Route 66 has always been about more than getting from one place to another. It is about the journey—the roadside businesses, small towns, neon signs, diners, motels, trading posts, landscapes and people that made the “Mother Road” part of American culture.
As Route 66 celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026, DRIVE Electric Arizona believes the best way to preserve that legacy is not simply to look backward. It is to make sure the road remains relevant, accessible and economically important for the next generation of travelers.
Arizona is uniquely positioned to do that. Our state has 385.2 miles of Historic Route 66—the longest preserved stretch of the original road in the country—running through communities including Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams, Seligman, Kingman and smaller communities across northern and western Arizona.
Preserving history by keeping it alive
Historic preservation works best when historic places continue to have a purpose.
Route 66 survived because communities fought to preserve it after Interstate 40 bypassed many of them. Today, its historic buildings, roadside attractions and businesses continue to draw travelers from around the United States and the world.
Electric vehicles represent another chapter in that transportation story.
A century ago, Route 66 helped introduce Americans to a new era of automobile travel. Gas stations, garages, restaurants and lodging developed along the highway to serve those travelers. Today, EV charging infrastructure can serve much the same purpose for a new generation of motorists.
We don't want to change what makes Route 66 special. We want to make sure EV drivers can experience it.
Charging can become rural economic development
There is another important reason DRIVE Electric Arizona is working along the corridor: many Route 66 communities are rural communities where tourism dollars matter.
Charging an electric vehicle creates something valuable for a local economy: time.
While a vehicle charges, travelers can have lunch, visit a museum, explore a historic downtown, shop at a local business or spend the night. A charging stop doesn't have to be somewhere beside the interstate. Properly located charging can encourage travelers to leave I-40 and rediscover the communities along Historic Route 66.
That creates opportunities for locally owned restaurants, hotels, museums, attractions, retailers and other small businesses.
It is why charging infrastructure should be considered not simply transportation infrastructure, but economic-development infrastructure.
That approach is consistent with Arizona's broader historic-road planning, which specifically recognizes preservation, visitor experience, tourism and economic development as interconnected goals.
Keeping Route 66 competitive as a tourism destination
The vehicles people take on road trips are changing.
As more families own EVs, they will increasingly choose destinations and routes where they know they can charge confidently. Communities with convenient, reliable charging become easier places to visit. Communities without them risk being bypassed.
For Historic Route 66, that makes EV readiness a tourism issue.
An EV driver should be able to travel Arizona's Mother Road without wondering whether the next charger is too far away or whether a charging gap will force them back onto the interstate.
A Route 66 corridor with strategically located Level 2 and DC fast charging can give travelers the confidence to slow down, explore and stay longer.
And slowing down is exactly what Route 66 is about.
Connecting communities across Arizona
Our interest in Route 66 stretches well beyond one town or one event.
DRIVE Electric Arizona has been building relationships and holding EV activities throughout the corridor—from Kingman and the western Route 66 communities to Flagstaff, Winslow and communities farther east. The historic highway also passes through Peach Springs and the Hualapai Nation, illustrating how Route 66 connects rural communities, Tribal Nations, tourism destinations and regional economies across northern Arizona.
Our EV participation in the annual Historic Route 66 Fun Run and our Route 66 Centennial activities is part of that larger effort.
They demonstrate something important: electric vehicles and historic automobiles don't compete for Route 66. They belong on the road together.
A restored '57 Chevy, a Mustang from the muscle-car era and a new electric pickup all represent chapters in the same American transportation story.
The next 100 years
Route 66 began as transportation infrastructure. Over the past century it became history, culture, tourism and an economic lifeline for many communities.
Its second century presents another opportunity.
By helping communities add reliable charging, welcoming EV travelers, working with local leaders and businesses, and bringing EV owners onto the Mother Road, we can help create a corridor where preservation and progress reinforce one another.
Preserve the history. Support rural economies. Expand tourism. And make sure the Mother Road is ready for whatever Americans choose to drive next.
That's why DRIVE Electric Arizona is working to help electrify Historic Route 66—not to replace its past, but to help carry it forward.