The effort is nationwide for USDOT buildings, with the agency planning to provide 500 Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment over 10 years. More than 185 employers in the country have committed to providing charging access for plug-in electric vehicles to more than 1 million workers in the U.S.
“As the first Federal partner, we’re excited to be part of this national partnership with DOE and other major employers across the country to further cleaner transportation alternatives,” USDOT’s Assistant Secretary for Administration and Chief Sustainability Officer Jeff Marootian said. “USDOT plays a major role in coordinating clean transportation infrastructure in our country, and we are proud to lead the Federal Government by taking early steps to implement the President’s initiative to increase PEV workplace charging for our employees.”
It isn’t the first tech initiative the USDOT has put its weight behind this year. Beyond support for electric vehicles, which certainly seem to be winning the race among alternative fuel vehicles, the department has also been a vocal proponent of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication.
In May, USDOT chief Anthony Foxx said the USDOT and NHTSA would like to require all future vehicles to include V2V technology and in September announced $42 million in grants to support its Connected Vehicle pilot program.
By participating in the plug-in program, USDOT gets free access to DOE’s technical guidance for making workplace charging more available, including ways to create internal policies, how to buy and install charging stations and ways to assess employee demand for such systems.
Details on USDOT’s other sustainability work is available at www.transportation.gov/sustainability.
