Idaho transportation officials will soon name two cities that will host pilot sites for electric vehicle charging.
Officials are considering Lewiston, Pocatello and Bliss for the EV charging sites after hosting workshops and hearing from the public last year.
Each of these locations got bonus points for being near population centers, high-traffic corridors and are also accessible to Idaho’s rural areas.
The goal of these charging sites, which are mostly paid for by the federal government, is to ease travel within Idaho and elsewhere across the country.
Idaho’s size, climate and remoteness all present challenges when it comes to electric vehicles.
As of last July, there were no public chargers available from Coeur d’Alene to Lewiston, Lewiston to Boise via Highway 95 and Mountain Home to Heyburn.
The latest federal data show just a handful of chargers have been installed along those routes since then.
Out of the roughly 3,200 EVs registered in Idaho, over half are registered in Ada County. Canyon and Kootenai counties make up the other top hotspots for EVs in Idaho.
Details for the two proposed pilot charging spots will be released later this month.
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