TULSA, OK (December 28, 2021) David Jankowsky is among those trying to remove a major
obstacle to consumer demand for electric vehicles: a lack of charging stations across rural America.
Mr. Jankowsky is chief executive of Francis Energy, a Tulsa, Okla.-based startup that has
been installing fast chargers in remote areas of the Great Plains, from tribal reservations to
lonely sections of Route 66. Some are in areas with hardly any electric cars on the road and
receive little use.
But two forces have Francis Energy in expansion mode: Billions of dollars for charging
infrastructure about to flow from Washington, and the pending rollout of several
electricpickup-truck models, a body style popular in the heartland.