During the Tuesday Lafayette City Council meeting, the council unanimously voted to authorize Sustainability Director Elizabeth Bocon to accept the grant on the city's behalf.
The grant will help fund the city's internal Electric Vehicle Action Plan, and facilitate the city's transition to electric vehicles and supporting infrastructure. The grant will pay for development at the Lafayette Public Works Service Center, 1700 Avalon Ave., the hub for fleet operation.
The project includes expanding the transformer at the service center, wiring for the EV charging stations, installation of 16 charging ports and new concrete and striping for the location.
In August, the city adopted the Climate Action Plan with the goal of reducing the city's emission reductions by 80% by 2030, based off 2021 levels. In alignment with that goal, the city aims to transition 30% of its fleet to electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles by 2030.
"We're going to continue to work with staff to do further EV transitions, currently we have 15 EV vehicles operating within the city," Bocon said.
The city has 211 fleet vehicles, including 62 off-road vehicles and 149 on-road gas vehicles with 74% of on-road vehicles driving less than 50 miles per day.
Currently, the charging stations for the city's fleet are City Hall, Bob Burger Recreation Center, and the Lafayette Library. However, those charging stations have limited spots available for public use. The city chose to expand EV stations at the service center to meet the fleet's charging demands.
Bocon said the project will allow the city to serve up to 40 electric vehicles. She said this project is just the start, and the city will continue to add more EV and EV infrastructure in the future.
The city is also working with Xcel Energy's EV program supply infrastructure program to install an additional transformer at the service center at no additional cost to the city.
The total project costs $479,290. Bocon anticipates the initiative to see construction begin in summer 2025, and be fully online by the end of fall.
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