Santa Barbara County Association of Governments is seeking public input to identify additional sites for future electric vehicle charging stations in six Central Coast counties including Santa Barbara.
Electric vehicles are said to be essential to the fight against climate change, propelling local agencies to increase the number of vehicle charging stations available, particularly in rural and traditionally underserved communities, an SBCAG spokeswoman said.
“Electric cars are the future of transportation and the number of these vehicles on the road continues to grow,” said Das Williams, SBCAG board chair. “We want to make charging as effortless as possible and need the public’s help to identify opportunities to make it even better and easier to charge on the fly.”
The goal is to identify ideal locations in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties via the live Central Coast Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy mapping tool.
Public input gathered via the tool will help create the Central Coast Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy, which will aid in the adoption of zero emission vehicles in the region, the spokeswoman said.
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The interactive mapping tool can be accessed by the public through October at www.bit.ly/CCZEV.
Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, Association of Monterey Bay Governments and San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, along with the six counties, have partnered to develop the strategy.
North County commuters who ride the Clean Air Express to jobs on the South Coast will help eliminate 450 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually each time they ride a new all-electric bus unveiled Friday morning in Buellton.
Santa Maria Regional Transit has begun its transition to a zero-emissions bus fleet, with plans to be 100% electric by 2024. The move puts the city in line to have the first fully-electric fleet on the Central Coast, and well ahead of state mandates.
Lisa André covers lifestyle and local news for Santa Ynez Valley News and Lompoc Record, editions of the Santa Maria Times.
