The new gold standard for public-private partnerships that expand critical EV infrastructure even in the face of a challenging regulatory environment.
Meet the newest Electric Era charging station, owned by SkyCharger!
Located in Arlington, Washington, this station plugs a critical gap for EV drivers in the Pacific Northwest. Previously, there was only one Level-3 fast charging station servicing a vast stretch of roadways in Washington’s North Cascades region. The Electric Era team collaborated closely with SkyCharger on site identification, financing, navigating regional ordinances, deployment, and site implementation.
The result? By leveraging our full service and implementation team, SkyCharger has newly unlocked fast, reliable EV charging—complete with ample, convenient amenities close to the site—to serve EV drivers accessing this stunning part of the Pacific Northwest. The station is strategically positioned on a route many travelers use to access the beautiful North Cascades National Park, a favorite destination for those near and far.
In less than five weeks, we took the site from the start of construction to fully operational site status. As of Tuesday, 4/15, the site is now energized:
- 3/10: Construction start and trenching complete ✅
- 3/18: Concrete poured ✅
- 3/24: Received all needed equipment from Seattle ✅
- 3/25-28: Set and deployed equipment and started pulling wiring ✅
- 4/15: Site was energized and is ready for EV drivers to use and enjoy ✅
This new station also means it’s now possible for EV roadtrippers to travel from Vancouver to San Francisco using exclusively Electric Era charging stations. Next stop? Covering all of the I-5 corridor and North America, from Canada to Mexico.
The Electric Era Approach
This year, we are poised to deploy as many as 40+ new charging stations. As customers like SkyCharger continue to expand their partnership with us, and as drivers enjoy the reliable, fast EV charging we deploy, there are ample signals that our full-stack hardware and software solution, approach to deployment and proactive site maintenance, optimization, and our overarching ethos that puts drivers’ experience above all else doesn’t just satisfy a baseline need. In fact it delights drivers, builds loyalty with our technology, and reinforces our relationship with partners like SkyCharger.
What makes us successful? The answer is simple, even if executing on it isn’t straightforward:
- Speed to market: Helping our retail customers navigate site selection, site-specific constraints, and financing to deploy attractive, high-potential stations quickly.
- Reliability, from port to network: Drivers deserve fast, reliable charging. Unlike other EV charging networks, our approach to reliability puts drivers’ experiences first. For more on how and why we prioritize this and deliver on our promises, check out our reliability whitepaper, penned by our VP of Engineering, Hasitha Dharmasiri.
- Site implementation: Our site implementation team takes our EV fast charging stations from the drawing board and translates them in the ground with electricity delivered to EV charging customers. Deploying battery-backed DC fast charging requires complex engineering, construction, and execution, but the results are well worth it.
- Our full-stack hardware plus software approach: From our battery-backed hardware to countless other integrations and layers of software that reflect the level of attention and detail we pay to enhancing reliability and drivers’ experiences, our technology delivers seamless charging experiences. Again and again.
- Continued partnership: We don’t just deploy stations; we bring a “100% responsibility” to all of our engagements and how we serve our customers. This extends well beyond site deployment to ongoing maintenance and optimization, which benefits us as much as it does our customers, considering the data we receive allows us to iteratively hone in on and refine what makes sites and charging experiences as good as possible.
What Makes this Site *Extra* Special
Until now, EV drivers traveling north of Arlington, Washington, faced a daunting 141-mile stretch of highway where there were almost no EV fast charging options with any amenities. That represented a massive barrier to accessing the North Cascades National Park and all the other attractions along Highway 20 in and of itself. Considering the amount of traffic this region receives, whether from tourists taking in the beauty of the area or otherwise, charging gaps like these impede EV drivers and ultimately, EV adoption. SkyCharger, one of our top partners with whom we’re proud to have deployed several stations this year already in states ranging from Washington to New Mexico, needed a solution provider that could extend their I-5 corridor network and help EV drivers access this part of the country more easily and comfortably.
Importantly, deploying this site also required navigating complex regulatory challenges. Working together, Electric Era implemented a DC fast charging station at an A1 Gas & Food station that, once again, allowed for rapid site deployment despite a development moratorium that made securing all requisite permits for site deployment more challenging.
The result? Alongside SkyCharger, we helped deploy Washington's first EV fast charging site funded in part by the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Electric Vehicle Charging Program (EVCP), setting a new standard for how public-private partnerships can expand critical EV infrastructure and effectively manage challenges encountered along the way.
For more on how we cooperatively tackled the problems faced, read on 👇
The Solution: Charting New Collaborative Partnerships
SkyCharger’s brand new Arlington station now represents a model for how collaborative partnerships can accelerate EV infrastructure deployment, even in the face of complex regulatory restrictions and tight timelines.
Regulatory Navigation and Speed to Market
Electric Era's ability to work directly with city officials to exempt EV charging stations from the development moratorium while the city completed a broader land use review allowed the team to unblock what could otherwise have amounted to months of costly delays. Instead, we were able to deploy the site in just 8 months from receipt of the initial Notice to Proceed to completion. This speed to market now represents a gold standard for bringing grant-funded projects with regulatory barriers to life without cutting corners.
Public-Private Partnership
This project was funded by the Climate Commitment Act (via the EVCP program, with the Clean and Prosperous Institute as grant recipient). This complex public-private partnership, involving government, nonprofit, and the private sectors, now serves as a model for future EV charging infrastructure in unique situations. In total, the partners on this project included: Washington State Department of Commerce, Clean & Prosperous Institute, SkyCharger, A1 Gas & Food, City of Arlington, and Electric Era. In the end, drivers now have reliable EV charging at a critical junction of the I-5 corridor.
Strategic Corridor Development
Firstly, location selection itself was critical to the project's success and the impact it will have. Choosing a site that serves as the "gateway to the North Cascades" and fills a critical gap in the charging network was no accident, despite the challenges all parties knew it would entail.
Delivering the site:
- Extends the SkyCharger I-5 corridor network to an enchanting part of Washington state
- Supports a heavily trafficked and scenic highway route in general
- Offers a new way for small local businesses nearby to increase revenue and foot traffic
Implementation Details
Again, in partnership with SkyCharger and all the stakeholders who collaborated across the process and the public-private partnership, we delivered and energized the Arlington SkyCharger site with significant speed and efficiency without sacrificing reliability or excellence:
- Award issued: February 1, 2024
- Notice to proceed received: August 23, 2024
- Site completion and opening: April 2025
- Total implementation time: Approximately 8 months from NTP to site opening
To overcome the development moratorium, Electric Era's team worked in concert with city officials to delineate and demonstrate the holistic benefits of the project to secure an exemption for EV charging installations as it did not impact the goal of their policy. By virtue of land use reviews continuing in parallel to development, we were able to pursue swift project development (as opposed to simply waiting for the finalization of land use reviews). This proactive, collaborative, and cooperative approach was essential to meet implementation timelines and to preserve sound project economics for SkyCharger.
Of course, the site also leverages Electric Era’s hardware, software, and growing knowledge base to deliver reliable, fast, easy-to-use EV charging technology that drives delightful EV driver experiences and maximizes SkyCharger’s return on its investment. To boot, the site will benefit other businesses, whether those directly nearby or those in the greater North Cascade area in general, as more EV drivers make their way to a previously challenging-to-access region.
Results
This station has already made a significant impact for SkyCharger, too, even as it just energized:
- First of its kind: The site is the first Washington State Department of Commerce EVCP DC fast charging site to open to the public.
- Expanded access: Developing this site helped open up the scenic North Cascades corridor to EV drivers by providing a superior, reliable charging option in a previously dramatic underserved EV charging “desert”
- Speed to market: The successful and rapid deployment of this site demonstrated that stellar EV charging sites can be deployed within 8 months from Notice to Proceed, even if, when, and where physical infrastructure and regulatory challenges loom.
Looking Ahead
Electric Era and SkyCharger have once again expanded critical EV infrastructure. We’ve shown that effectively leveraging public funding, nonprofit partnerships, and regulatory flexibility can help meet ambitious implementation timelines, especially when layered on top of our full suite of hardware and software solutions and the expertise of our Site Implementation team.
This successful implementation demonstrates how excellent processes, practices, and partnerships can accelerate the future of transportation, even in remote, scenic corridors.
About the Climate Commitment Act
The Washington State Department of Commerce's Electric Vehicle Charging Program is supported with funding from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.
About Electric Era
At Electric Era, we’re the leading provider of fast EV charging solutions that feature industry-leading reliability and deliver seamless, delightful experiences for drivers and retailers alike. Reliability, ease of use, and fast charging are our priorities for drivers; site optimization, speed to market, and strategic network development are our promises for retailers. We also work closely with site hosts, funding agencies, and local governments to facilitate financing opportunities. Nor does our work end when sites are deployed; we’re committed to maintaining and improving stations we help deploy iteratively alongside our customers and their customers.
Join us to deploy more EV charging infrastructure that accelerates EV adoption, exceptional business outcomes for you and your site, and the future of transportation in general.
Ready to start? Schedule a call with us.