Pa. Turnpike Aims for EV Chargers at Every Plaza by 2027
$2.6 Million Awarded to Applegreen Electric for Next Phase of Installations
[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
The Pennsylvania Turnpike should have electric vehicle charging stations at every service plaza by January 2027, officials said.
At its meeting last week, the approved a contract with to install, operate and maintain electric vehicle charging ports.
The project won鈥檛 cost the turnpike anything, but the turnpike will earn a percentage of gross electricity sales, turnpike Chief Financial Officer Richard Dreher said. Dreher said the percentage must still be negotiated.
Each will be a supercharger, which means a full charge will take no more than 30 minutes.
The turnpike has 48 superchargers at six service plazas:
- Eight northbound and eight southbound at Hickory Run in Carbon County
- Eight at the Peter J. Camiel plaza in Elverson, Chester County
- Eight at Bowmansville, eastbound, in Lancaster County
- Eight at North Somerset, westbound, in Somerset County
- Eight at South Somerset, eastbound, in Somerset County
Other plazas have slower chargers, which can take four or five hours. They are at:
- New Stanton, westbound, in Westmoreland County
- Oakmont Plum, eastbound, in Allegheny County
- King of Prussia, westbound, in Montgomery County
- Bowmansville in Lancaster County
- Peter J. Camiel plaza in Chester County
As of the end of 2022, only 42,785 electric vehicles were registered in Pennsylvania, or about 0.4% of all registrations. Only 380 were registered in Luzerne County and only 290 in Lackawanna. Five of every nine electric vehicles are registered in Philadelphia and its eight closest neighboring counties, which is the reason most turnpike chargers are there.
Allentown, the only other service plaza on the turnpike鈥檚 northeast extension, does not have chargers now.
鈥淥ur goal is to have these at every service plaza, just like gas and diesel,鈥 Dreher said.
Trucks travel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. (paturnpike.com)
Anecdotally, turnpike officials have heard of lines waiting for charging, but generally it isn鈥檛 a major problem.
鈥淸Maybe] at Thanksgiving, everybody鈥檚 on the road headed to grandma鈥檚 house, but that is the goal. We don鈥檛 want to have congestion; we don鈥檛 want to have lines,鈥 Dreher said. 鈥淲hen we start hitting certain thresholds of utilization, we will require the company to deploy more chargers so you don鈥檛 have [lines]. Even with a fast charge, it鈥檚 15-20 minutes.鈥
顿谤别丑别谤听
Dreher said he isn鈥檛 sure of the order of installation, but the state will control the flow of federal funds that help pay the costs.
On Sept. 21, to install superchargers at Oakmont Plum, Peter J. Camiel, Sideling Hill in Fulton County, Bowmansville and New Stanton.
鈥淥ur work to continue investing these funds will not only help build out our electric vehicle charging network but will create good-paying jobs across Pennsylvania,鈥 said in a statement.
PennDOT is in the midst of adding enough electric charging stations to interstates so that there鈥檚 one every 50 miles.
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below听or go here for more info:
