NewsLocal NewsLee County

Actions

With rising gas prices, will Southwest Floridians go electric?

Posted at 12:52 AM, Mar 15, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-15 05:45:09-04

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Gas prices are on the climb, and that's making some consider turning away from the pump and toward the charging station.

“I know a lot of people that drive electric cars. We’re from Boulder, Colorado and it’s pretty popular out there. There’s a lot of charging stations all over so you get free charges and everything. It’s a pretty good way to go," explains BJ Urbiztondo, who was pumping his gas.

But should there be more charging stations in Southwest Florida? Urbiztondo says yes.

“That would be nice. There’s a lot of traffic down here," he says.

That's become a goal for Florida Power and Light, who plan on adding more electric charging stations throughout our area by the end of the year.

“We want to be supportive of our EV drivers. So through our FPL Evolution program, we’re actually going to increase the availability of public access to EV chargers by 50 percent," explains Peter Martinez, FPL spokesperson.

But the push to EV's is also showing itself in some Southwest Florida businesses.

David Webster, CMO of Solar Direct, says it was the next step for the company.

“I was looking at all the options and the F-150 lightning had a feature that nobody else had that I was chasing, and that feature is that you can actually connect it to your house and power the home," he says.

And while he argues that while costly up front, it can actually end up saving more than they would by sticking with gas.

“When I had my F-250 Diesel, I was spending 380 dollars a month in fuel. And when I switched to the electric car it cost me about 30 dollars a month in electricity. So that savings is huge," he explains.