The Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. has installed electric vehicle chargers at its travel plaza in Rolling Prairie. Provided image
Electric vehicle owners can now recharge their batteries while driving the Indiana Toll Road.
ITR Concession Co., the operator of the toll road, recently installed two charging stations in Rolling Prairie at the Wilbur Shaw and Knute Rockne travel plazas.
ITRCC partnered with Martell Electric to bring Level 3 Charging, also known as "DC Fast Charging," to the plaza. The charging stations can provide compatible vehicles with an 80% charge in 30 minutes, according to ITR — "enough time for travelers to be able to stretch their legs and forget about 'range anxiety.'"
The new chargers have online connectivity, synced with the EVConnect cloud platform, which makes it possible for drivers to search for and locate charging stations directly from their phones. A smartphone app also enables secure payments, provides active charging data, and delivers real-time notifications when the vehicle is fully charged.
With the initial infrastructure in place, and as more electric vehicles travel the 157-mile road, ITRCC said it will be able to deploy additional chargers with minimal upgrades.
"We know electric vehicles travel our road, and we're happy to give them a place to charge up," ITRCC CEO Nic Barr said. "As more customers switch to electric, we'll be ready to deploy more charging infrastructure to our other travel plazas, meeting our customers everywhere they go."
ITRCC is also evaluating the use of electric vehicles for its employees. It purchased a Chevrolet Bolt for staff use as part of a pilot program to determine the feasibility of a wider electric vehicle rollout.
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