Governor Whitmer announces grants for 88 electric car charging sites

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Electric car drivers will soon have more places to charge their battery in Michigan.

Governor Whitmer announced over the weekend 32 locations across Michigan have been approved as part of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s ‘Charge Up’ grants.

The $1.8 million project will add 88 fast charging outlets along key travel routes throughout Michigan.

“Michigan put the world on wheels and will continue driving the world forward by leading on mobility and electrification,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. “These grants demonstrate our commitment to expanding EV infrastructure across Michigan and build on the extraordinary work and investments of our innovative industry partners and EGLE to help support drivers who make the transition to electric vehicles.”

Since the launch of the Charge Up Michigan program, EGLE has allocated $4,000,182.97 for chargers at 76 locations with a total of 182 charging station outlets. Each charging station has at least two outlets, allowing multiple vehicles to charge simultaneously. More than half of the approved direct current fast charger projects have been installed and are operational, making them publicly available for EV drivers at any time.

Many of the charging stations funded by the grants announced today are expected to be operational by the end of the year:

· Sunrise Stores LLC (Fort Gratiot, Smiths Creek, Capac and Kimball): 8 charging outlets, $200,000

· Traverse City Light and Power, 15 outlets, $173,763.03

· Red E Charging (Detroit, Waterford and Wixom): 6 outlets, $157,743.60

· EV Build (City of Rogers City and Mackinaw City): 6 outlets, $125,580

· City of Ann Arbor: 4 outlets, $70,000

· Dean Arbour Ford (West Branch): 2 outlets, $70,000

· Diatomic Energy, LLC (Belle Isle State Park, Detroit): 2 outlets, $70,000

· Great Lakes Energy (Scottville): 4 outlets, $70,000

· Summit Place Properties II LLC (Waterford): 4 outlets, $70,000

· TNT Equipment (Sandusky): 4 outlets, $70,000

· Sunrise LLC (Houghton Lake): 2 outlets, $55,750

· Hawks Petroleum LLC (Howard City): 2 outlets, $53,350

· Ford & Haggerty, Inc. (Canton): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Lee Road, Inc. (Brighton): 2 outlets, $50,000

· McNichols & Wyoming, Inc. (Detroit): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Royal Gas and Oil (Farmington): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Speedy Q Market (Port Huron): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Sunny’s Food Mart (Pleasant Ridge): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Wakeland Oil (Brighton): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Washtenaw Food & Gas, Inc. (Ann Arbor): 2 outlets, $50,000

· Zourob Enterprises (Romulus): 2 outlets, $50,000

· J. McCormick LLC (Whitehall): 2 outlets, $49,845

Amended grants from previous rounds:

· Blarney Castle Oil (Manistee and Petoskey): 4 outlets, $111,700

· Meijer (Ann Arbor): 2 outlets (50 kW), $40,000

· Hage Automotive (Jackson Airport): 3 outlets (50 kW), $30,679.50

The grants are funded through Michigan’s allocation from the Volkswagen diesel settlement. The goal is to complete the statewide charging network by 2030.

Michigan currently offers 480 publicly accessible charging stations featuring nearly 1,400 charging outlets, in addition to 146 private charging stations throughout the state.

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