There are 17 new Level 2 PowerFlex Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers at Goleta City Hall, 130 Cremona Drive, and the community is invited to see them during a ribbon cutting ceremony, 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan, 23.
The cutting of a green ribbon will mark completion of the project and the official opening of the EV chargers for all to use, the city said.
The event will also be a chance to see a quick demonstration of how to use the chargers. Spanish interpretation will be provided and light refreshments will be served.
“This project is a huge step forward in our mission to transition to zero emission vehicles and our commitment to provide publicly available EV charging at city-owned facilities,” said Mayor Paula Perotte, who will be among those speaking at the event.
“We’re excited to unveil this project and we invite you to come charge with us,” she said.
The project was funded by Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Charge Ready Program and Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District’s (APCD) Clean Air Grants for Infrastructure Program, and was designed for use by the public, employees, and city fleet charging.
The City Hall EV Charging project was developed to support the Goleta in transitioning to meet California’s new EV and clean transportation goals.
Infrastructure work provided by SCE for the project is estimated to be worth about $250,000, provided at no cost to the city through SCE’s Charge Ready Infrastructure and Rebate Program.
Additionally, a grant of $22,000 was awarded to Goleta by APCD’s Clean Air Grants for Infrastructure Program to offset the costs of the new PowerFlex Level 2 chargers.
The city said it will be seeking additional grant funding from Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) and/or other sources to cover the remaining project cost of $11,000.
“In September 2020, the state of California issued an executive order requiring all new passenger vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2035,” the city said. “By installing these public EV chargers, the city is addressing one of the main barriers to switching from a gas-powered vehicle to one that runs on electricity: access to reliable EV charging.
“With this recent installation, the chargers at City Hall meet Level 2 charging standards, meaning they have 208-volt to 240-volt plugs, adding 20 to 60 miles per hour of charge.”
Learn more about Goleta’s Sustainability Program and projects at https://cityofgoleta.org/sustainability.