Georgia’s $24 Million Surge: Filling Highway Gaps and Reshaping the Charging Market

The state’s latest NEVI grants do more than build stations—they signal a shift in operator dominance and raise the stakes for commercial real estate owners along key corridors.

ATLANTA — Georgia is moving aggressively to close the remaining gaps in its electric vehicle infrastructure, approving $24.4 million in federal grants to construct 26 new fast-charging stations along the state’s most critical travel arteries.

The awards, approved by the State Transportation Board in late November, utilize National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funds allocated under the 2021 federal infrastructure law. While the program’s primary mandate is connectivity—ensuring drivers can find reliable power on interstate and U.S. highway routes—the latest funding round reveals a deeper shift in the charging economy. It signals the rise of new network operators, the growing importance of grid constraints in site selection, and a looming "amenity war" for highway-adjacent real estate.

The Rise of New Contenders

The most telling outcome of this funding cycle is not just where the money is going, but who is receiving it. While the industry is often dominated by a few massive legacy networks, Georgia’s NEVI grants highlight a diversifying playing field.

PowerUp America, a relative newcomer to the charging landscape, secured grants for 11 of the 26 sites. The remaining locations were awarded to a mix of established national networks and regional players. This distribution underscores a critical evolution in the NEVI program: it is not merely funding hardware; it is reshaping the competitive map for charge point operators (CPOs).

For the state, the priority remains compliance and coverage. Each public-private partnership funded by this tranche must design, build, and operate sites that meet strict federal standards: a minimum of four 150-kilowatt (kW) DC fast chargers per location, standardized CCS connectors, and rigorous 24/7 uptime requirements.

A New Standard for Highway Amenities

For commercial real estate (CRE) owners, the influx of federal dollars is likely to flow first to travel-oriented assets—truck stops, highway-adjacent retail centers, and mixed-use nodes near major interchanges. The longer-term implications will lie in tenant and customer expectations.

In the early days of EV adoption, a property owner could claim a competitive edge by installing a handful of 50-kW chargers in a parking lot. Those days are effectively over. With NEVI-funded sites mandating high-power, 150-kW-plus speeds capable of charging a vehicle in 20 minutes, hosts with legacy equipment may soon find themselves outmatched by brand-new, 600-kW capacity plazas just two exits away.

Georgia officials have clarified that this funding round is focused strictly on Alternative Fuel Corridors and long-distance redundancy, rather than urban neighborhood charging. For landowners along these routes, the window is open to position themselves as preferred partners for future phases—particularly those who can offer the "dwell time" amenities drivers crave, such as restrooms, food service, and security.

The Hidden Constraint: Grid Capacity

Behind the scenes, the Georgia awards illuminate a practical reality that is increasingly dictating the pace of electrification: grid constraints are deciding where chargers go.

While the state did not publicize every utility-side upgrade required for the winning bids, NEVI guidance strongly favors sites located near existing three-phase power and substations to avoid the punishing lead times associated with new utility infrastructure.

For site hosts, the takeaway is stark. The most valuable real estate in the EV era is no longer determined solely by traffic counts or visibility. A highly visible shopping center with a constrained feeder line may lose a bid to a slightly less prominent property that sits adjacent to a substation. In the race for charger density, access to power is becoming the ultimate location amenity.

Strategic Timing for Landlords

The new stations are expected to break ground in 2026, following the finalization of contracts and permitting. This timeline offers a strategic window for property owners.

The grants bring structure to the complex question of "who owns the customer." NEVI rules generally permit third-party CPOs to own and operate equipment on leased land, with landlords collecting rent or a share of the revenue. However, owners entering into long-term ground leases must now carefully scrutinize escalation formulas and retain rights to add future distributed energy resources—such as solar canopies or battery storage—on the same parcel.

For logistics operators and fleets, these public stations will not replace the need for "behind-the-fence" depot charging. Yet, they provide critical redundancy for long-haul routes and emergency top-ups. Owners of highway-adjacent industrial parks may find new value in carving out "outparcels" dedicated to public charging that can serve both passenger EVs and light-duty commercial vehicles.

As Georgia aligns its conduit and switchgear for this next wave of infrastructure, smart landlords will use the coming year to align their broader electrification plans, ensuring their properties are not just powered, but future-proof.