The state Board of Public Utilities will convene a Trenton meeting Friday with the stakeholders who would hash out the future of electric vehicle support in the state.

BPU President Richard Mroz says "there are more and more electric vehicles being made available, and people interested in purchasing them and getting them on the roads, we really do not have the infrastructure to charge them."

"Back in 2011, and then again in 2015, the Christie administration's energy master plan, and the plan update in 2015, recognized that alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicles, or even natural gas-fueled vehicles, were initiatives that we wanted to support and advance. This stakeholder group, this process that we are going through, is the next generation in trying to advance that electric vehicle infrastructure."

Mroz says New Jerseyans are enthusiastic about EVs.

"We will have to see what the companies like the electric companies and the others that want to build this infrastructure can bring to New Jersey."

The number of EVs in Jersey has grown to over 10,000 in just five years, but the number of charging stations has not kept pace with that growth.

"We need to discuss, and actively with the electric distribution companies, what role that they want to have, what kind of infrastructure they can deploy and put in place, and the role that they would have. Now of course, there also are other companies that would want to build out this kind of infrastructure on a competitive basis, and we will be having conversations with all of those companies as well."

Mroz says of the Friday meeting that they want to hear from the stakeholders before determining any next steps, "we want to know what everyone's opinions are."

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5

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