A company trying to tackle the challenge of finding a vehicle charging station is expanding its manufacturing capabilities and moving their global headquarters into Prince George’s County, Maryland.
As electric vehicles become more common and numerous, it can be difficult to find a charging station that works.
Blink Charging, currently based in south Florida, cut the ribbon on a new and much bigger, manufacturing facility in Bowie’s new and growing Melford subdivision.
The ribbon-cutting came after Gov. Wes Moore and state and federal leaders from the White House and Congress toured the new facility.
“We went on a long search for where we’re going to place new manufacturing. We went state and state and state — interviews, wined and dined, the whole thing. And then we arrived back to Maryland,” said Blink President and CEO Brendan Jones.
“Maryland was really where we already had a workforce and was trained.”
It also helped that the state and the county were amenable to what the company needed, Jones added.
The expansion, which includes the addition of a second manufacturing shift, is expected to increase the annual production of electric vehicle chargers from about 12,000 to 15,000 to as many as 50,000 every year.
Blink is also working to build its new global headquarters in another building right next to the manufacturing plant.
“In there, we’re bringing in high-level engineers because it’s a testing facility. It’s a center for charge of quality and customer satisfaction,” Jones said, adding that the company hopes to open the new headquarters building later this summer in what he described as a “job creation exercise as much as positively impacting the environment.”
The chargers that will be manufactured out of the Bowie facility are “Buy America compliant,” Jones said.
Buy America is a provision that requires that federal tax dollars used to purchase steel, iron, and manufactured goods used in a transit project are produced domestically in the United States.
Moore, who has strongly advocated for green jobs in Maryland, said this will be a significant boost for the area in a lot of different ways.
“This is a really big deal for the state of Maryland. This is a big deal for this country,” Moore said.
The governor said the manufacturing plant will have an impact in tin employment and the climate.
“That’s going to help to have advanced manufacturing taking place in the state of Maryland, and also to address the climate,” Moore said.
National climate adviser Ali Zaidi, who is an assistant to President Joe Biden, also attended the ribbon-cutting on Monday.
“It’s an investment in our workers. And it’s an investment in the industrial competitiveness of the United States of America,” Zaidi said.
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