The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG), and Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) have partnered to develop a Central Coast Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy that will identify electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure needs in the Central Coast Counties (Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito) as well as Ventura County. The Transportation Agency is supporting this effort. The goal of this effort is to identify future charging infrastructure siting and technology needs to accommodate future travel demand specifically for interregional motorists, regional transit services, and freight. A key emphasis will be on addressing the region’s electromobility needs for accommodating intercity travel within the less developed unincorporated areas of the Central Coast and underserved populations such as disadvantaged communities and residents of multi-family dwelling units.
Key Objectives:
- Assess the existing EV infrastructure environment in the Central Coast – with a specific focus on unincorporated rural areas between cities that experience significant interregional travel;
- Identify key challenges, gaps, and barriers to EV travel for interregional travelers including long-distance commuters; regional transit providers, freight and other users as determined through input solicited from key stakeholders;
- Identify where equity issues currently exist with access to EV charging and ensure infrastructure improvements and investments are equitable and accessible to all users including traditionally underserved populations; and
- Recommend infrastructure improvements and related investments, policies and implementation strategies to promote ZEV adoption through charging infrastructure investments based on analysis and stakeholder input.
Through development of this plan, all Central Coast agencies will be better positioned to apply and/or compete for state and federal funding for electric vehicle infrastructure implementation. This includes establishing a nexus with the federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program and Caltrans deployment plan to support/implement NEVI in California (see link below). At this time, Caltrans is refining its process for distributing NEVI formula funds. In addition, there is NEVI competitive grant funding that will be administered at the federal level through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Although there are other local/regional/state funding sources for electric charging infrastructure, the IIJA and NEVI funding are the most significant and therefore attractive to the Central Coast Strategy participating agencies.
Outreach
An important aspect of the Strategy is receiving public and stakeholder input. A project website www.centralcoastzevstrategy.com provides a portal for the public and stakeholders to learn more about the study and how to get involved and provide input.
Stakeholder meetings are planned to identify opportunities for collaboration, identify regulatory incentives and barriers, identify partnership avenues for creative funding opportunities, and to ultimately develop and deliver a successful program to support electromobility across all socio-economic segments.
To facilitate outreach efforts, an interactive mapping tool has been developed and is available for anyone to provide their thoughts or ideas on locations in a given County, community or the Central Coast in general, to benefit from electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The tool works with a Google Map like platform and allows the user to zoom in as close as desired to place a "pin" at a location of interest and provide a comment. This type of geo-reference feedback is essential for the development of the strategy and all are encouraged to click the link above and provide input. The tool will remain live until the end of November.