Top U.S. utilities collaborate to build electric vehicle charging stations

(Reuters) - Six major utilities unveiled a plan on Tuesday to add electric vehicle fast chargers to connect major highway systems across United States, as they look to cater to the burgeoning electric vehicle market.

The Electric Highway Coalition - made up of American Electric Power, Dominion Energy D.N>, Duke Energy, Entergy Corp, Southern Co and Tennessee Valley Authority - is looking to provide charging stations within their service territories from the Atlantic Coast, through the Midwest and South, and into the Gulf and Central Plains regions.

The initiative comes as President Joe Biden has made boosting electric vehicles a top priority and pledged to build 550,000 new EV charging stations. Automakers including Tesla Inc, BMW and General Motors plan major expansions in EV production.

"The path to cleaner transportation is a robust charging infrastructure along the nation's major highways," said Lang Reynolds, director of Electrification Strategy for Duke Energy.

"Range anxiety is a barrier to more EV adoption. This coalition can erase those obstacles and help deliver the benefits of EV ownership to consumers," Reynolds added.

American Electric Power said it is working with select customers across its service territory to help them understand the benefits of electrifying their own vehicle fleets.

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)