It forms part of an ongoing three-year US-wide infrastructure construction programme, called The EV Project, which is supervised by ECOtality. The $230m (£144.1m) public-private initiative is part-funded by the US Department of Energy, and will include 14,000 charging points at 16 states and metropolitan areas when complete.

In Tennessee, ECOtality has partnered with the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chain, who will provide locations for all of the 12 charging points. As well as a fast charger, which tops up to an 80% charge in 30 minutes, the company will install a slow-charge point at each store on the interstate.

‘By strategically placing Blink charging stations, we are collecting the data needed to build a commercial infrastructure which will untether drivers from their garages,’ said Jonathan Read, CEO of ECOtality.

‘We identified destination locations like Cracker Barrel as ideal for charging stations—places where people can grab a meal, charge up and go.’