With each passing year, more Granite Staters rely on electric and hybrid vehicles to traverse New Hampshire’s roadways. This trend is worth celebrating. By reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, we can keep New Hampshire’s air clean and prevent the most catastrophic impacts of global climate change. Without sufficient infrastructure to charge these electric vehicles (EVs), however, the positive environmental impact of EVs will be limited. As an EV owner myself, I’ve seen firsthand that our state’s charging infrastructure currently lags far behind drivers’ needs, particularly on the highways that connect our communities and enable tourists to visit our beautiful state.

Now that funds from President Biden’s infrastructure legislation are being distributed, New Hampshire has an historic opportunity to solve this infrastructural problem and create local jobs in the process. The president’s infrastructure investments allocate $7 billion to build a nationwide network of over 500,000 EV charging stations, all of which will be built in the United States. With this funding, our state can now offer thousands of new charging stations to motorists and employ local workers to install them. Granted, we still need to address barriers to entry, such as upfront costs, to accelerate the switch to electric. But these new federal investments in charging infrastructure are going to make electric vehicles far more accessible and attractive to the average Granite Stater. And speaking from personal experience, between savings on fuel and maintenance, the switch to electric is worth it!

Derek Gelinas

Hooksett

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