Fast charging stations coming to every service plaza on the Florida Turnpike

OCOEE, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced dozens of new electric vehicle level 3 and Tesla fast charging stations will be built at every service plaza on Florida’s Turnpike.

“We want to be able to have similar fast charging stations across all of Florida’s major highways,” Governor DeSantis said.

The move will bring 27 new ev level 3 charging stations to seven service plazas from Lake County to Miami-Dade County. Right now, only three service plazas have charging stations, including the service plaza at Turkey Lake.

DeSantis said the goal is to encourage more people to drive electric as more affordable ev car options are coming onto the market.

“When motorists see that they have the ability to charge and they’re not going to be left out and they have confidence in that, I think that’s going to be very, very good,” he said.

The plan is to start building the new charging stations by the end of the year. It will take about two months to complete them.

Governor DeSantis said he has already earmarked just under $25 million for electric charging infrastructure. The money would come from the $166 million Florida received in the Volkswagen Emissions settlement in 2018.

The Florida Beneficiary Mitigation Plan, a plan on how Florida wants to spend the money, was just released. DeSantis said they are also looking at electrical options for mass transit and school buses.

The plan is available for public comment until Aug 16. Officials said more than 2,000 people have already commented on the plan.