Georgia Round 1 NEVI proposals released

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GDOT has posted four companies' Round 1 NEVI proposals on their NEVI website. Nothing is finalized but each proposal includes at least one of the five Round 1 locations/areas:

• Love's Travel Stops only put in one proposal, for the Love's location at I-95 and US 82 near Brunswick. It is heavily redacted.
  • Incidentally, it seems like Love's just missed out on 3 other locations since they don't have travel stops at exits that GDOT permitted for bidding; the Love's in Macon is one exit too far north for what GDOT called "Fort Valley," the Love's in Tifton is one exit too far south, and the Love's in Dublin is one exit too far west. Coincidence...? It does seem a bit fishy.
• Silver Comet Energy also only put in one proposal, for the new RaceTrac gas station at I-16 and US 319/441 south of Dublin. No redactions.
• Francis Energy also only submitted one proposal, for the Wendy's restaurant at I-75 and GA 49/540 in Byron ("Fort Valley"). The lack of 24/7 facilities may make this proposal a loser. They are proposing using 400 kW Signet units here. No redactions.
• EnviroSpark Energy Solutions is the only company to put in proposals for all five locations. They may be fronting for one of the companies that they do a lot of installation work for, including Tesla, Electrify America, and ChargePoint, or they may be wanting to operate on their own. A lot of their proposal is redacted. Their proposals are:
  • Brunswick: Waffle House near I-95 and US 82 interchange (125 Palisade Drive).
  • Dublin: Waffle House (108 Travel Center Blvd.) or Dublin Visitors Center (102 Travel Center Blvd.), both at the I-16 interchange with US 319/441.
  • "Fort Valley": either the Waffle House west of I-75 (249 GA 49) or the Waffle House east of I-75 (301 GA 49), both in Byron. Yes, there are two at the same interchange. Byron loves them some Waffle House.
  • Metter: Waffle House (1115 S. Lewis Street), Days Inn (1225 S. Lewis Street), or Shell (1205 S. Lewis Street). All of these are just north of I-16 on GA 23/121.
  • Tifton: one of three Waffle Houses or the Georgia Agricultural Museum (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College). These are at various exits off I-75.

If that's all that's been submitted, there are some surprising omissions: no apparent interest from EVgo/Pilot-Flying J, Electrify America, Tesla, Mercedes/ChargePoint, or Circle K. It looks like EnviroSpark has a pretty strong lineup and I can see GDOT being tempted to award everything to them since (a) they're local, (b) they're minority-owned, and (c) they won't have to deal with multiple contractors.

 

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GDOT announced the winners for the five sites in round 1 today: Georgia DOT Continues to Advance the Deployment of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

1. Tifton Location (PI. No. 0019828): EnviroSpark Networks, Inc. – Waffle House (706 7th Street West, Tifton, GA 31794)
2. Fort Valley Location (PI. No. 0019829): Francis Energy Charging, LLC – Wendy’s (318 GA-49, Byron, GA 31008)
3. Dublin Location (PI. No. 0019830): Silver Comet Energy, Inc. – RaceTrac Gas Station (2262 US-441, Dublin, GA 31021)
4. Metter Location (PI. No. 0019831): EnviroSpark Networks, Inc. – Shell Super Stop Gas Station (1205 S Lewis Street, Metter, GA 30439)
5. Brunswick Location (PI. No. 0019832): Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Inc. – Love’s Travel Stop (2766 Hwy 17, Brunswick, GA 31523)

Frankly I'm surprised they went with the Wendy's location in Byron since it lacks 24/7 facilities, although that's less of a concern with Buc-ee's being open 24/7 just two exits to the south.

Hopefully they release the RFP for round 2 shortly now they've figured out what they're doing, as they're sitting on a lot of cash that could fill some important gaps elsewhere in the state like I-85 southwest of Atlanta, I-20 between Atlanta and Augusta, and I-75 between Chattanooga and Atlanta, along with other corridors.