A plan to bring more high-speed electric vehicle charging stations to Alaska is back on track after the Trump administration reopened a federal program in mid-August for expanding EV infrastructure. The move also loosened some requirements for how and where the charging stations can be installed.
Demand for electric vehicles is up around the state. But unlike Anchorage and Juneau, EV owners in the Interior have limited charging options. Stations that actually work are scarce on the state's highways.
State and municipal entities had plans to bring more charging stations to Alaska with federal funds from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. But progress stalled in February when the Trump administration put the program under review and froze funding.
Curtis Thayer directs the Alaska Energy Authority, which oversees the state project to put more charging stations on the highway system. He said the new requirements are easier for Alaska to meet, which might put the project ahead of schedule even after the six-month holdup.
"The old plan had to have a certain size of chargers, which were oversized for a lot of our communities, and they cost a lot of money," Thayer said. "Also, we had to have stations within 50 miles of each other."
Now that funds are flowing again, the state Energy Authority expects about $50 million from the program. It plans to put nine charging stations on the Parks Highway, which connects Fairbanks to Anchorage, with work to begin next summer. After that, Thayer said they'll look at putting stations on other highways and in some coastal communities.
"Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Kodiak, Yakutat, Cordova… Wherever the ferries happen to go," he said. "We have several years worth of work to do."
Federal funding has also thawed for a $2.5 million project to install charging stations around Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Area Surface Transportation Planning Technical Committee will reopen its call for site hosts on Oct. 1.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly quoted Curtis Thayer about the number of miles the old NEVI regulations required between charging stations.
