HOWARD, Wis. — Jesse Ehlen has owned an electric Ford-150 for just a short time.
A recent trip to Green Bay from Oconomowoc was a test of sorts.
“I’m actually planning a trip out to Wyoming for Yellowstone. I’m hoping to take this and see how well it works,” he said while charging the truck. “This is my test run to see how easy it is to use, how well everything communicates and how hard it is to get it done.”
Ehlen is no stranger to electric vehicles. He also owns a ford Mach-E.
“I have a lot of high-power vehicles at home, so this is my way of trying to be a little bit greener and not use gas all the time,” he said. “I’m not saying I don’t like to road trip on my motorcycle or my car.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration froze federal funds for the expansion of EV-charging infrastructure.
A number of states and organizations — including Wisconsin — are suing the administration over that executive order.
In Door County, an unrelated mini-grant program in place since 2023 has grown the number of public charging stations to more than 70. The grant is administered by Destination Door County.
“Lodging properties make a lot of sense because people are sleeping overnight,” said Jon Jarosh of Destination Door County. “We also want to try to have charging infrastructure at other places so people can maybe stop and shop and plug in. As more and more people are in Door County with their EVs, they’re going to need more and more chargers.”
The grant provides $1,000 to organizations and businesses beefing up access to public EV charging.
“We just try to really focus on what we can control here in Door County and that’s continuing to build out our own infrastructure here,” Jarosh said. “
Ehlen said his EVs have built-in navigation to chargers, which also includes a network of Tesla Superchargers.
“I can find a Supercharger for Tesla almost every 150 miles or so. It’s not a problem finding them, especially along the interstates,” he said. “When you go into suburbs or county roads, not quite as much. But if you plan your trip to interstates and try to leave from there and come back, I don’t think it’s too bad at all.”