Rachel Grossman on Wednesday, 01 June 2011 18:26
Sonoma County Recipient of Most EV-Ready Community Award!
The Bay Area Climate Collaborative is pleased to announce that Sonoma County has been selected as the “Most EV-Ready Community 2011” for its wide-ranging policies to accelerate widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption and municipal usage of EVs. The City of Vacaville was runner up.
In 2008, Mayors Newsom, Reed and Dellums set a goal of establishing the Bay Area the “EV Capital of the United States.” This award recognizes those communities doing exemplary work towards achieving this goal by recognizing their efforts to catalyze the EV market, which will reduce dependence on petroleum, improve national security, stem the flow of US resources abroad and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Eleven agencies were nominated for the award and their submittals were judged based upon number of installed and proposed charging stations, adopted policies and ordinances in support of EV charging stations, ease of permitting for EV charging stations, outreach and education to catalyze the EV market, and a number of other criteria.
By unanimous decision of the expert review panel, Sonoma County was selected as the winner. Reviewers praised Sonoma County for their comprehensive work to assimilate EV technologies, and highlighted their community outreach and education as having removed significant barriers to EV adoption. Their work to streamline the permitting process, expand their EV fleet, and robust plans to install public and fleet charging stations distinguish Sonoma County as a leader in spurring EV adoption in the Bay Area.
As runner-up, the City of Vacaville was commended by the expert review panel for their numerous charging station installations and their same day/over-the-counter permit review that facilitates rapid EV charging station installation.
The expert review committee played a crucial role in the success of this award program and included the following representatives:
- Andrew Michael – Bay Area Council
- Ben Tarbell – SolarCity
- Brenda Dix – Metropolitan Transportation Commission
- Jason Smith – ECOtality
- Jim Helmer – LightMoves Consulting
- Lynette Mandal and Michael Jones – Coulomb Technologies
- Ryan Prosser – Green Charge Networks
Congratulations to Sonoma County and the City of Vacaville, two of the Bay Area’s most EV-ready communities!