VW Launches Electrify America, a New Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Company
Volkswagen of America plans to invest $2 billion into the company, in hopes of improving the environment for zero emission vehicles.
Electrify America is a new company owned by Volkswagen Group of America, aimed at increasing the abundance of zero emission vehicles in the U.S.. Volkswagen will be investing a total of $2 billion dollars into the program through four $500 million investments every 30 months.
The new company was formed as part of VW's court settlement over its excessive diesel emissions.
Electrify America’s stated goals are to:
- Invest in electric vehicle (EV) changing infrastructure
- Increase awareness and fostering education
- Launch a "green city initiative," based out of a California metropolis
Electrify America Plans to Make a High-Speed Cross Country Charging Route
In hitting these goals, Electrify America hopes to install 500 charging stations throughout the U.S., with 300 of them in 15 strategic metro areas. Although Electrify America hopes to increase charging stations in convenient areas like large apparently complexes and retail stores, it first plans to install them in highly-trafficked metro areas. It also intends to create a high-speed cross-country charging network comprised of 200 charging stations.
The company will be headed up by automotive executive Mark McNabb, and reports indicate that the first phase of investments are already in the planning phase. Before investments can be made, however, Electrify America has to submit their plans to the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environment Protection Agency by February 22nd.
