U.S. Highway 2 stretches across the Washington Cascades all the way from Everett to Spokane and now has the distinction of being the first electric-vehicle-friendly scenic byway in all of America.

According to the Spokesman-Review, the highway has charging stations all along it for electric cars. A group of electric vehicle enthusiasts teamed up with the North Central Washington Economic Development District to obtain a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for more charging stations, including in Everett, Sultan, Skykomish, Coles Corner, Leavenworth, Wenatchee, Waterville, Coulee City and Davenport before arriving in Spokane.

Avista Corp. is installing seven higher-powered fast chargers, including one at a historic blacksmith shop and later a service station in Rosalia. Another one is going in at Pullman. Others are planned for Liberty Lake, Spokane and the West Plains.

The stations are a mix of public and private chargers.Virtually all publicly available charging stations in the country with details on their capabilities and costs can be found at plugshare.com. A Level 2 charger can provide 30 to 60 miles of driving range in one hour, Brooks said. The higher-rated Level 3 chargers can provide 150 miles of range in an hour. At last count, around a year ago, Washington had 17.900 electric vehicles.

Washington State is now collecting a $150 annual license fee for electric vehicles and has committed $1 million to build more charging stations.

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