SAN DIEGO, CA – The County of San Diego announced that during 2022 it made progress in promoting the ownership and use of electric vehicles (EVs), reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, and supporting climate action and decarbonisation efforts.
By April 2023, the County’s fleet will have 126 EVs and another 133 on order. This will bring the County’s total number of electric cars to 259, exceeding the EV roadmap target of 250 fleet vehicles by 2025. The County is also working to transition medium and heavy-duty vehicles to clean, zero-emission fuels.
To keep these EVs charged and on the move, 119 new Level II charging stations have been added to the County’s Operations Centre car park, bringing the total number of electric car chargers installed to 203 by 2022. And with funding through the operating budget and up to $3 million in grants, 282 additional charging stations will be installed at up to 17 locations in the County over the next five years.
The San Diego County Library has also purchased two all-electric mobile vans and plans to purchase three more to expand mobile library services to residents and students throughout the region. These vans will be equipped with charging stations at the Ramona, Borrego, Fallbrook and Julian libraries. And for greater fleet efficiency, the County’s Land Use and Environment Group and the Department of General Services agreed to share electric vehicles.
And by allowing employees to telework in 2022, the County avoided 36 million 529,767 vehicle miles of travel. That’s a 26% reduction in commute miles if employees worked in the office full-time, avoiding an estimated 10,611 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) of planting 17,685 trees.
The county is also identifying areas for public EV charging stations in unincorporated communities, including multi-family developments and locations where EV support infrastructure is lacking. The county has installed 56 public EV charging stations and plans to place four Level II stations at the Southeastern Live Well Centre, two Level II stations at the Lakeside Library and 19 more shared public/fleet stations at the Youth Transition Campus in the coming year.
In addition, the County has also worked with the Department of Transportation to designate new alternative fuel corridors for electric vehicles, including State Route (SR) 67 (from I-8 in El Cajon to Eucalyptus Hills), SR 94 (from downtown San Diego to SR 188) and SR 125 (from SR 905 in Otay Mesa to SR 52 in El Cajon). This action will increase public accessibility to electric vehicle charging and reshape the regional transportation system to support the transition to electric vehicles.
Since streamlining its permitting process, the county has also approved approximately 950 electric vehicle charging stations at private homes and commercial developments in the unincorporated area.
In late 2022, SANDAG and the county received a planning grant from Caltrans to research and design an incentive programme that will offer rebates to residents for the purchase or lease of zero-emission vehicles.
Also, in 2022, the Board also tasked staff to analyze current and future needs and demands for hydrogen fueling for medium and heavy-duty vehicles (i.e., trucks, buses, freight, construction equipment) in the unincorporated area to support regional fleets. The results will be incorporated into the Climate Action Plan update.
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