The Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC) and partners were joined by U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA), earlier today, to celebrate yesterday’s announcement of a $15 million grant to the Maryland Clean Energy Center to fund 58 electric vehicle charging stations statewide and includes innovative workforce development investments.
Funding will support the Maryland Equitable Charging Infrastructure Partnership (MECIP), which is made up of statewide public and private partners working collaboratively to bring ready to deploy equitable charging and infrastructure to the State of Maryland.
“There was remarkable cooperation demonstrated by both public and private sector partners in pursuit of these Federal grant funds,” said Katherine Magruder, Executive Director for the Maryland Clean Energy Center. “I’m grateful for this award, which enables installation of EV chargers in communities that might otherwise be missing access to clean transportation, and will ultimately help achieve state greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.”
The award is one of 47 projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico selected to receive a total of $623 million in funding under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. With construction of approximately 7,500 EV charging ports in this round of funding, EV drivers in Maryland and across the country will now be able to conveniently, affordably, and reliably charge their electric vehicles where they live, work, and shop.
MECIP proposed 87 total sites, providing density to the existing alternative fuel corridors and giving rural, urban Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI), and Justice40 areas access to EV Charging technology in communities across the State of Maryland. Fifty-eight Community sites were included in this funding award, and MCEC will seek other opportunities to support the additional twenty-nine Corridor sites.
“The Federal CFI grant will help us reach underserved low-income communities that have not been included in the EV transition,” said Edwin Luevanos, CEO and Co-Founder for Citizen Energy. “In collaboration with MCEC and our community partners, our supported sites will be deploying chargers and bilingual education to 34 multifamily housing sites and close to 10,000 households.”
The proposed sites featured Coppin State University- the host location for today’s announcement event, located entirely within an area designated as a Justice40 community. It is an open campus, with easy access for the public to use its parking lots, and the chargers planned for installation under MECIP.
“We are thrilled to be working in partnership with the Maryland Clean Energy Center to bring public EV charging stations to communities across Maryland,” said David Jankowsky, Founder and CEO for Francis Energy. “Our mission is to ensure equitable, affordable, reliable, and safe access to public charging, especially in rural, Tribal, and underserved communities throughout America – leaving no community behind. Today’s announcement is an important initial milestone toward that end.”
Additional planned locations include faith-based sites, municipal sites including fleet services, tourism and travel locations from both ends of the state, auto dealerships looking to expand EV services to their clients, and over 34 community sites located in LMI/historically disadvantaged communities to be installed in multi-family housing. The project exceeds Justice40 goals and has a focus on equity and workforce development initiatives that provide wealth creation in good paying careers. MECIP also includes workforce development with a franchise model providing training and financing to support under-represented groups entering the industry, in addition to developing 600 Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) certified electricians through International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) apprenticeship and retraining programs.
The long-term goal for MECIP is to help put the U.S., and especially the State of Maryland, on a path to a nationwide network of at least 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.
The MECIP collaborative includes: University of Maryland’s Build America Center (BAC), Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E), Francis Energy, Shell/Volta, Lightility, Citizen Energy, Avanza, Apexx Adams Transportation, IBEW Local 24/JATC, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Frederick County, Garrett County, Howard County, Montgomery County, Queen Anne’s County, City of Havre de Grace, City of Rockville, and City of Salisbury.
The Maryland Clean Energy Center led this effort as the state’s green bank, and offers a broad range of resources to facilitate access to capital through leveraged or direct investment and operates financing programs targeted to serve various consumer audiences and underserved communities. MCEC provides specialized procurement and technical support in order to facilitate and expedite project implementation.