Consultants from Stantec and county staff presented a two-part fleet conversion and community electric-vehicle (EV) charging plan at the Oct. 21 Los Alamos County Council work session, describing a phased approach to electrifying county vehicles and expanding public charging while monitoring electrical-feeder loading.

Stantec’s technical team — Josh Schott, Annalie Castilla and Greg Wallingford — said the project’s two goals are (1) reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from the county fleet and (2) increase public charging access across Los Alamos County. The team said it had completed baseline data collection (vehicle inventories, duty cycles, and facility site visits), stakeholder interviews and a modeling tool linked to a Power BI dashboard that county staff can update as purchases and infrastructure are implemented.

The consultants described four charging scenarios their analysis models: home charging (residential charging demand), county‑owned charging, shared Level‑2 charging on private/shared properties, and DC fast charging for long-distance trips. The plan used zoning, population density and travel-pattern data to estimate where EV adoption will place loads on local electrical feeders. Stantec presented maps of feeder-impact risk under high-, medium- and low-adoption scenarios and a prioritized list of candidate sites for county-owned chargers.

Public outreach included a May visioning session and an online survey with more than 500 responses. Stantec said survey respondents reported strong interest in public charging but also concerns about affordability, reliability and placing chargers where they would be most useful.

County staff is already moving on near-term investments: the county reported that construction has begun on 12 Level‑2 chargers at the municipal building intended to serve both county fleet vehicles and the public, with completion expected by Dec. 31; staff also said the county had secured NMDOT grant funding for two DC fast chargers at Mesa Public Library.

Stantec’s recommendations include a phased fleet-replacement schedule (vehicle-by-vehicle timing tied to operations and infrastructure readiness), coordination with Los Alamos County Utilities on feeder and interconnection needs, and targeted public‑charging locations prioritizing multifamily housing, commercial nodes and high-travel corridors. The consultants noted that Los Alamos National Laboratory’s internal charging infrastructure and vehicle programs were not part of the county’s analysis; LANL’s systems will affect regional charging demand but were modeled separately.

Councilors asked about the county’s role in private and shared charging and the effect of commuters and lab employees on county charging demand. Consultants said county-owned chargers should be planned in concert with anticipated private investments, and that home-charging modeling is important because residential charging can materially increase feeder loads. Phil Gursky, a local developer, commented during public comment that building fully electric subdivisions raises upfront infrastructure costs (he estimated $10,000–$20,000 extra per home in design and service-upgrade costs in his experience), a factor for housing affordability.

Speakers included Stantec consultants Josh Schott, Annalie Castilla and Greg Wallingford; Angelica Gourlay (sustainability manager); Pete Mondragon (fleet manager); Mariano Valdez (Department of Public Utilities); community member Sue Barnes; and public commenter Phil Gursky.

Ending: Consultants said they will deliver a final plan that includes implementation phasing, estimated capital and grid-upgrade needs, and prioritized site recommendations; the county will post drafts and host public meetings for comment before returning the final plan to council for review and any adoption steps.

Notes: Stantec and county staff emphasized the influence of the New Mexico Clean Car rule on statewide vehicle availability (the rule was cited as context for adoption scenarios). Stantec also offered the county a dynamic dashboard tool to track fleet characteristics and charging-infrastructure planning.

Provenance: The fleet and EV-charging presentation and community engagement results were presented as a combined agenda item; the consultant presentation and Q&A are captured in the meeting transcript.