Love's & Pilot Receive Contracts for EV Charging Stations in North Carolina
OKLAHOMA CITY & KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Love's Travel Stops and Pilot Travel Centers LLC are among the first retailers in North Carolina to receive contracts for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations from the state's Department of Transportation (NCDOT).
On Sept. 11, Gov. Roy Cooper's administration announced the first round of conditional awards from his Clean Transportation Plan for developers to install and operate EV charging stations through North Carolina's share of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program funds. The contracts total $5.92 million for six businesses that will add chargers at nine locations along interstates and major highways.
[Read more: Love's Outlines Commitment to Electric Vehicle Charging]
The nine locations are the first of approximately 50 sites required to fully build out North Carolina's alternative fuel corridors as required by the NEVI program, according to Cooper's office.
The travel center locations include:
- Love's Travel Stop #308 in Marion
- Pilot Travel Center #6996 in Warsaw
- Pilot Travel Center #6978 in Candor
"This is an exciting start, but there's so much more to come for clean transportation," said Cooper. "By expanding the EV charging network, all North Carolinians will be able to choose transportation options that are more efficient, more affordable and better for our environment."
The state will use $109 million in NEVI program funds to build out its statewide EV charger network over the next seven years.
The awards are conditional due to the fact that awarded businesses must meet certain requirements outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act, the requests for proposal and the contract.
"We're working to maximize the use of the available funds to build out an efficient network of chargers," said Joey Hopkins, NCDOT secretary. "Eventually, we'll have publicly funded EV chargers that fill in coverage gaps along our major corridors in the state and in our communities. We want a network that is reliable and easily accessible for people in rural and urban areas."
Next steps for the awarded locations include conducting environmental reviews and finalizing site designs and contracts. Station installations are expected to be complete within the next year.
Headquartered in Oklahoma, family-owned and -operated Love's core business is travel stops and convenience stores with 648 locations in 42 states. The company has nearly 40,000 team members in North America and Europe.
The Pilot and Flying J travel center network — a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway — includes nearly 900 locations in 44 states and six Canadian provinces. Pilot Co. is headquartered in Knoxville.