The governors of seven Western states agreed to a framework to create a network of fast-charge stations for electric vehicles along major transportation corridors in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The plan spans more than 5,000 miles of highway. With more than 20,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids already on the roads in western states, the governors says that electrifying these corridors may reduce range anxiety and drive further adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) while transforming the market to allow smaller communities to plug into the regional system.

The plan was announced October 4, 2017 at the Energy Innovation Summit hosted by the National Governors Association in Denver.

The memorandum creates a framework for creating an Intermountain West Electric Vehicle Corridor that will make it possible to "seamlessly drive an electric vehicle" across the states’ major transportation corridors. The initial transportation corridors include the following interstates:

● Interstates 25, 70 and 76 in Colorado

● Interstates 15, 84, 86, and 90 in Idaho

● Interstates 15, 90 and 94 in Montana

● Interstates 15 and 80 in Nevada

● Interstates 10, 25 and 40 in New Mexico

● Interstates 15, 70, 80 and 84 in Utah

● Interstates 25, 80 and 90 in Wyoming

The states agreed to create best practices and procedures that will enhance EV adoption by promoting EV consumer acceptance and awareness by addressing “range anxiety.” They plan to coordinate EV charging station locations to avoid redundancy and to ensure stations are sited at a frequency and locations to optimize utilization and to minimize inconsistencies between charging infrastructure in each state.

They also plan to create voluntary minimum standards for EV charging stations, including standards for administration, interoperability, operations and management.

The governors also agreed to identify and develop opportunities to incorporate EV charging station infrastructure into planning and development processes, such as building codes, metering policies and renewable energy generation projects.

They also agreed to encourage EV manufacturers to stock and market a wide variety of EVs within the states, and agreed to identify, respond to and collaborate where possible on funding opportunities.

As part of the initiative, the governors formed a Coordination Group made up of senior leadership from each state. The group will write a report summarizing progress and deliver it by April 1, 2018.