Skip to main content

West Coast Electric Highway now extends to Canadian border

The border-to-border vision of the West Coast Electric Highway moved closer to becoming a reality this week with the opening of new EV charging sites, extending the highway to the Canadian border and opening it to electric vehicle (EV) drivers from both countries. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDoT), along with electric charging station partner AeroVironment opened ten new public charging stations—seven along Interstate 5 and three along US Route 2 in northern Washington – that provide
May 31, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe border-to-border vision of the West Coast Electric Highway moved closer to becoming a reality this week with the opening of new EV charging sites, extending the highway to the Canadian border and opening it to electric vehicle (EV) drivers from both countries.

The 451 Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDoT), along with electric charging station partner 2132 AeroVironment opened ten new public charging stations—seven along Interstate 5 and three along US Route 2 in northern Washington – that provide EV drivers the ability to travel emission-free from Seattle to the Canadian border.

“Today moves us a giant step closer to the day when we can drive our electric cars from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California along Interstate 5, secure in the knowledge we can quickly recharge our vehicles along the way,” said Washington Governor Chris Gregoire.

Eight of the 10 new charging stations in Washington feature AeroVironment’s state of the art “DC fast chargers,” which deliver a full charge for a nearly-depleted EV battery in less than 30 minutes.

The West Coast Electric Highway is a vision for a transportation corridor from the Canadian to Mexican borders, connecting California, Oregon and Washington along I-5 that fully supports electric vehicles.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Key to EV roll-out is understanding drivers
    October 22, 2021
    Understanding EV technology and driver behaviour will be key to building out the world’s charging infrastructure. Andrew Stone finds out why from Bret Scott at Wejo
  • Colombia awards major traffic management contract to Indra
    May 8, 2014
    Colombian highway concessionaire Coviandes has awarded Indra the contract, worth nearly US$35 million, for the design, installation and start-up of the intelligent traffic systems (ITS) the control and communications systems for 45 kilometres of the Bogota-Villavicencio highway in Colombia.
  • The case for tolling the Interstates
    April 20, 2012
    Speaking at an event organised by the IBTTA last week to an audience of federal and state transportation officials, policy experts, financial analysts, and representatives from engineering firms, technology companies, and transportation facility operators, Ed Regan of Wilbur Smith Associates articulated a clear case for giving states flexibility to toll existing interstate highways.
  • Florida's free flow tolling eases congestion, improves safety
    July 24, 2012
    A decade since Florida's Turnpike Enterprise first deployed electronic toll collection, the organisation's Director of Toll Operations Rick Nelson and Tom S. Knuckey of PBS&J look at progress. A decade on from the deployment of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise's state-wide SunPass pre-paid Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) programme, transponder sales have ballooned from 5,000 to more than 4,000,000. Over 70 per cent of the state's turnpike drivers participate in the system and transponder sales continue to gro