SANTA BARBARA — The city of Santa Barbara recently installed 30 new electric vehicle charging stations on the top floor of the Granada garage, at 1221 Anacapa St.
The new stations support the city’s ongoing effort to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality by facilitating electric vehicle adoption. Transportation-related emissions make up more than half of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions and are the largest source of emissions state and nationwide. Facilitating widespread electric vehicle adoption is one of the state’s key climate priorities, as illustrated by Gov. Newsom’s recent Executive Order calling for all new car sales to be zero-emissions by 2035 to support the state goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, according to a news release.
Electric vehicles produce less greenhouse gas emissions than standard vehicles, especially when combined with 100% renewable and carbon-free energy, such as the electricity supplied by the city’s Community Choice Energy Program, Santa Barbara Clean Energy, which will launch next year, officials said.
The project was funded by a combination of Southern California Edison’s Charge Ready Program, which paid for the infrastructure improvements required to install the stations, and a grant from the Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District, which paid for the charging stations.
— Mitchell White
