The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) handles much of the transportation and environmental needs of Ohio. They handle five counties all together that include, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina counties. Their task is to make sure travel is safe, efficient, and environmentally sound. The Biden administration has their Federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan to install electric vehicle charging stations around America. Together, these two organizations will work to bring more charging stations to Ohio. The plan is to place 47 new charging stations in Cleveland alone. However, many more will find homes across the five counties. It is a step forward into the future and should help Cleveland grow.
Biden helps NOACA
The plan isn’t going to be cheap. Luckily, there’s federal aid to help NOACA install these chargers. Estimates say that it will cost at least $4 million to install 47 chargers across Cleveland. They plan to install the majority of the chargers in Cleveland. However, plans to install in the other counties continue throughout Ohio. The hope is to turn them on by 2023 in the first step of bringing more electric vehicles to Ohio. The charging stations will either be level 2 or level 3 charging stations. Level 2 stations offer 2 to 4 ports and can fully charge a vehicle in 4-6 hours. These types of stations work best in business office parking lots, hotels, and large apartment complexes. The level 3 charging station offers 1 to 4 ports and is a DC fast charger. These fully charge a vehicle in 30-60 minutes. Ideally, they can find their ways into shopping centers and into already existing fueling stations. However, the placement of these charging stations is not willy nilly.
The Future of EV Charging
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) outlines where these charging stations should go. In addition to NOACA’s plan, ODOT expects to spend an additional $100 million on fast chargers. They outline that drivers can find these stations every 50 miles along the highway. ODOT has their eyes set on 15 designated EV corridors in the state. They will all be within one mile of an exit. Drivers can expect to travel 60-80 miles with each 20-minute charge.
Estimates show that by 2050 there will be more than 144,000 electric vehicles in the 5 counties that NOACA oversees. This requires at least 2,000 public charging stations to meet the demand. The Federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan hopes to meet this demand in tandem with NOACA and ODOT. Federally speaking, the goal is to have 500,000 charging stations by 2030. This will cost billions of dollars. The federal agency hopes to rely on organizations like NOACA and ODOT to help install these.
