Orange County NC Website
11 <br /> 1 Slide #11 <br /> FY2025-35 Recommended Capital Investment Plan <br /> Environmental Protection and Climate Action <br /> Transportation Goals <br /> • Electric Vehicle & Infrastructure <br /> Study - $100,000 (p. 59) <br /> — Climate Action Plan includes a goal to <br /> transition the County's fleet to electric by 2035 <br /> — Study will help develop a comprehensive , <br /> implementation strategy for this transition x <br /> • Analyze the size of the fleet to right size <br /> • Review purchasing options <br /> • Identify barriers to fleet conversion <br /> • Create an EV charging infrastructure implementation <br /> plan—right number of chargers in the right places , <br /> 2 <br /> 3 Commissioner Carter asked how the planning listed in slide #11 connects to future EV <br /> 4 projects. <br /> 5 Travis Myren said those future projects would be guided by this study. <br /> 6 Commissioner McKee asked if there is anyone on staff who could perform this study. <br /> 7 Travis Myren said he could not think of anyone on staff with the technical expertise. <br /> 8 Commissioner McKee said locating charging stations would be based on vehicle <br /> 9 numbers in the area and the space they would need. <br /> 10 Travis Myren said there is a need for market knowledge and staff is at capacity so there <br /> 11 is not a person available to do this work without taking from another project. <br /> 12 Commissioner McKee said some of the worst decisions he has made over the last 15 <br /> 13 years have involved studies and consultants. He said he understands that he may be walking <br /> 14 past dollars to find pennies but at some point, they are going to have to start looking at pennies. <br /> 15 Chair Bedford said locating EV charging stations is a small part of the study. She said <br /> 16 reviewing purchasing options to compare strategies and figuring out what sets them up for the <br /> 17 most value is an additional part of this study. <br /> 18 Commissioner McKee said he would like a presentation for the current fleet of EVs and <br /> 19 gasoline vehicles, so they can compare apples to apples. He said he would like to see cost of <br /> 20 running the vehicles per mile and repair costs. <br /> 21 Chair Bedford said climate change should also be included. She said they have <br /> 22 reviewed elements of it, but they have not had a full presentation. She said it might be that they <br /> 23 ask the consultant to do that. <br /> 24 Travis Myren said that type of analysis is part of the scope for the consultant. <br /> 25 Commissioner McKee said he understands the trend is toward electric and he has no <br /> 26 issue with that, but he wants to make sure they follow their fiduciary duty to the public. <br /> 27 Amy Eckberg said the county is still able to take advantage of direct pay rebates and <br /> 28 that is 30%. She said they can get a huge chunk of money back for any electric vehicle <br /> 29 purchases and those funds could be re-invested. She said staff does not have the capacity to <br /> 30 figure out what their electrical capacity is and that is something that they need to study. <br />