Indy gets federal money to put EV charging stations in underserved neighborhoods
Indianapolis is expected to receive $15 million from a federal grant program to put more electric vehicle charging stations in city neighborhoods.
The grant, which U.S. Rep. André Carson and Mayor Joe Hogsett announced Wednesday, will aim to place charging stations in underserved parts of the city. The federal dollars come from a grant program created by President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill in 2021.
The $15 million heading to Indianapolis will come from the Federal Highway Administration and is expected to specifically target placing electric vehicle charging stations in areas critics say were missed by the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan, according to a news release from Carson and Hogsett’s offices.
Indiana’s plan was approved in 2022, but racial justice groups at the time criticized it for not providing charging station access for communities of color, especially Black neighborhoods. In 2022, Carson, who represents most of Marion County in Congress, wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg with concerns that Indiana’s plan failed to “provide connections to disconnected communities.”
Charging station placements will be made locally, and Indianapolis residents will have opportunities to give feedback on the locations, according to the news release.
In a statement, Hogsett said Indianapolis looks forward to bringing electric vehicle technology to city neighborhoods “most impacted by environmental injustice.”
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany .