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Los Alamos board reviews fleet‑conversion plan and community EV‑charging maps
Summary
Consultants from Stantec presented a two‑part plan to Los Alamos County’s Environmental Sustainability Board outlining a fleet conversion roadmap and a countywide public EV‑charging strategy informed by a technical suitability model and more than 500 public survey responses. Board members pressed on costs, charger quantities and supply‑chain lead times.
Stantec consultants presented a two‑part study to the Los Alamos Environmental Sustainability Board on Oct. 16, laying out a county fleet conversion plan and a communitywide electric‑vehicle charging strategy aimed at reducing fleet greenhouse‑gas emissions and expanding public charging.
"The goal here is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are coming from the county's fleet vehicles," consultant Josh Schott said, summarizing the project's primary objective and the regulatory context driving the work, including the New Mexico clean car rule. The consultants said the project combines a fleet‑by‑fleet feasibility assessment with a site‑by‑site charging suitability analysis and public engagement.
Why it matters: County staff and board members framed the effort as a practical step to comply with state zero‑emission vehicle targets and to support residents who cannot charge at home. The consultants told the board they used vehicle registration data, travel‑pattern sources and local zoning/utility data to estimate where chargers will be needed and how the county’s fleet can transition over time.
What the consultants presented: Annalie Castillo described the fleet side as an "existing conditions" inventory—cataloguing vehicle types, utilization, facility electrical capacity and replacement timing—to identify which vehicles are viable early conversions to zero‑emission models and what capital and operational investments would be required. The team said it has built a dashboard to track fleet inventories, phasing and emissions projections.
On public charging, the team said its technical analysis combines three principal layers—demand (population, travel and EV adoption), suitability (land use, flood zones, utility feeders) and equity (residents without garages, access gaps)—and runs different weightings to produce optimized site maps. The consultants described four scenarios: home charging, county‑owned public chargers, privately owned shared Level‑2 chargers, and fast charging. They showed that changing the scenario weights shifted optimal locations between downtown cores, multifamily areas and highway corridors.
Public input and evidence: The team reported two engagement opportunities—a May visioning session and a virtual survey that drew "over 500" responses—and said those results informed prioritization, particularly around equity for respondents without home charging and concerns about reliability and network availability.
Board questions and responses: Board members asked whether pricing and station quantities were included; consultants said the draft report includes financial models for the county fleet and for public‑charging operation and that map markers reflect site suitability rather than exact counts (quantities per site are estimated at roughly two to eight chargers and will be provided in the draft). The team said charger totals were driven by NREL‑based formulas that convert projected vehicle counts and expected adoption scenarios (low/medium/high) into required chargers.
Supply‑chain and timing risks: Board members raised lead‑time concerns for vehicles, racks and larger electrical distribution equipment. Presenters said vehicle and charger lead times have shortened from earlier peaks (for example, 18 months down toward 12 months for chargers), but distribution equipment may still face three‑year lead times; the consultants said the procurement and construction timelines have been incorporated into phasing assumptions.
Next steps: Stantec said the draft plan will be posted for public comment, presentations to County Council and the Board of Public Utilities are scheduled, and final recommendations—including quantities, site‑level infrastructure needs and cost estimates—will be supplied in the final report. Staff also noted ongoing construction of county EV charging infrastructure and a separate MDOT grant to install DC fast chargers at Mesa Public Library.
The board did not take formal action on the study at the meeting; members asked for the draft report and additional detail on cost breakdowns, procurement timing and the quantities planned per proposed site as part of the next public review cycle.
