The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is leading the effort to bulk up the state’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“The buyer that has purchased these cars needs to have the same opportunities as those that are driving gasoline-powered engines,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell.

More electric cars are expected to be on roadways. A report from Reuters estimated that EV sales could reach 33 % globally by 2028, compared to 8 % in 2021. In the US, the White House set the goal for 50 % of new vehicles sold in 2030 to be electric.

Mercedes-Benz has launched production of the all-electric luxury EQS SUV at its Tuscaloosa County plant, part of a global strategy of next-generation technology that is ushering in a new era for Alabama’s auto industry.

Mercedes has invested $7 billion in the state since it arrived in the early 1990s, and Alabama workers began producing the M-Class SUV in 1997. Multiple expansions, new model launches and innovation upgrades have followed, with more than 4 million vehicles shipped from the plant around the world.

Twenty-five years after Mercedes-Benz began making vehicles in Alabama, the German automaker ushered in its newest phase today, as the Vance plant in Tuscaloosa County celebrated the beginning of electric SUV production.

It was the cap on five years of activity and more than $1 billion pumped into the operation, which also added an electric battery factory in Bibb County earlier this year, as well as 1,000 more employees.