Ribbon Cutting For Electric Vehicle Charging Station — The ribbon-cutting. (TVA)

As part of the ongoing Drive Electric Alabama initiative encouraging electric vehicle (EV) use in Alabama, the Fort Payne Improvement Authority (FPIA) has unveiled the installation of two EV fast chargers in their city. This marks the first operational charing site in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Fast Charge Network. Keep reading for all the electric details.

Worry free EV driving 🚗

Electric Vehicle Driving Down The Road — Make your next road trip electric. (TVA)

When you think about electric vehicles, one of the biggest questions is: “Where will I charge my car?”. Especially on long road trips, you may be concerned about getting stuck somewhere without chargers. Well, that’s where TVA’s Fast Charge Network comes in.

The Fast Charge Network supports the National Electric Highway Coalition in placing public fast chargers every 50 miles along interstates and major highways throughout Alabama and the US.

The two EV fast chargers are located at the intersection of 5th and Gault in Fort Payne and are officially the first operational charging site in TVA’s Fast Charge Network. The stations were made possible thanks to a partnership with TVA, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) and Seven States Power Corporation.

“We moved quickly to participate in this program because we want to make it easy for people to choose EVs so our community can enjoy the environmental and economic benefits of electric transportation. This station does more than charging cars—it connects Fort Payne to the Fast Charge Network and plays an important role in putting our region on the leading edge of the new electric economy”
Mike Shirey, General Manager, FPIA

Why go electric?

Up Close Shot Of An Electric Vehicle — Get charged up. (TVA)

The Drive Electric Alabama initiative aims to teach the public about the benefits of driving electric. The state is working to make EVs more accessible, and there are plenty of economic and environmental benefits to making the switch, including:

Saving up to $1,000 in fuel and maintenance costs every year
Reducing carbon emissions from gasoline vehicles by almost 1M tons per year—that’s equivalent to the carbon produced by 1M acres of US forests in one year
Creating over 10,000 EV related jobs for the state
Electric refueling reinvests $120M in the local economy every year

“FPIA’s charging station, and others like it, will keep Alabama’s economy rolling by serving as a convenient place to charge EVs. When electric vehicle owners stop in our communities—large and small—to charge their vehicles, they are spending money with local businesses and creating a local economic impact in those areas, while waiting for their car to charge.”
Gov. Kay Ivey

If you want to learn more about the Fast Charge Network, calculate how much money an EV could save you or locate EV charging stations on your travel route, click here.

TVA estimates that over 200,000 EVs will be on the roads by 2028. Will you be one of them? Tag us @bhamnow and let us know.