Funding is flowing into the development of electric vehicle infrastructure – which increases the number of EV-related construction projects occurring across the country, and the potential to save time and money by mitigating subsurface damage on these jobs.
On January 11, 2024, the White House announced $623 million in grants to help build out an EV charging network across the U.S., which, according to the press release, “will create American jobs and ensure more drivers can charge their electric vehicles where they live, work, and shop.”
“This is a critical part of the Biden Administration’s goal of building out a convenient, affordable, reliable and made-in-America national network of EV chargers, including at least 500,000 publicly available chargers by 2030 ensuring that EVs are made in America with American workers,” the press release stated.
Projects receiving funding as part of this grant announcement include:
- $10 million to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to build EV charging stations for residents in multi-family housing in disadvantaged communities and rural areas.
- $15 million to the Maryland Clean Energy Center to build 58 electric vehicle charging stations in urban, suburban, plus low and moderate-income communities across the state.
- $70 million to the North Central Texas Council of Governments to build up to five hydrogen fueling stations for medium- and heavy-duty freight trucks in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.
- $15 million to the County of Contra Costa in California to build a total of 52 fast chargers and 60 level 2 chargers at 15 branch locations of the county’s library system.
- $15 million to Energy Northwest, a joint operating agency in Washington State, to install 40 fast chargers and 12 Level 2 chargers across western Washington State and northern Oregon.
- $12 million to the City of Mesa, Arizona, to build 48 electric vehicle chargers for a variety of vehicle sizes, charging docks for e-bikes and e-scooters, and solar canopies to support electricity generation at the stations.
- $1.4 million to the Chilkoot Indian Association, an Alaska Native Tribe, to build an EV charging stations in Haines, a rural and disadvantaged community where there are no publicly available EV charging stations.
Funding for the grants comes courtesy of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program, which will fund 47 EV charging and alternative-fueling infrastructure projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico. This includes construction of approximately 7,500 EV charging ports.
As part of the announcement of the grant dollars, the Federal Highway Administration announced that it is awarding $311 million to 36 “community” EV charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure projects in urban and rural communities across the country, including two Indian Tribes in Alaska and Arizona.
An additional $312 million in funding was given to 11 “corridor” recipients whose projects are located along roadways designated as Alternative Fuel Corridors.
This is just the latest federal support extended to the build-out of America’s public EV infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program also provides funding to states to strategically deploy EV charging stations and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability.
Because of this continued, large-scale investment in EV infrastructure, the number of public and private EV charging stations in the U.S. nearly doubled over the past three years, climbing from 87,352 at the end of 2019 to 161,562 at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
As the country’s EV charging infrastructure continues to evolve and expand, subsurface damage lurks as the likeliest threat to derail these projects and waste federal dollars on downtime and repair.
A single utility strike during excavation costs, on average, $56,000 to repair. That strike also endangers the lives of your workers on site, as well as community members in the area.
Every strike that's avoided preserves funding that can be redirected to additional expansion of the EV charging network.
How GPRS Utility Locating Services Support EV Build-Out
GPRS continues to play a crucial role in supporting EV infrastructure projects through our utility locating and mapping services.
Using ground penetrating radar (GPR), our SIM-certified Project Managers can fully visualize the subsurface infrastructure on your jobsite to ensure you avoid catastrophic damages that could derail your project, decimate your budget and reputation, and endanger your team.
GPR is a non-destructive detection and imaging method for seeing inside concrete or underground. A GPR scanner emits radio waves which interact with both metallic and non-metallic objects. Those interactions are then picked up by the GPR unit, and displayed in a readout as hyperbolas varying in size and shape depending on what was located and how deep that item is buried within the concrete or soil.
A qualified utility locating technician can interpret this data to tell you where it’s safe to dig, cut, or core – and perhaps more importantly, where it’s not.
To complement GPR technology, GPRS Project Managers use electromagnetic (EM) locating to detect passive signals emanating from buried electrical lines or active ones transmitted through known utilities. In this way, we ensure we’re always using the right technology to fully visualize your jobsite’s infrastructure.
Avoiding subsurface damage during the installation of EV chargers ensures this new infrastructure can sit safely alongside existing utilities, and that the federal dollars being used to support these projects aren’t wasted on costly repairs.
But you don’t just need accurate utility locate data; you need it at your fingertips, and you need to be able to share it with your team members.
That’s why GPRS created SiteMap® (patent pending), our industry-leading, cloud-based facility management platform that allows you to review, annotate, and securely share your data with whomever needs it, wherever they are, whenever you deem it necessary.
You receive a complimentary SiteMap® Personal subscription when you hire GPRS to conduct a utility locate, and all the data we collect is instantly uploaded into that account for you to access immediately.
From skyscrapers to sewer lines, GPRS Intelligently Visualizes The Built World® to keep your projects on time, your budget intact, and your people safe.
What can we help you visualize? Click the links below to schedule a service today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are EV charging stations free to use?
While some public chargers are free to use, many chargers require payment with a fee based on how much energy gets transferred to the electric car. The rate can also be based on a per-minute of charging basis, battery size, the charger’s power, or the energy delivery efficiency to the vehicle.
Does GPRS offer same day private utility locating?
Yes, we’ve strategically stationed our team of Project Managers across every major market in the U.S. so we can respond rapidly to your jobsite, no matter where it’s located. Additionally, we are prepared to provide emergency same-day private utility locating services, if needed.
Will I need to mark out the utilities GPRS locates?
No, GPRS will locate and mark all utilities for you. We have a variety of tools and markers we can use to highlight the locations of utilities, underground storage tanks and whatever else may be hiding.