SALT LAKE CITY – Electric and natural gas vehicles may become a more common sight in Utah, as the Division of Air Quality is helping several entities purchase vehicles as well as charging stations.
The DAQ has awarded $700,000 from the Clean Fuels Grant and Loan Program to help nine entities purchase electric and natural gas vehicles and to expand the availability of charging stations for electric vehicles as well as natural gas refueling stations.
Officials with the DAQ said they selected the recipients based on applications that assessed the environmental air quality and community attributes they had to offer.
CNG America, Salt Lake City Corporation, the Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling District, and the Salt Lake County Office of Township Services all received grants or low-interest loans.
Glade Sowards is an environmental scientist for the DAQ who spoke about the value of such grants.
“Expanding our clean transportation choices is really important and this takes us… there are roughly a little over 50 [electric vehicle] charging stations in the state, and we’ll be adding about three dozen new charging stations as a result of this action,” he said.
Salt Lake City Corporation intends to use grant funds to purchase 25 electric charging ports for electric vehicles, which will be installed throughout the city.
Tyler Poulson, Sustainability Program Manager for SLC Corporation, stated in a press release: “The expanded capacity of the City to offer public access to EV charging ports will decrease emissions from mobile sources that impact the air quality throughout the Salt Lake Valley airshed and will demonstrate the effective application of electric vehicle technology in the market.”
Several schools also received grants: Salt Lake Community College, the University of Utah, Southern Utah University, Utah Valley University and Weber State University.
For more information about clean fuel initiatives in Utah, click here.
