Maryland is charged up over electric vehicles.
The number of EV registrations continue to rise, with 68,628 in Maryland as of March 31, an increase of almost 2,500 since February. Just over 10 years ago, there were 609 EVs in the state.
“Electric vehicle registrations in Maryland are growing exponentially, and the Maryland Department of Transportation is working to meet the demand by equitably deploying EV charging infrastructure across the state,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld. “The rapid growth in EVs will help the state get closer to reaching its goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 60% in 2031 – and net zero by 2045.”
There are 1,348 public charging stations in Maryland, with 3,772 outlets. They are mostly a mix of DC Fast chargers, which can charge some EVs to 80% in 20 or 30 minutes, and Level 2 chargers, which take four to 10 hours for a full charge.
And many more are planned.
The Investment and Infrastructure Jobs Act created the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. The goal is to build out a convenient and equitable network of 500,000 fast chargers along designated alternative fuel corridors and make EVs accessible to all drivers. The program requires one DC Fast charging station every 50 miles along alternative fuel corridors and within one mile of an interstate exit or highway intersection. This requirement will help states build out their respective alternative fuel corridors for EV charging to facilitate interstate travel. Once the alternative fuel corridors are built out and certified, states can spend NEVI funds in communities within their respective states.
Maryland will receive $57.5 million over five years, through federal fiscal year 2026, to build out this network. The funding does not lapse, so states can spend NEVI allocations until the funds are exhausted.
Maryland has 23 designated EV alternative fuel corridors that include interstates and major highways. Program funding will first be used to ensure all of the corridors have the required number EV chargers.
“Once we certify our corridors in the state with the first few rounds of NEVI funding, then we can go out into the communities and do different types of charging systems,” said Dan Janousek, an MDOT regional planner.
He and his team have been working on rolling out Maryland’s NEVI Plan. They are also focused on distributing the funding equitably by using the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Justice40 goals. This requires at least 40% of federal funds be used in disadvantaged communities.
“What MDOT is doing is developing a toolkit for all Marylanders to use,” Janousek said. “They can go in and look at a proposed charger site and see how it’s going to benefit disadvantaged communities.”
Last month, Governor Wes Moore affirmed the state’s commitment to move forward with regulations requiring all new cars and light trucks sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035.
The state also has an overall goal of having 300,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. The Zero Emission Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council has been working toward this goal since 2011. Click here to learn more about how MDOT plans to transition to zero-emission transit buses.
For more information on MDOT, go to mdot.maryland.gov, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.