Electrify America and the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission (OTIC) announced plans to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations—the first along the Ohio Turnpike.

The planned charging stations will be located at the Wyandot and Blue Heron Services Plazas in Genoa and at the Indian Meadow and Tiffin River Service Plazas in West Unity. These sites were chosen to meet the needs of turnpike customers where electric vehicle demand is projected to be the most significant in the near-term.

Each Electrify America station will feature four charging dispensers that offer 150 to 350 kilowatts (kW) of power. The 350 kW chargers feature the first certified cooled-cable system in the US and can charge a vehicle at speeds up to 20 miles per minute—seven times faster than today’s most commonly used 50 kW fast chargers.

Since 1955, the Ohio Turnpike has been an important interstate corridor in the US, providing essential access from east coast regions to the Midwest and beyond. In 2017 alone, 55.2 million vehicles used the Ohio Turnpike.

In its first Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) investment cycle totaling $500 million, Electrify America is installing more than 4,800 charging dispensers in a nationwide EV charging network. The company will have non-proprietary electric vehicle DC fast chargers at nearly 300 highway sites and 184 charging sites in 17 metropolitan areas, plus over 650 community-based sites with Level 2 chargers. Electrify America’s Cycle One charging sites will be installed or under construction by June 2019.