NORTH CAROLINA – Duke Energy is mapping out where to place 200 public charging stations across North Carolina.

The N.C. Utilities Commission approved a $25 million pilot program to help encourage electric vehicle ownership.

Along with the public charging stations, Duke Energy will install another 80 charging stations at multi-family housing complexes and will replace 30 diesel-fueled school buses with zero-emission buses in North Carolina.

Duke Energy says it’s also using the program as a chance to study how electric vehicles impact the state’s energy grid.

“Learn about the charging habits of people, so we can better change our electric infrastructure to meet that in the future,” Spokesperson Randy Wheeless says.

Duke Energy says charging stations will most likely target major highways like 85, 77, 40, and 95, but there’s no set map.