EVs got me all charged up

🎙️ Welcome to Crbnly Conversations, where we spark up lively discussions on the latest trends in the world of sustainability! 🌱 In today's electrifying episode, we're thrilled to unveil Ohio's inaugural NEVI EV charging station – yes, you heard it right, the FIRST one in the Buckeye State! ⚡ Join us as we delve into the nitty-gritty of the station's location, funding sources, and the nationwide surge in EV charging infrastructure. 💸

Useful Resources
Alternative Fuels Data Center: Electric Vehicle Charging Station Locations
The future of America's EV charging network takes shape
First Biden-funded electric car charging station opens
Ohio is Leading the Charge!
It's here! A full tour of the first NEVI funded DC Fast Charger in the US to go live
www.youtube.com/@BensEcoAdvntr

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Transcript

Shane (00:03.52)
All right. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Carvely Conversations. Got Shane and Chad here as always. How are you today, Chad?

Chadwick (00:13.806)
We certainly do. We've somehow managed two episodes in a row and matching like our moms dressed us together.

Shane (00:20.156)
and now we're on the blue. As always, we appreciate everyone's support. We basically created this podcast in order to examine the intersection of community, lifestyles, and consumption in our personal lives. Then we hope to share our stories and our curiosity to motivate actions, to lessen our carbon footprints, and also to use our platform to create a space for everyone out there listening

community members to share their Carvenley journeys as well. If you're wanting to subscribe or make sure that you don't miss any of the Carvenley Conversations, literally all you need to do is scroll down to the show notes, click on find and join the conversation, and that'll take you to whatever app you used to listen to podcasts. That'll have, it'll have a link there so that you have access to all of our past episodes.

this episode and any future episodes that we drop. Wednesday mornings is our release date. So most every Wednesday morning, you can wake up and listen to our lovely voices on your drive to work or while you get breakfast ready for the kids, whatever it is, you know?

Chadwick (01:39.682)
You're scrubbing those, polishing those teeth.

Shane (01:42.228)
brushing your teeth, whatever. So, and then make sure to follow us on social media, Instagram, TikTok, X, and check out our video content on YouTube. Our channel is Carbon Lee Conversations. And let's get it started. What do we got going on today, Chad?

Chadwick (02:00.822)
Well, since we've made it very clear that you live and spend quality time in Columbus, Ohio, I thought we would do this little ditty on EV Charging Network because lo and behold, the first charging station brought to us by the federal government funding, aka our hard-earned tax dollars, is open and running right outside or right nearby Columbus.

So I thought we'd do a carbon lay readout on where EV charging stations are going because you can give discounts and funding to build and sell as many EV cars that you want, but you need a charging network. And I know the Teslas and the other amazing players out there are doing their best to build their own private network, but how the federal government steps on it makes that.

a reliable, consistent experience. It's gonna be a game changer on just EV car buyership and ownership, right? So it's local to Columbus. It's important in this carbon lane journey. There's, I mean, it's definitely subsidized by the federal government. So let's get into the details. So we got a quick video, I think, to how did we start? Like we're just been scraping YouTube for some of this stuff ourselves.

Shane (03:03.829)
for sure.

Shane (03:19.421)
Yeah.

Shane (03:29.06)
Yeah, who would have thought Columbus, Ohio would have the first one, but we're here.

Shane (03:40.96)
Hold on Chad, we might have to-

Chadwick (03:44.951)
What's that?

Shane (03:46.004)
We're both sharing our screen. I forgot that your thing was going first. Hold on, let me, well, I guess maybe once you shared, it took mine away. So let's, maybe let's start back to the reintroduction.

Chadwick (03:49.727)
Uh... Okay.

Chadwick (03:58.612)
Okay.

Okay, I'll be able to splice this all out and then we'll get into this video. So I'll stop share and I'll be like, okay, that's not weird, but let's get this video to work the first time.

Shane (04:07.392)
Okay, yeah, that works.

Shane (04:14.868)
Hehehe

Chadwick (04:22.19)
And here we go, where did we start?

Chadwick (05:09.73)
Well, that's the Ohio Department of Transportation coming to us live on CarbonLay. Tell us about the beginning, right? And we did announce that it's already there. So before we get there, do you drive by that? Do you know where this pilot station is?

Shane (05:15.913)
That's really cool.

Shane (05:19.859)
Yeah.

Shane (05:28.388)
No, so at first when you first sent it to me, I thought that I know where they're mentioning it but it's in, it's a little bit outside of Columbus and London, Ohio, but it's just like a 20 minute drive down the interstate. So I am familiar somewhat where it's at. It actually, I was already shocked that they chose Ohio, but it shocks me even more of like the location that they chose. Because London, Ohio is very...

Chadwick (05:43.523)
Got it.

Shane (05:58.372)
suburban, I don't want to say middle of nowhere, but not an area that I would think they would select that, but I'm sure there's a method to the madness, so.

Chadwick (06:10.978)
And so we'll get in the love of that because we pretty much like borrowing from Axios reporting, this is where I found this story. So all the states are eligible to access this funding, is pretty much the lowdown of it. Ohio just happens to be the first one that got the first charger going with the funding. So like why they chose that isn't a federal decision, you have to ask the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Shane (06:18.175)
Mm-hmm.

Shane (06:31.931)
Okay.

Shane (06:39.72)
And now I don't know if they mentioned it in the video is, is that, cause I, so I know like with the Tesla chargers and the other privatized ones, you have to pay. Is this, was this one free?

Chadwick (06:50.434)
Good question. I don't know. I didn't say it. Maybe we'll get into this here. So driving the news back to what I said earlier, all 50 states plus Puerto Rico, District of Columbia have submitted plans for their share of EV charger money, which came by the way of last year's bipartisan infrastructure bill. It's one of the big buy-in projects. So under these guidelines, these charging stations should be installed.

Shane (06:53.231)
Okay.

Okay.

Chadwick (07:17.494)
along major highways, i.e. freeways running across the country, that is designated as alternative fuel corridors. And they want the goal of having these chargers at no more than 50 miles apart, within one mile from the interstate exits. And the video here showed that they needed to have like fast chargers because there's a big difference between hours and minutes and when you're sitting there to try to get a charge in your car. So...

So such equipment could recharge a vehicle in 20, 30 minutes, kind of like how the video said versus an eight plus hour for a typical public level two charger. So right now, 26 states have made the effort to spend their share of the money so far. So just a little over half. And of those 17 are in the process of soliciting bids, well, seven others have issued conditional awards for new stations, whereas Ohio and Hawaii are the furthest along with firm contracts in place. But only the one,

Station which I think we'll preview here next in a video is up and running So again, thank you YouTube for letting other people go to the station and tell us about it

Shane (08:27.624)
Yeah, and a little quick fun fact, Ohio and Hawaii are the two states that, two of the three states that I've ever lived in. So I'm two for three so far. We just need New York to start using the funding. Yeah, little fun fact for all the listeners out there that wondered where Shane lived. But yeah, let's get into the.

Chadwick (08:39.145)
Oh man.

Chadwick (08:43.216)
The EV money, huh?

Chadwick (08:47.874)
Fun fact for our Carmelite listeners.

Shane (08:56.724)
So there's U2 one here.

Chadwick (09:00.91)
And I also like how it's called the Nevi Charger Network, you know, the National Electric Vehicle Institute, or I forget what the I stood for, but Nevi's a fun name.

Shane (09:04.713)
Yeah.

Shane (09:47.456)
There we go, he's excited.

Chadwick (09:49.35)
He's very excited. That's brought to us by Ben's Eco's Adventure. We will link his channel as well. He's got EV cars and he's out there making sure everyone knows how to use them.

Shane (09:54.429)
Thanks Ben.

Shane (10:01.644)
Yeah, so yeah, I mean, so this like Chad said, this is the first Neve funded station. Um, it opened December 8th at a along a pilot travel center along I 70, um, on the Western outskirts of Columbus. So it's London, Ohio is where it's at. Like I said, it's a, depending where you're at in Columbus, 20 to 30 minute or so drive, um, so not far at all. So it includes four of the EV go fast chargers.

Under an overhead canopy so you don't have to get rained or snowed on while you sit there and charge your car You have full access anyone that's familiar with pilot stations. They have Restrooms Wi-Fi food beverages a lot of other conveniences. It's a pretty major Truckstop, they do a lot of them even have like showers in there for the truck drivers

It's the first of more than two dozen highway charging stations that are set up, set to open in Ohio by the end of 2024. And then the state, which will receive 140 million in Neve funding over five years is already planning a second round of 25 additional charging stations. So that's pretty major. It's pretty, pretty cool to see the state that I love spearheading this.

Chadwick (11:19.062)
Yeah, I mean, it's a big statement to say you're the first, right? And I'm Googling up a mail storm here and I cannot, like yes, charger stations usually cost money, but do these Nevi ones cost money? What I do get is that states can apply up to 80% of the funding to put these stations in, or refund, or like.

can be financed with this infrastructure bill. But it does not say, I'm gonna presume you gotta pay something for the electricity.

Shane (11:50.342)
Okay.

Shane (11:55.836)
Yeah, yeah. And even, you know, maybe eventually maybe the goal will, will to, depending on where the location is, if there's enough land there to put out.

Shane (12:10.784)
what is it called? I don't know why I can't think of it right now. Where you get the energy from the sun.

Chadwick (12:18.347)
Oh, solar.

Shane (12:19.92)
Yeah, so edit all that out. So yeah, you would think that maybe eventually the goal is to, it's, yeah, seriously. But hopefully eventually, if they aren't free, maybe eventually the goal would be to have some solar panels that can help energize them and either lower the cost or make it completely free. But we'll see, we'll see, nonetheless.

Chadwick (12:25.474)
A long day. You know that bright ball in the sky? Ha ha ha!

Chadwick (12:48.046)
Well, nothing's ever free, that's for sure. And there's no such thing as a free lunch. But I think the real question to ask next, Shane, is what they say, if there's four charging ports, and depending on the size of your battery, it could take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to charge 80% of your battery backup, right? So let's say you pull in, you're at like 40% charge, 35% charge, and you want to get mostly to full. You have to spend at least 15 minutes. What are you going to do with that time?

Shane (12:50.696)
Yeah, sure that.

Shane (13:18.684)
Yep. You're going to go shopping, walking. They'll probably start putting them there. Some shopping centers, you know.

Chadwick (13:28.598)
I mean, I always thought Starbucks, McDonald's, they'd be like, no brainers, Walmart.

Shane (13:34.78)
Yeah. Yep.

Chadwick (13:37.208)
But more importantly, Carbony listeners and Shane, what are you gonna do with your time if you're charging your car?

Shane (13:44.768)
I might listen to an episode of Carve and Lee Conversations. Yeah.

Chadwick (13:49.582)
That is the correct answer.

Chadwick (13:54.214)
Here's what I keep thinking about and I believe you've been to a Bucky's station

Shane (13:59.64)
I have not. I know what they are. I've actually seen YouTube videos of people. Yeah.

Chadwick (14:01.086)
Oh, you know, okay. So Bucky's is like a mecca of convenience stores. We'll just say that. They're kind of like in between the middle of nowhere. They would fit these definitions of where these chargers parts gotta be. And there's more gas pumps than you can imagine. And then inside the store, it's like amazing. It's got the cleanest bathrooms. Anything you'd ever wanna buy and eat for snacks and road char, roadside charm.

Shane (14:14.976)
Mm-hmm.

Chadwick (14:31.478)
I just keep thinking about the moment they start putting in dozens and dozens of those chargers in addition to the gas pumps Like it's a no-brainer like so I guess my question is like well, how's the Buc-E's experience gonna change? It's not you're just gonna you already go there anyways and hang out So like that that's what we need is a bunch of Buc-E's with EV charts

Shane (14:51.472)
And you'll have more, it takes longer to, to charge the battery than it does to fill your tank up. So, um, that'll definitely be interesting. Um, and yeah, I mean, pretty much bottom line is with about 158,000 public chargers across 60,000 locations, including nearly 37,000 fast chargers. At about 8,570 public stations, um, available today, the country still has.

Chadwick (14:55.422)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shane (15:20.956)
Very long way to go, especially with the different mandates that have been placed on like vehicle requirements. I forget what year it is, but one day, all newly made vehicles will be electric. At least I know that's the goal. So we definitely have to prepare for that.

Chadwick (15:22.839)
Definitely.

Chadwick (15:41.346)
we're headed definitely well thank you Ohio State oh my god Ohio Department of Transportation thank you Ben Drives EVs YouTube channel um thank you Axios for bringing this news making it easy for us to share out and get some video clips out there and I think carbonated listeners like to start contemplating like you're gonna get that 10 to 40 minute time in your next road trip

Shane (15:50.976)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Chadwick (16:11.234)
driving your UV, what are you gonna do with it? Big questions.

Shane (16:14.056)
Yep. That's right. Scroll down the show notes, click find, join and find the conversation. Add us, you know, follow us on your, your social media or your social media and your podcast platform so that when you have that extra 20 minutes, Hey, let me, let me throw Shane and Chad on real quick and learn something new. Yep.

Chadwick (16:35.81)
Nope, you can definitely listen to this episode. We'll clock in just under 20, so perfect.

Shane (16:42.14)
Yeah, so thanks. Thank you to the government. All right. Now our listeners will, our listening listenership will go up just because of this.

Chadwick (16:50.966)
Definitely. Thank you, Nevy. Well, have a good night, Shane. Thank you and have a carbon lay week.

Shane (16:55.837)
You too.