JACKSON, MI -- Consumers Energy wants to support electric vehicle use by charging cars from the Mackinac Bridge to Lansing.
Consumers Energy plans to power 200 fast-charging stations for EVs, and 2,000 chargers at homes and businesses, in the next three years, it announced Tuesday, April 20.
The utility company plans to use its PowerMIDrive program, which offers various rebates for chargers. Public fast chargers can get up to $70,000 in rebates, the company’s website says.
The intent of the goal is to expand EV use and abilities so they reach all corners of Michigan’s lower peninsula, said Lauren Youngdahl Snyder, Consumers Energy’s vice president of customer experience.
“Our country’s auto industry was born right here in Michigan. Consumers Energy is excited to charge the next generation of transportation in our home state and help Michigan lead the nation into a clean automotive future,” Youngdahl Snyder said in a statement. “Fast charging means EV owners can power their vehicles wherever they travel across Michigan, and their options are growing by the day.”
The PowerMIDrive program has offered more than 600 rebates to private individuals and public groups since its inception two years ago, the company said.
Included in those rebates is the “backbone” of Consumers Energy’s charging network -- 24 fast-charging locations, which can fully power a car’s battery in an hour, that span 250 miles from Michigan’s north to south. Twenty of those were added in the last year and another dozen are expected to begin operations in 2021.
The intent is to match the growing demand for EVs and acknowledge the environmental benefits of more electric cars on the road.
“We know electric vehicles still make up a small number of cars on the road, but that’s changing quickly,” Youngdahl Snyder said. “EV sales are growing by over 20% each year as more people commit to a clean, affordable automotive future, and Consumers Energy is building the infrastructure to make sure more electric vehicles can hit the road.”
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