Duke Energy announced Tuesday that it will provide $1.5 million to increase public electric vehicle charging across North Carolina, and at least one local government is interested.


Under the “EV Charging Infrastructure Support Project," Duke Energy will pay $1 million to help cities and towns across the state with charging station costs. The fund will give up to $5,000 per charging port, $20,000 per site or $50,000 per city, a news release stated. 
 
The project also allows for an additional $500,000 for construction of electric bus charging stations, with up to $250,000 per entity, the release stated. 
 
This program resulted from a recent settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups. Last year, Duke Energy settled a 15-year-old case over allegations that the utility violated the Clean Air Act at some of its coal-fired power plants in the state.
 
Duke Energy anticipates that its funding project will increase the number of EV charging stations by 30 percent in North Carolina.
 
Interested parties must apply for the fund by Sept. 1. The forms for EV stations can be found here and for bus charging stations can be found here.

Wilmington has a few charging stations already for the vehicles, but officials have been considering expanding public spots.

New Hanover County spokeswoman Jessica Loeper said Tuesday that the county has been looking into EV charging stations at its sites.
 
“New Hanover County does have an interest in electric vehicle charging stations, particularly for several New Hanover County attractions like the main and Northeast Libraries, Cape Fear Museum, Arboretum, and Airlie Gardens. The county is planning to look into this newly released information from Duke Energy as well,” Loeper said in an email. 


Advanced Energy, an independent, nonprofit organization established by the N.C. Utilities Commission, notes currently there are about 4,700 registered plug-in EVs in the state. There also are over 350 public charging stations in North Carolina, providing about 700 ports for cars to plug into.