EV Charging Making Inroads to Rural America, Tennessee and Rivian Partnership Shows

Rivian Chargers were installed at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Pikeville, Tennessee, seen here in March 2023, as part of a partnership with Tennessee State Parks and Rivian. Chase Smith/The Epoch Times

The push to electrify America’s roadways has reached Tennessee state parks in recent years, as the state partnered with electric vehicle (EV) company Rivian to install electric car chargers in some of the most remote areas of the state.

For example, Fall Creek Falls State Park, the largest and most visited state park in Tennessee, now has chargers at two locations within the park. The park is located in rural Pikeville, Tennessee, approximately two hours or 126 miles from the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville.

The partnership between the state and the company aims to encourage the use of electric vehicles in Tennessee and support the state’s efforts to promote sustainable transportation. Installing these chargers in state parks makes them more accessible to residents and visitors alike, while also promoting tourism for EV owners.

Rivian is a company that has gained significant attention in recent years for its electric vehicles, which cater more toward outdoor enthusiasts than typical electric vehicles—currently offering only a truck and an SUV as options.

Their vehicles also promise longer driving ranges, with the top-of-the-line Rivian R1T truck having an EPA-estimated range of 328 miles, making it the highest-range electric truck on the market, according to Inside EVs.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), the state agency over all Tennessee State Parks, has worked since at least 2018 to prepare for electric vehicle adoption.

“As Tennesseans increasingly rely on electric vehicles, our state parks can play a significant role to enable recreation in all corners of our state,” TDEC Commissioner David Salyers said when the partnership was announced in 2021. “TDEC is committed to clean air, and the shift toward electric vehicles is an excellent step forward for air quality.”

Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee had similar sentiments, saying the collaboration would support Tennessee jobs while enhancing the state’s “already unmatched” state park system.

Electrifying Tennessee Parks

“TDEC is committed to helping power the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) across Tennessee,” said TDEC Communications Director Kim Shofinski in an email to The Epoch Times. “Increased EV infrastructure can help reduce emissions, improve air quality, and decrease transportation-related energy costs.”

Shofinski added Tennessee State Parks are a natural fit for EV charging stations because with 57 state parks across the state, “no matter where you are, you are within an hour of a state park.”

She said having the chargers in state parks connects drivers with all Tennessee State Parks have to offer in terms of outdoor recreation opportunities and the communities surrounding the parks, several of which are rural.

TDEC said Rivian’s partnership came at no cost to the state or taxpayers and they will be maintenanced by the company through 2031.

A Rivian electric pickup truck sits in a parking lot at a Rivian service center in South San Francisco on May 9, 2022. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

“Rivian also covers all network access fees, equipment service, and maintenance through 2031,” Shofinski said. “Any potential future cost to drivers may be dependent on system wide utilization to recover electricity costs. The specific cost would vary based on current electricity rates at that time.”

Neither Rivian or TDEC had data available for how often the electric chargers have been used thus far.

“We do not have utilization data to share at this time,” Shofinski added.

Rivian Partners With State Parks

Part of the reason Rivian said it was important to them to partner with Tennessee State Parks is to help fill in EV charging infrastructure gaps, according to Trent Warnke, Rivian senior director of Energy and Charging Solutions.

“Our goal in this partnership was to help fill the EV charging infrastructure gap at our treasured parks to support the transition to electric transportation,” said Warnke in an emailed response to questions from The Epoch Times. “Our focus is on working to provide peace of mind to EV drivers by helping them get around and back home safely from their favorite remote destinations.”

Rivian plans to introduce more state partnerships shortly, Warnke said. The company has already announced partnerships with Colorado, South Carolina, and some National Parks.

He explained moving forward, the focus of the company’s efforts is on their Rivian Adventure Network of DC fast chargers.

“This network places DC fast chargers along adventure routes and highway corridors,” he said in the emailed statement.

The Rivian Adventure Network is a network of fast-charging sites nationwide that will initially be capable of adding up to 140 miles of range in 20 minutes to Rivian’s R1T (truck) and R1S (SUV) models. The network is planned to grow to include more than 3,500 fast chargers at over 600 locations across the United States and Canada.

As far as the cost to installing the chargers in state parks, Rivian did not give a specific answer, rather stating installation and maintenance costs of charging stations in remote areas “vary widely.”

The cost to charge at the beginning of the sponsorship is free, with the state of Tennessee deciding whether to charge for charging in the future.

“Site hosts can determine the revenue model that works for them–they can set pricing and charge customers for use or offer charging as an amenity,” he said. “In this instance, these installations and the maintenance of the charging sites for 10 years was a donation from Rivian.”

The chargers will not only work on Rivian vehicles, but the chargers installed at Tennessee State Parks are equipped with a J1772 plug, an EV charging standard, making them compatible with any electric vehicle.

ESG Partnership

Rivian has entered a partnership with Nashville-based Clearloop to bring more solar energy into its charging stations.

Clearloop partners with companies of all sizes to meet thier environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. The ESG movement is a derivative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which was passed down to the corporate world via Wall Street, and marketed as an investment strategy for companies to follow.

Employees work on an assembly line at startup Rivian Automotive's electric vehicle factory in Normal, Ill., on April 11, 2022. Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters

Clealoop explains they help meet the ESG goals of companies by “reclaiming their carbon footprint, expanding access to clean energy, and cleaning up the grid through the construction of new solar projects in American communities otherwise getting left behind.”

To do this, they use solar capacity, measured in watts, as the mechanism of “reclaiming … carbon emissions from the grid.” The partnership with Rivian brings online the company’s “first megawatt of renewable energy” through a solar farm in Paris, Tennessee. Clearloop says Rivian provided upfront funding for the first megawatt of electricity, which will become a 6.75-megawatt project.

Clearloop’s approach to bringing renewable energy online in areas like rural Tennessee to power things like electric cars are a different approach than the large share of renewable energy projects up and running to this point.

Clearloop says power purchase agreements, long-term contracts for a set amount of renewable power at a set price, have driven the lion’s share of new corporate renewable energy projects.

“While they’ve been impactful in bringing new clean energy online, they’re scaling quickly primarily in states with liquid wholesale electricity markets or retail choice, where the majority of corporations have focused their investments,” the company’s website explains. “That has led to an uneven distribution of solar and wind, with states like California and Texas well-subscribed but others, notably in the Southeast and Mountain West, still rely on comparatively fewer renewables and more fossil fuels.”

Clearloop says this leads to inequity across the country in terms of clean energy, with Tennessee’s grid powered by 0.4 percent solar compared to California at 16 percent solar.

“As a result, a megawatt hour of electricity in Tennessee emits around 32% more carbon than a megawatt hour in Northern California, according to WattTime, a non-profit that tracks the carbon emissions that renewables avoid. And each new renewable project that goes to a place more like Northern California over a place like Tennessee increases that disparity and has a smaller system-wide emissions reductions impact.”

Rivian itself wants to achieve carbon neutrality in its own operations by 2032.