The University of Wisconsin Extension – Ashland County and Cheq Bay Renewables are hosting an EV planning workgroup to facilitate electric vehicle infrastructure in Ashland County. A series of 10 monthly meetings will set the stage for implementation in 2024/2025.
The workgroup is comprised of area elected officials, state resource personnel, educational institutions, Bad River tribal officials, local businesses, and interested community members. The meetings started in April 2023 and will run through December 2023. Each meeting has a keynote speaker and focus area relating to electric vehicles or electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Monthly topics are listed below with links to the recorded keynote speakers.
Meeting 1
April 18, 2023
Keynote Speaker: Matt Christman of Wisconsin Clean Cities “Setting the Stage for a New EV Economy”
Meeting 2
May 16, 2023
Keynote Speaker: Tim Bartels of Xcel Energy “Partnering with Communities and Customers on EV Charging”
Meeting 3
June 20, 2023
Keynote Speaker: Bill Bailey of Cheq Bay Renewables “Funding Opportunities for EV Infrastructure”
Meeting 4
July 18, 2023
Keynote Speaker: Bill Bailey of Cheq Bay Renewables “Preparations for Funding Applications”
Meeting 5
August 15, 2023
“Vehicles: Criteria and Availability”, Keynote Speakers: Bradlee Fons, Co-founder, Drive Smart Wisconsin and Chief Joel Trepczyk, Somerset Police Department.
Meeting 6
September 19, 2023
“Purchasing Vehicles”, Keynote Speaker: Jeremiah Brockman, President, Wisconsin Chapter of Electric Vehicle Association.
Meeting 7
October
Education: “What’s Needed to Inform Our Communities”
Meeting 8
November
“Develop an Outreach Campaign for 2024”
Meeting 9
December
“What’s Next? Emerging Issues, Celebrate”
The groups goals are to:
- Develop a map/list with current electric charging stations, and add our public, private, short- and long-term priority locations for the future.
- Determine what grants are available to pay for charging stations and infrastructure: Can we apply collaboratively, when?
- Determine what kinds of vehicles are available for different uses, and whether a group vehicle purchase is possible or needed.
- Develop an outreach campaign for county partners to use in 2024.
