Dane County begins planning phase for countywide EV charging network; advisory commission names officers

Dane County leaders and members of the newly formed Dane County EV Advisory Commission met March 17 to elect officers and begin planning a countywide electric vehicle (EV) charging network funded through a federal planning grant.

County Executive Melissa Agard, who attended the commission’s first meeting, said the body “is going to play a vital role in shaping the future of Dane County,” and noted that the county accounts “for roughly 25% of EVs across the state of Wisconsin.” The commission elected Kathy Kuntz, director of the Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change, as chair and David Lonsdorf, a town board supervisor representing the Dane County Towns Association, as vice chair.

The meeting focused on the grant-funded planning phase that the county is launching with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as the federal sponsor. County staff said the grant funds the planning and environmental review phase; the later construction phase is contingent on future federal construction awards. County staff are negotiating a contract with Veil Engineering to perform the preliminary design and environmental assessments and plan to issue a separate request for proposals (RFP) this spring to identify potential site hosts for charging stations.

Why this matters: County officials said the grant aims to expand publicly accessible, “affordable” charging — especially in multifamily housing areas, rural communities and multimodal hubs — where the private market is unlikely to install chargers on its own. The planning phase is intended to produce siting, preliminary design and environmental work that FHWA can bundle for possible future construction funding.

Key details from the meeting

- Funding and phases: Staff described a two‑phase project administered…