Wheatland Electric Cooperative has won a national award for educating its communities about electric vehicles and installing public chargers to help close a 100-mile gap between stations in southwest and central Kansas.
The 21,000-member, Scott City-based co-op beat out three large investor-owned utilities in Michigan, New York and New Jersey in the final round to win top honors in the utilities category of the 2025 Drive Electric Awards. The awards are given by Plug In America, a national, nonprofit organization that advocates for affordable, accessible EVs and charging stations.
“Though small, Wheatland Electric Cooperative leads with innovation—bridging the gap in rural America and proving no community is too small, too rural, or too remote to be part of the clean transportation future,” the group said in announcing the award.
Since 2021, WEC has installed three ChargePoint® Level 2 public charging stations—with two charging ports each—across an area where no chargers existed within a 100-mile radius. As of October, the stations have supported more than 1,500 charging sessions by nearly 670 different drivers. The co-op created them at its own expense.
“We’re in a part of the country that’s often overlooked, simply because we’re so rural,” said Shajia Donecker, the co-op’s multimedia specialist. “We are always striving to put our region on the EV maps, and I think Plug In America recognized that.”
The co-op also invites community members to test drive EVs at special events, which included a “Dine and Drive” lunch in 2024 in Great Bend that attracted 150 people for a free lunch and a chance to get behind the wheel of three different types of EVs.
The co-op brought its own two electric vehicles—a Hyundai Kona and a Ford F-150 Lightning—and an employe shared his Tesla Model Y. The co-op’s member services team won NRECA’s 2025 Service Excellence Gold Award for creating the “best external event.”
This year, the co-op held “EVs & Espressos” events at or near several local coffee shops, providing free coffee to help entice people to explore EVs as part of National Drive Electric Month.
“Our whole goal is to make EVs more approachable,” said Alli Conine, WEC’s director of member services and corporate communications. “When we give people those hands-on experiences, their perspectives change. We want them to have fun while learning more about EVs.”
EVs are still relatively scarce in the area and no local car dealers display them, making the co-op events the only chance many residents have to test drive an EV, Donecker said.
“We try to meet people where they are,” she said. “You get all kinds of reactions. Some people will say, ‘no, absolutely not, I don’t want anything to do with an EV.’ But you also get, ‘wow, I had no idea how much power an EV has.” About 99% of the time, the reaction is good after they get a chance to drive.”
WEC’s grassroots efforts have focused on EV “accessibility, reliability, and cost savings to resonate locally,” Plug In America said.
“Beyond consumers, Wheatland has provided training and education to first responders, chambers of commerce, and civic leaders. The co-op is also electrifying its fleet, mentoring cooperatives in Kansas and Oklahoma, and providing a replicable playbook for other rural coops across the U.S.”
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.