Here in Florida, our roads are changing fast. Electric Vehicles, not just Teslas, are becoming more common every day. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that the state of Florida has the 2nd highest rate of EV adoption in the country, behind California.
Nowadays, this influx of EV drivers are saying that finding a place to charge can be a challenge, something Florida Power and Light are working to fix.
"It's something I think someone should drive, try, and see what they think about it."
From the Electrify America charging station in Fort Myers, Jhonny Foronda stopped by on Friday for a quick charge. He likes driving an electric car but says there's one drawback.
"There's not enough stations around here; if I go to Cape Coral, since I drive there a lot for my commute, I have to be mindful of where I am going. Here in Fort Myers, this is one of the only stations that they have." Foronda said.
Despite being the state with the 2nd most electric vehicles in the country, many drivers like Foronda say there is a frustrating lack of places to charge, especially in remote areas between cities.
"I just enjoy the car, really like it. That's the one thing where I leased it, but as I said, there are no stations. It's hard to travel far, where I can't do fun weekend activities in Tampa or the other coast, because it's so hard to get a charge..." he added.
Electric Vehicle Charging is a little bit more involved than your traditional visit to the gas station. It tends to take longer. But with the growing popularity of electric vehicles, more and more chargers are popping up around the state.
At the FPL Plaza Evolution Charging Station in Downtown West Palm Beach, we met with Crystal Stiles from Florida Power and Light, who showed me how EV owners are able to fast charge with energy drawn directly from the sun.
"The charging stations that we are installing today look very similar to what you see here today. The uniqueness of this site is the solar canopy that is integrated with the battery storage..." Stiles said.
Right now, Florida Power and Light has roughly 70 similar charging stations across Florida, with plans to install about 50 more. Still, there are plenty of remote areas in Florida where owning or driving an EV can be difficult.
"We're an energy company, 100 years ago, when we started our business, our intent was to deliver energy to their homes and businesses, and today it's our vehicles, and today this is just another example of us delivering energy where our customers need it." Stiles added.
Plus, it's not just charging ports that FPL has invested in. They now have Mobile Charging Stations, which can be deployed in the event of a Hurricane, where people need to evacuate by EV.
"We at FPL prioritize our rural corridors just as much as our urban ones. We know people travel east-west across the state all the time, so there are chargers in the center of the state, but adding to that and amplifying that is very important." Stiles said.
For drivers like Foronda, though, those new chargers can't come soon enough.
"Honestly, it comes to a point where I can't get charge from an actual station like this, then I'm going to have to switch back to gasoline, because there are more gas stations everywhere. Everywhere I go, there is a gas station." Foronda said.