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BATON ROUGE — Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards was joined by DOTD Secretary Shawn D. Wilson, Ph.D., and representatives from Louisiana Clean Fuels at the outdoor electric vehicle expo held at DOTD Headquarters to discuss electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IJJA), passed by Congress in late 2021, will allocate $75 million over five years to electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Louisiana, with $14.1 million allocated this fiscal year. This is part of President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law to deploy chargers along highways and in rural areas to support domestic manufacturing jobs and make EVs more accessible and affordable for working families.

“To address climate change, I have established the goal for Louisiana to be at net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” said Gov. Edwards. “To help accomplish this, the Louisiana Climate Action Plan calls for transitioning the public fleet to low- and zero-emission vehicles. Therefore, we will need to begin the transition as we replace state vehicles across all agencies.  With leadership from our state agencies, and cooperation from local government and the private sector, I am confident we can meet our GHG emission reductions goals and become a leader in renewable energy.”

“This federal funding is a critical to helping Louisiana do its part to reduce carbon emissions in order to provide a more sustainable future for generations to come,” said Wilson. “Overall, we want to convert gas stations into fuel stations where a variety of fuel options, including electric charging, are available. In order to become a competitor in green energy, Louisiana must make changes, and this starts with our transportation industry.”

“Louisiana Clean Fuels is committed to working with the Governor and our state agencies to help us attain our climate action goals of transitioning 50% of public fleets to zero emission vehicles and fuels by 2035 and 100% by 2050 and to install 250 electric charging stations per 100,000 residents by 2050,” said Ann Vail, Executive Director of Louisiana Clean Fuels. She added that her coalition has been working to improve Louisiana’s alternative and electric vehicle fueling infrastructure for over 20 years. “Louisiana already has complete Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Propane (LPG) corridors on most of our interstate highways. I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to support our state’s efforts to nominate our critical interest corridors for Electric vehicles and hydrogen as well.”

DOTD will begin to develop the grant programs and aims to solicit applications over the next year.  In the second year, the department will make awards, monitor and inspect installations, and identify and correct weaknesses in the grant programs for use in future rounds of solicitations and awards.