Kansas awards grants to install electric vehicle charging stations

Kansas has awarded $2 million in grants to the operators of travel centers on Interstate 70 and the Kansas Turnpike to install charging stations for electric vehicles.

The state Department of Transportation announced grants Friday for stations in seven locations. The grants are financed with funds from legal settlements with German automaker Volkswagen Corp. over its admission in 2015 that diesel-engine cars were programmed to turn on emissions controls during government lab tests and turn them off while on the road.

The department said the grants were designed to put charging stations along the state’s most-traveled highways.

The stations are to be installed along I-70 at Oakley, WaKeeney, Russell, Abilene and Maple Hill, west of Topeka. On the turnpike, the stations are to be installed at its Matfield Green service area in central Kansas and its Belle Plaine service area south of Wichita.