Arizona's electric vehicle plan has been approved by the Fede ral Highway Administration.

The OK came this week after the Arizona Department of Transportation submitted its draft proposal in August.

The state now has $11.3 million available for its proposal - the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan - with another $16.3 million coming in October to begin implementing the plan for upgrading electric vehicle charging stations and finding more locations.

Those funds are a portion of the overall $76.5 million allocated for the program in Arizona over the next five years through the recently enacted federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Advertising for bids to upgrade existing stations will begin in spring of 2023 followed by bid solicitations in autumn 2023 for new construction, transportation officials said Thursday, adding the plan calls for stations to be no more than 50 miles apart wherever possible.

In many cases, stations will be located where there is already infrastructure in place, such as truck stops, roadside lodging, restaurants and shopping centers.

The alternative fuel corridors are identified as all five of the federal interstate highways throughout the state - interstates 8, 10, 15, 17 and 19, which account for more than 20 percent of all the vehicle miles traveled in Arizona, according to ADOT.

“Among the specific goals of the plan are reducing electric vehicle drivers’ ‘range anxiety’ by closing gaps in the charging network along the designated corridors and ensuring the network is resilient, equitable, accessible and reliable,” transportation officials said in a relase.