Tulare County is located in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The county is located between the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the east and Coastal Mountains on the west and is situated 180 miles north of Los Angeles and 200 miles south of San Francisco. State Route 99, a major north-south corridor in the state, provides direct access to Los Angeles and Sacramento. State Highway 198 provides an east to west corridor between Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Interstate 5 in Fresno County.

The characteristics that make the Valley the state’s top-performing agricultural region and a beautiful place to live also create conditions for forming and trapping air pollution. Surrounding mountains, stagnant weather patterns, hot summers and foggy winters make the formation of air pollution in the Valley inevitable and prevent air pollutants from dispersing. In addition to local pollution created from industry and agriculture, air quality in the San Joaquin Valley is influenced by transported air pollution from the other areas of the state. The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles is a key strategy to achieving reduced emissions and helping the Valley attain air quality goals.

The Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) is seeking proposals from qualified consultants to conduct analysis for public charging infrastructure in Tulare County to support implementation of plug-in electric vehicles. The Tulare County Association of Governments is sponsoring this study, via funding from the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Program.

The goal of the Electric Vehicle Implementation Study is to provide a usable guide for local jurisdictions to support electric vehicle use and infrastructure.

A key component of this task is to identify specific charging locations throughout the county. Necessary criteria, such as available space, ADA access, property owner interest, and available electric connection/supply should be used to identify site feasibility. The results of the site-specific analysis will be used to support and encourage the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Specific locations for the siting analysis will be chosen in conjunction with TCAG and its partners. The Tulare County Electric Vehicle Implementation Study (EVIS) will focus on publicly available infrastructure. This report will also identify strategies and best practices to the identified barriers.

Publicly available infrastructure location types may include:

• employment sites;
• high-density housing areas;
• shopping destinations; and/or
• publically available parking spaces in a lot or on-street.

This EVIS will build upon previous planning efforts, particularly the San Joaquin Valley Plug-in Vehicle Readiness Plan (2014). The Opportunities for Shared-Use Mobility Services in Rural Disadvantaged Communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley (2017) was recently completed and a pilot project has started. The Tulare County EVIS will help implement goals of the Sustainable Communities Strategy by supporting the implementation of alternative fueling for surface transportation.

A full description is available on the TCAG website  at http://www.tularecog.org/contractopportunities