Electric vehicle grid expansion along I-4

Well, new tonight here at 10 o'clock, Tampa Bay's EV grid. It's expanding. FDOT has given the green light to build six new charging stations for semi-trucks off I-4 in Hillsborough County. And transportation officials say it's really just the first step toward the future of infrastructure. Fox 13's Brianna Arndt-Dunder was on the support. She joins us live in Tampa near I-4 with more. Hi there, Brianna. What about this project? Sounds like it's going to be pretty big, especially for these electric trucks. Yeah, Mark. I mean, of course, you know, we all have seen the fueling stations for truckers. as they're going along and going places but this is actually going to be EV charging stations for them and FDOT has identified I-4 as one of the best places to add one of these. So this was actually discussed during a meeting on Wednesday with the Hillsborough Transportation Planning Organization. The board approved a change that allows for FDOT to build six new EV charging stations for trucks. This is at County Line Road at I-4. FDOT says that it's a critical shipping corridor, and it will cost them $24.7 million using a federal grant. Now, I did speak with a Tampa City Council member who's a member of TPO about how this helps to connect areas like Port Tampa to other areas here in our state with EV truck charging stations. Having these new trucks being able to charge, not just in the port, but as they transition on I-4 and as they move throughout the country, this is the wave of the future. Soon, as it continues to expand, you'll start seeing things like this on 301 and other major highways. So not just interstates, but highways. This is the beginning of new technologies as it builds out. Yeah, certainly exciting stuff for Tampa as we continue to grow. The design phase for this is set to start next year with construction in 2028, Mark. Now let me ask you this, I know a lot of EV owners are concerned about this and I think I know the answer. But we know these truckers are under time schedules when they're out on the highway. So are these gonna be fast chargers to get them back out on the road quicker? Yeah, that's my understanding from when I was talking with TPO officials today. They said that these are gonna be chargers that they're gonna be working with TECO to make sure that it bolsters the electricity so that way they can get their charge going fast and then continue to hit their deadlines. Okay, we will see how it goes. Brianna, thanks very much.