The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) received $15 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation under its Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program, according to a news release.
Funding will go toward Phase 2 of NOACA’s regional Electric Vehicle Charging Station Program.
The federal transportation department awarded $622.57 million in grant funding to 47 applicants to strategically deploy publicly accessible electric vehicle charging and alternative fueling infrastructure in the places people live and work — urban and rural areas alike — in addition to along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs), the release said.
The 47 awards are located across 22 states and Puerto Rico and include two Tribes, according to the release.
The areawide coordinating agency was one of two recipients from Ohio along with Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council.
The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency began Phase 1 of its Regional EV Charging Program to implement 40 stations around the region in 2023, according to the release.
Phase 2 builds off of Phase 1, and will include 63 more sites in Northeast Ohio, including the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties.
“(Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency) is thrilled that we were competitively selected among so many great projects across the nation,” said Grace Gallucci, executive director and CEO of NOACA in the release. “(Electric vehicles (EV) networks are rapidly growing, and Northeast Ohio will be able to meet this demand and embrace a clean energy economy and reap the benefits of improved air quality.”
Under the leadership of John Hamercheck, Lake County commissioner and NOACA’s board president, the agency has focused on bringing more funding to Northeast Ohio.
“This is a tremendous victory for accelerating public investments toward economic growth,” Hamercheck said in the release. “These successes are vital as we continue to plan for the future of our region.”
The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency began developing its EV Charging Program in 2019 with regional partners and included it in its Regional Long Range Plan eNEO2050, An Equitable Plan for Northeast Ohio, which was adopted in 2021.
The Regional EV Charging Program focuses on ideal siting locations of EV charging stations throughout the five-county region — through the lens of equity, coverage and proximity to job hubs, workforce development centers and locations with concentrations of multi-family housing, according to the release.
The project will impact Ohio’s U.S. Congressional Districts 5, 7, 11, and 14.
To learn more about NOACA, visit www.noaca.org.
