complement two existing 50-kilowatt DC fast chargers and a single AC Level 2 charger installed at the site by Norwich Technologies under a grant agreement with the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development. Through an interagency memorandum of agreement and a sole source contract with AOT, Norwich Technologies modified design plans for the site to meet NEVI’s rigorous specifications and will manage operations and maintenance for at least the next five years to ensure the chargers are functional and reliable for EV drivers.
Vermont will receive $21.2 million from the NEVI program during a five-year period. The first phase focuses on installing fast chargers every 50 miles along the nation’s highway corridors, within one mile of highway exits. NEVI was established through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, often referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The goal of the program is to create a convenient national network of fast EV charging stations to support the use of more electric vehicles and increase equitable access to infrastructure and economic opportunity.
The NEVI program provides federal funding for the deployment of charging stations with the balance (a minimum match requirement of 20%) to be met with private dollars by third-party contractors engaged through the State’s procurement process. Private contractors are encouraged to avail themselves of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, a recently reauthorized federal tax credit for EV charging, to help stretch Vermont’s share of federal dollars further.
Through May 22, AOT is accepting statements of qualifications from interested parties to develop a short list of vendors qualified to design, build, own, operate, and maintain NEVI-compliant charging. Vendors selected through the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) will be invited to bid on the remaining 14 priority sites.
For additional information about Vermont’s NEVI plan and the RFQ opportunity, visit the AOT website.