ENVIRONMENT GOVERNMENT
Electric transportation partnership launches in Idaho, states across the West
Colorado among partners that seek to connect a network of EV charging sites along highways and scenic byways

BY: CLARK CORBIN - DECEMBER 11, 2024 12:17 PM

This story originally appeared in the Idaho Capital Sun.

The nonprofit Treasure Valley Clean Cities Coalition, based in Boise, Idaho, is partnering in a new multi-state collaboration that is working to identify and connect sites for electric vehicle charging stations in the West.

The new collaboration is called ChargeWest, the West Electric Highway, and it is a partnership across eight states, including Colorado in the Intermountain West. The other states are Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico.

The goal of the project is to connect a network of electric vehicle charging sites along highways and scenic byways across the eight states, said Randi Walkins, executive director of Treasure Valley Clean Cities. That would reduce vehicle emissions and allow electric vehicle drivers to safely take long road trips through the West to visit scenic national parks or more remote attractions, knowing that they would have charging stations available along the route.

“The goal is to try to make a fluid, connected experience for electric vehicle drivers or prospective electric vehicles drivers so they can get from one part of the state to another, or one part of the country to another,” Walkins said in a phone interview. … Many of the organizations partnering in the project are members of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities and Communities program.

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