![A Chevrolet Bolt sits in front of a row of electric vehicle charging stations in this undated photo. [Courtesy of Arizona Department of Transportation]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/adot-071323-adot-ev-charging-station-02-696x522.jpg "adot-071323-adot-ev-charging-station-02")
Electric vehicles are gaining momentum in Arizona — and they’re making their way down to Maricopa.
Amid a long list of pending requests for improvements on State Route 347, the Arizona Department of Transportation is considering adding charging stations for Tesla cars and other electric vehicles along the highway.
Metro Phoenix is a hub for battery-powered buggies — Tesla, Atlis Motor, ElectraMeccanica, Lucid, Polestar, Rivian and others have operations in the area, leading some to call Pinal County “the Detroit of electric vehicles.”
A law in neighboring California requires all new vehicles sold in the state to run on alternative fuels, namely electricity. Arizona already rewards drivers for going electric.
The state transportation department will host a Zoom meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. to gauge public interest in plans to install charging stations on seven state highways over the next two years. It is part of ADOT’s 2023 Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Deployment Plan, which will use $76.5 million in federal funding to install EV charging stations spaced no more than 50 miles apart on selected highways.
Plans for the location or number of charging stations have yet to be announced.
Maricopa City Councilmember Henry Wade told InMaricopa he thinks adding more public charging stations in Maricopa is needed.
“We’ve got a lot of electric vehicles driving around out there, so I think it would be a service to offer,” Wade said Thursday. “I believe there’s one or two (in town).”
Mayor Nancy Smith expressed more hesitancy in building charging stations on SR 347.
“I think if we’re heading in the direction the nation thinks we need to head, then yes,” Smith told InMaricopa. “I just don’t know if we’re actually at that point yet, but I need to learn a lot more about the program.”
In addition to SR 347, the department will consider adding charging stations to:
- SR 87 from Mesa to Payson
- SR 260 from Payson to Show Low
- US 89 from Flagstaff to the Utah state line
- SR 64 from Williams to the Grand Canyon
- SR 95 from Quartzsite to Interstate 40
- US 93 from Kingman to the Nevada state line
More information about the department’s EV plan can be found on the ADOT website.
![City Manager Ben Bitter speaks during a Chamber of Commerce event at Global Water Resources on April 11, 2024. Bitter discussed the current state of economic development in Maricopa, as well as hinting at lowering property tax rates again. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/spencer-041124-ben-bitter-chamber-property-taxes-web-218x150.jpg "City gave new manager big low-interest home loan")
![Vice Mayor Amber Liermann and Councilmember Eric Goettl review parts of the city's 2024 operational budget with Mayor Nancy Smith on April 24, 2024. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/spencer-042424-preliminary-budget-meeting-web-218x150.jpg "3 things to know about the new city budget")
![Phoenix police stop a stolen vehicle on April 20, 2024. [Facebook]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_5040-218x150.jpg "Alleged car thief released without charges")
![City Manager Ben Bitter speaks during a Chamber of Commerce event at Global Water Resources on April 11, 2024. Bitter discussed the current state of economic development in Maricopa, as well as hinting at lowering property tax rates again. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/spencer-041124-ben-bitter-chamber-property-taxes-web-100x70.jpg "City gave new manager big low-interest home loan")
“It is part of ADOT’s 2023 Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Deployment Plan, which will use $76.5 million in federal funding to install EV charging stations spaced no more than 50 miles apart on selected highways.”
Why are taxpayers tasked with paying for EV charging stations when the vast majority of the them do not drive EVs?
When any gas station Circle K, QT, etc. opens a new station are taxpayer funds used? I don’t think so…let private industry pay for and install EV charging stations and accept the result of success or failure.