BGE PARTNERSHIP

BGE opens three new public EV charging stations in Baltimore City and procures 100 electric vehicles for the Lyft Rideshare Program. Resources supporting equitable access to clean transportation were funded through U.S. Department of Energy grant.

BALTIMORE (Nov. 28, 2023) — BGE in collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Electrification Partnership will make available 100 Lyft rideshare electric vehicles and 17 high-speed 150kW direct-current fast chargers in the Baltimore area by the end of 2023.

These investments in equitable access to clean transportation were made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“It is partnerships like these that are going to be critical to our ability to successfully decarbonize the transportation sector in BGE’s service territory,” said BGE President and CEO Carim Khouzami. “Through a shared commitment to promoting equitable EV adoption, BGE and our partners are leaning in to help Maryland reach its ambitious EV and net-zero emissions goals.”

Three 150kW fast chargers, along with two new 7.2kW dual-port level two chargers, were unveiled during an event today at Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore City. Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena McIlwain, Executive Director Gabe Klein from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (U.S. DOE), Maryland State Senator Cory McCray, and other federal, state, and local officials joined BGE to celebrate the announcement.

Public chargers installed by BGE at Saint Frances, BWI, and elsewhere in central Maryland meet the federal government’s standards under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which provides dedicated funding to States to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure and establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability.

“We’re celebrating growth, we’re celebrating infrastructure, and we’re celebrating progress on the journey of electrifying Maryland,” said Secretary McIlwain. “When industry and government work together in partnership it allows us to move even quicker to meet our State’s climate goals and build an EV foundation here in Maryland. We are sending a message that we are ready for this transition and investing in it every single day.”

The rideshare vehicles—all Hyundai Kona EVs—will be available for Lyft drivers to rent from Lyft’s Flex Drive facility in Glen Burnie. The first 25 of the 100 vehicles arrived last year and have already provided more than 1 million miles of zero-emission rides. Rentable rideshare vehicles allow current Lyft drivers to opt for a zero-emission vehicle instead of their gas car, and give prospective Lyft drivers who don’t own a vehicle the opportunity to drive for Lyft without buying a car. More than half of Lyft rides start or end in an urban community.

Anchored in historic Johnston Square, Saint Frances Academy’s central location and proximity to downtown Baltimore make it an ideal location for rideshare drivers to use BGE’s new chargers between rides. Increased access to sustainable transportation and BGE’s previous streetlight upgrades in Johnston Square continue to support the historic neighborhood’s economic renaissance.

Electrified rideshare and public fast charging infrastructure are among the broad suite investments, incentives, and tools under BGE’s EVsmart Program. BGE has installed 328 of the 500 public EV chargers it plans to deploy by the end of 2025.

The Mid-Atlantic Electrification Partnership is a $14.6 million U.S. DOE-funded project designed to create a regional EV ecosystem in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia. The project connects the Capital Region’s cities, employs multiple EV and infrastructure sub-projects, and includes multimodal hubs such as airports, seaports, mass transit hubs, and logistics centers while addressing equity issues of populations near these hubs and within cities and towns. More information is available at vacleancities.org.