On July 13, Ohio DOT (DriveOhio) announced the winning bidders for its 27 National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) alternative fuel corridor (AFC) site grants. Ohio was the first state to issue a NEVI RFP, then delayed its RFP process and forced applicants to resubmit applications after the final NEVI rules were released. The state did meet its target of announcing winners by July 17.
Following are some highlights from the announcement, and analysis we’ve done at EVAdoption:
- 27 AFC sites were awarded
- $18 million in NEVI funding is matched with nearly $6 million from private entities. This means that applicants averaged asking for only 75% matching funds, not the full 80%.
- Sites are located along seven of Ohio’s interstate corridors, including I-70, I-71, I-74, I-75, I-76, I-77, and I-90.
- Winners include: Pilot Travel Centers, TH Midwest, Francis Energy, Meijer Stores, EVgo Services, ChargeNet Stations, and Equilon/Shell.
- Average/median bid cost per site:
- Average: $682,491
- Median: $677,618
- Average cost per port across the 27 sites is $170,623. This assumes 4 ports per site, but we didn’t see any information to suggest any site will have more than 4 ports. If the Equilon/Shell Gas site is not included (something seems off with the number), the average across the 26 other sites rises to $175,474.
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- Highest winning bid:
- ChargePoint: $790,866
- Lowest winning bid:
- Equilon/Shell Gas: $177,924 (We are wondering if this is a typo, and have reached out to ODOT).
- Who won the most number of grants across the 27 sites:
- Site host:
- Pilot Travel Center: 14
- Meijer: 3
- Network/CPO:
- EVgo: 20
- Francis: 4
- Hardware:
- Delta Electronics: 20
- SK Signet America: 4
- Site host:
It is interesting that a single bidder, EVgo, won 74 percent (20 of 27) of the site bids. We are hoping that Ohio DOT provides additional transparency, including the scoring of winning bids per site versus other bidders, as well as the percentage reimbursement bidders asked for. With the average of 25 percent reimbursement across the winning bids — versus the required 20 percent minimum — it suggests that some bidders may have been at perhaps 30 percent, with others at 20 percent.
We look forward to additional transparency from Ohio so the industry can understand the factors that led to EVgo nearly sweeping the field. EVgo may have indeed submitted the best bids, but we also think that awarding three-fourths of the sites to a single charging network is potentially a bad precedent — especially when this network has a mixed reputation when it comes to uptime expectations.
DriveOhio, a division of ODOT, will oversee the implementation of the new charging stations, which are expected to be in operation in 2024. The new fast charging stations will join 13 preexisting federally compliant charging stations in Ohio.