Drive Happy

If you’ve been considering buying an electric car, TVA and friends just launched an initiative to help you get around more easily.

We see you looking at that electric car. All sleek lines and quiet power; the potential to save $1,000 per year in energy costs. Clean, good-looking, decked out and quiet, it’s the right car for our planet at this time. It’s the right car for you. Are you going to buy it?

If yes, good for you! Join millions of other Americans in a truly cutting-edge driving experience. Show off to your neighbors and friends. Enjoy the ride.

If not, chances are you have some fear related to being unable to charge the car while you’re out and about. “Whenever we talk to potential car buyers range anxiety is their number one concern—they may get in cars and love them but think there is no place to charge it,” explains Drew Frye, manager electric vehicles programs for TVA. “Range anxiety is top barrier that’s exactly what the Fast Charge Network is all about, getting people comfortable that they have charging options no matter which way they go.”

And TVA, which aims to put 200,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2028, is here to help

On Tuesday, January 25, TVA joined with Fort Payne Improvement Authority (FPIA) and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) to unveil the first two of 200 fast chargers as part of the Fast Charge Network that will be deployed across the Tennessee Valley on major thoroughfares. “We’ll have them along interstates and U.S. highways,” Frye says.

This fast charger site was made possible through a partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority, ADECA and Seven States Power Corporation. TVA provided the DC fast chargers, ADECA contributed over $45,000 from Alabama’s Volkswagen Mitigation trust grant program for electric vehicles, and FPIA managed installation.

End result? More possibilities for drivers, with benefits to the entire region. Along with high driver satisfaction, electric vehicles help:

• Attract good jobs — $13.8 billion in EV and battery manufacturing have already helped create over 10,000 EV-related jobs in the Valley.
• Reduce carbon emissions from gasoline vehicles by almost 1 million metric tons per year or the equivalent of the carbon sequestered by 1 million acres of US forests in one year.
• Reinvest $120 million in the local economy every year from electric refueling.

The public power model made it possible, says FPIA Manager Mike Shirey: “We moved quickly to participate in this program because we want to make it easy for people to choose EVs so our community can enjoy the environmental and economic benefits of electric transportation. The support from TVA and grant funding from ADECA made it possible to add charging stations without affecting our customers’ bills.”

So, go ahead, get behind the driver’s wheel and take control of the part you play in America’s transportation transformation story. Look good and feel good as you do good for the environment. When you’re driving electric, you’re driving in style.