Ohio is one of the cheapest states for charging up an electric car.

Why it matters: It turns out there can be big price differences depending on where EV owners are plugging in their autos, Alan Neuhauser reports for Axios Pro: Climate Deals.

• Those gaps suggest EV charging companies are still figuring out how to price a top-off.

By the numbers: In Ohio, it costs an average of $0.38 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to charge an electric car at public charging stations — a price that makes us the 13th least expensive state in the country.

• The national average is $0.45 per kWh, per data gathered by Stable Auto, an EV charger software developer.

What's happening: Charging networks such as Electrify America, EVgo, and ChargePoint consider a host of factors in setting their charging price — not least the local electricity rate.

• Cheap electricity in America's Midwest, for example, may explain the discounts in Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and Kansas, which aren't exactly hotbeds of EV adoption.

Zoom in: Pricing may be less of a worry here than finding a public charging station in the first place.

• Nationally, we had the 15th fewest public charging stations per 100,000 residents, per a 2022 analysis by Governing Magazine. (And, you may recall, a charging desert on Interstate 75 in Ohio almost derailed our colleague Joann Muller's EV road trip last winter.)

What they're saying: "Prices are probably set incorrectly and don't reflect underlying supply-demand," Stable CEO Rohan Puri tells Axios.

• "There is still a lot of price herding in the industry with players, by and large, setting their prices based on what other nearby chargers have set their prices at."

What we're watching: By the end of the year, Ohio expects to have eliminated charging deserts along its interstates.

• Interstate 70, just west of Columbus, was the site of of the first charging station funded by a $5 billion EV infrastructure initiative spearheaded by President Biden.
• And about two dozen more new public fast-charging locations are expected to go live this year, per the state — enough to satisfy federal rules that call for fast-charging stations at least every 50 miles along interstates.

We were honestly skeptical about Dublin's ambitious marketing idea to entice travelers from Ireland during St. Patrick's Day festivities.

• We're eating crow and corned beef, though, because it actually worked.

What happened: "The Other Dublin" campaign offered Irish citizens three days of free beer if they visited the Columbus suburb between March 8 and today.

• "What we lack in size, we make up for with charm … and shameless offers of free beer," read Visit Dublin Ohio's promo page.
• "Plus, you'll be the madman (or madwoman) of your friend group who really flew to America for booze. And that's priceless."

Incredibly, around 10 madmen and women made the international trip over the last two weekends, tourism bureau spokesperson Sara Blatnik tells us, including a group of four lads and several other couples.

• Many have family or other connections here, Blatnik says, but the promotion helped spur their travel plans.

The fine print: Those guests technically didn't get free beer — instead they each got a $200 Visa gift card.

• Blatnik says they pledged to use their gift cards as intended.

The big picture: This promotion apparently delighted Irish residents, news outlets and talk shows, which flooded Blatnik's office with questions and media requests.

• "I'd say our goals have been met for sure," she says, noting the campaign may return in 2025.

What's next: Blatnik wants to collaborate with the Dublin, Ireland, tourism bureau to start a two-way travel promotion each March, but it might take new direct flights between CMH and DUB to make that happen.

• This month, Irish visitors landed in Cleveland and made the drive down I-71 to cash in the promotion.

Dublin's tourism campaign has us thinking … which other communities could attempt a similar marketing strategy?

• After all, Ohio has dozens of cities that share names with foreign places. There's a lot of potential here:

🌭 New Rome: The West Broad Street village has been dissolved for years, but we don't have to tell visiting Italians that.

• Native Romans could be treated to complimentary Tony's Coneys and slots at nearby Hollywood Casino Columbus.

📽 Bexley: Visitors from the London suburb could score free tickets to the Drexel Theatre and enjoy an authentic drive around a downtown roundabout.

• If they get bored, send them west to our very own London.

🏈 Canton: You might not know Ohio's eighth largest city was named for the massive port city in China.

• Tourists will surely love to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame and its new amusement park section.

Selection Sunday has come and gone, and the brackets for the NCAA men's and women's tournaments are set.

State of play: Let the madness begin. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people set out to correctly predict the winner of the Big Dance.

• Now it's time for Axios Columbus readers to give it a shot.

How it works: Sign up for our newsletter group on ESPN and enter a bracket for the men's or women's side (or both!).

• If it asks, use "Axios" for a password.
• Entries must be completed by noon Thursday.

What's next: Once the tournaments wrap up, we'll see who had the most accurate predictions and select the winners — who will earn bragging rights and a piece of swag.

Reality check: Tyler will be entering, too. You will almost certainly fill out better brackets than him.