Nevada Making Electric Highway for Electric Vehicles

Paul Thomsen of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Energy, at podium, announces new electric car chargers along U.S. Route 95 during a news conference at a Carson City charging station Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Standing, from left, are Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell, NV Energy President Paul Caudill and Gov. Brian Sandoval. (PHOTO CREDIT: AP Photo/Michelle Rindels)

In the Silver State, the information superhighway making way for the Nevada Electric Highway.

Gov. Brian Sandoval and NV Energy unveiled the Nevada Electric Highway on Tuesday, a network of charging stations planned along U.S. Route 95 that would finally make it far easier to drive sparsely populated, mostly desert route between Reno and Las Vegas with an electric vehicle.

Though only about 1,400 electric vehicles are registered in Nevada, the state has been paying close attention to EVs lately because of Tesla Motors. The electric-car maker is building its giant battery “gigafactory” outside of Reno. So the state’s fortunes will be tied to the success of electric cars.

Officials thought making charging easy along the only major highway connecting the state’s two largest cities would be a good place to start.

“We’ve all driven this road before and have anxiety (even) with getting gas,” said Sandoval. “Now we can have confidence to charge our electric vehicles and drive them from place to place (in Nevada).”

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SOURCE: USA Today, Reno Gazette-Journal, Jason Hidalgo