Maine to add 17 EV charging stations, 52 chargers

Over the next year, Maine will be adding 17 new electric vehicle charging stations to be located on heavily traveled roads like I95 and Route 2, in the cities of Portland and Bangor, at outdoor recreation destinations, and near universities. Total investment will be $8.6M, about 2/3 of that coming from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program, the balance from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan.

Agencies participating in the selection of sites included Maine DOT, Efficiency Maine, the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, the Governor's Energy Office and the Maine DEP.

The 9 sites funded by NEVI will be in Bangor, Bridgton, Hermon, Newport, Portland, Rumford and Windham. Each will have at least 4 chargers. The other 8 sites will have 2 chargers each.

Earlier this year the Maine DEP voted to reject new rules proposed by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCOM) that would have required zero-emissions vehicles to account for 51% of new vehicle sales by the 2028 model year and 82% of sales by 2032. Critics of the NRCOM plan cited concerns including high costs of EVs, unavailability of charging stations especially in rural areas, inability of Maine's electric grid to support the necessary added load, and reduced range of EVs in cold weather.

Maine could receive over the next few years additional EV infrastructure funding of up to $27M from the NEVI Program and Federal grants.