Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. was recently awarded $4.8 million in federal funding to build electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations at eight locations in two states.
The convenience-store chain and Trillium Energy Solutions were selected as part of an investment through the Federal Highway Administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program to build EV charging infrastructure networks in Pennsylvania and Colorado, the company said. Trillium is a Love’s company that designs, builds and maintains clean fueling stations.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) awarded Love’s and Trillium a total of $2.6 million to install EV chargers at locations in Brookville, Jonestown, Miffinville and Slippery Rock.
The Colorado Energy Office and Colorado Deportment of Transportation (CDOT) are investing $2.2 million in state and NEVI funds toward Love’s EV charging projects at locations in Buena Vista, Eads, Hudson and Parachute.
- Love’s is No. 14 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by store count.
“Truckstops and travel stops are well-positioned to play a key role in building out electric-vehicle charging in Pennsylvania and Colorado, not only because of the existing infrastructure footprint but also because of the amenities and services provided at these locations,” said Ryan Erickson, vice president of Houston-based Trillium.
As the nation begins wide-scale adoption of EVs, two factors for successful planning include on-site support and available footprint to build out additional charging infrastructure, said Kim Okafor, general manager of zero emission for Trillium.
“With more than 640 locations nationwide, Love’s Travel Stops are in a prime position to support transportation departments in rolling out NEVI projects state by state,” Okafor said.
PennDOT recently announced the first round of conditional awards to fund 54 projects in 35 counties to expand access to and reliability of EV charging in Pennsylvania. The amount for the 54 projects conditionally awarded comes from a $33.8 million round of federal funds for new EV-charging stations.
Through its Direct Current Fast Charging Plazas program, the Colorado Energy Office also recently announced $17 million in conditional awards for 36 projects that will contribute to the expansion of Colorado’s existing network of 871 fast-chargers by more than 20%, adding 188 publicly accessible chargers in the first round to include NEVI and State funding, Trillium said.
The NEVI program was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to provide $5 billion over five years for states to deploy direct current (DC) fast EV chargers along highway corridors, Trillium said. The NEVI program is aimed at building out a national system of EV chargers to connect states and help EV drivers travel longer distances with the confidence they can access safe and reliable EV chargers.
Oklahoma City-based Love’s has more than 610 locations in 42 states. It provides professional truck drivers and motorists with 24-hour access to purchase gasoline, diesel fuel, coffee, restaurant offerings and more. Love’s has more than 430 truck service centers, which include Speedco and Love’s Truck Care locations. Love’s and Speedco combined is the largest oil change, preventive maintenance and total truck care nationwide network with more than 1,500 maintenance bays and 1,200 emergency roadside vehicles available for customers.
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