State Representative Dave Baker delivered a clear message during a Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce legislative coffee by noting electric vehicles are going to be a part of our future. "One of the things that is coming in economic development is change, and that's electric vehicles."
Baker said Kansas is short of charging stations. "I'm working with a company to put a network of charging stations in. They've already done it in 16 states. They want to put them in here. They'll have a charging station every 50 miles."
Baker stated there is some controversy on that proposed bill because it requires a tax credit of about $24 million from the state of Kansas. "Hopefully that will be going down. There's some money in the economic stimulus plan to help assist with that because the federal government is going to all electric vehicles."
Baker said the electric vehicles will change the dynamics on the way cars are sold. He added that he will be pushing hard on the electric charging stations bill.
The state representative also noted that electric charging stations will not be located out front of "A" locations but instead will be put in "B" locations in a hotel parking lot or a corner of a grocery store parking lot. It will take anywhere from seven minutes to an hour to charge a vehicle. Baker said 90-95 percent of the time the cars will be charged at home.