charge

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has teamed up with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Workplace Charging Challenge (WCC) programme, in a bid to make workplace charging for plug-in electric vehicles available to employees across the country.

This is in line with the US Government’s long-term goal of reducing vehicle emissions by encouraging the use of carbon neutral vehicles.

USDOT has become the first federal agency to join the charging challenge programme.

The WCC programme will enable USDOT to launch a comprehensive workplace charging scheme, and boost the number of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging sites across its buildings.

"DOT plays a major role in coordinating clean transportation infrastructure in our country."

By 2025, USDOT aims to provide 500 electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) units.

More than 240 employers across the US have joined the programme. These employers are committed to providing PEV charging access to more than one million workers at several hundreds of worksites across the US.

By joining the scheme, USDOT also supports President Obama’s EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, which will enable the country to manufacture plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) that are as affordable as baseline gasoline-powered vehicles.

USDOT assistant secretary for administration and chief sustainability officer Jeff Marootian said: "DOT plays a major role in coordinating clean transportation infrastructure in our country."

Image: Plug-in vehicle being charged at a Zappos workspace. Photo: courtesy of US Department of Energy.