The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Council ponders EV infrastructure challenges
By Mark Reaman
Understanding it won’t be easy, the Crested Butte town council gave some feedback on the evolving Joint North Gunnison Valley Electric Vehicle and Infrastructure Readiness Plan at a December 2 work session. Basically it was acknowledged that productive EV infrastructure is expensive and currently underutilized but it was better to have a strategic plan in place than not.
Crested Butte sustainability director Dannah Leeman and consultant Andrea McCarthy of the Brendle Group took feedback from council on the draft plan. The primary strategies in the draft are to improve access to convenient and affordable EV charging infrastructure, provide education about EVs, encourage more electric transportation alternatives like EVs, e-bikes and e-scooters and to lead the EV opportunities by example.
The planning project is costing $40,000 with almost $30,000 being picked up by a state grant. The remainder is being split between CB and Mt. Crested Butte. “We went with a regional plan because we wanted to align strategies with Mt. Crested Butte,” said Leeman.
The state of Colorado hopes to increase the current 156,281 EVs registered in the state to 940,000 by 2030. It is expected that the current 133 EVs registered in Crested Butte or Mt. Crested Butte will go to between 400-600 by 2030. Colorado is considered a leader in EV adoption.
The plan states that it will guide how to “prepare for widespread EV adoption by improving the accessibility and convenience of EV ownership and use for community members, fleets and visitors.”
Given the acknowledgment that the reality of living in or visiting mountain communities is that sometimes a vehicle is necessary, one stated purpose of the plan is “to ensure that when driving a vehicle is unavoidable, our communities will have the infrastructure, policy and knowledge to allow that vehicle to be all electric.”
The plan states that “Gunnison County is projected to need about 202 EV charging ports by 2025 and 792 by 2030 for resident adoption alone…most ports will be needed at homes compared to an anticipated 35 public ports.” But there are 24 public charging stations between CB and Mt. CB currently and they are not being used a lot. “The region’s electric utility, Gunnison County Electric Association, has installed and operates several locations across the region. The utilization of these chargers has been low to date with an average annual utilization of about 1.5%…GCEA would like to see utilization increase before building more public infrastructure.”
Councilmember Jason MacMillan asked why the public chargers were not being utilized. Leeman said she did not have that answer. MacMillan wondered if it was because the public chargers were mainly so-called level-2 chargers that take a long time to charge a vehicle. “Are fast chargers an order of magnitude more expensive?” he asked.
Crested Butte Public Works director Shea Earley said that was the case. “A DC Fast Charger is approximately $90,000 to $100,000,” he said. “Plus, it takes specific infrastructure for them to operate and that isn’t available everywhere in the town. Cost of just the infrastructure before the charger is expensive too.”
“We know costs and technology have been changing quickly,” said Leeman. “This plan provides a strategy to see how to possibly adjust in the future.”
“We should keep our eyes open to partner with others to get more even though the fast chargers are also underutilized,” he said.
Town manager Dara MacDonald said the town would be open to partner with for example, a big commercial developer who could include DC Fast Chargers as part of a big project.
The discussion admitted that with a new administration coming into Washington, DC federal funding might be considered shaky at the moment. Leeman said state funding was probably more secure. “Colorado is still expected to be a leader with electric vehicles,” she said.
Mayor Ian Billick suggested town keep an eye out for grant and leveraging opportunities for state or federal money that might be available in the next six to 12 months.
