2011 has turned out to be a groundbreaking year for electric vehicles literally. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) earlier this week chose a shopping center in Bellingham as the first location to break ground on the state’s segment of the West Coast Electric Highway , part of a 444-kilometer stretch of road along Interstate 5 between Washington’s borders with Oregon and Canada.

Bellingham will host the Electric Highway’s first direct-current (DC) electric vehicle fast-charging station , designed by AeroVironment Inc. to provide a 30-minute recharge for all-electric vehicles. (AeroVironment has deployed fast-charging stations in other locations nationwide, including Hawaii , as have competitors such as ECOtality Inc. ) The Bellingham charging station will also include a pedestal with a 220-volt alternate-current (AC) outlet that can recharge one plug-in vehicle at a time at an intermediate rate of about two to eight hours, depending on the size of the battery. (Currently, some U.S. homes have 220-volt AC outlets installed to power air conditioners and clothes dryers. Most outlets supply 120-volt AC, which can charge e-cars at the slowest “trickle” rate.)