Utah Hosts USDOT to Collect Feedback on their Charge Forward Initiative

Under its ROUTES initiative, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released Charging Forward: A Toolkit for Planning and Funding Rural Electric Mobility Infrastructure in February 2022 as a one-stop shop for rural entities looking to plan, fund, and implement EV charging infrastructure and projects. 

In partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s), Utah Clean Cities and Grand County Economic Development Office hosted one of these workshops with the goal to collect input on the rural electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure toolkit Charging Forward Toolkit directly from local rural leaders and communities. 

Grand County Economic Development helped to facilitate a meeting between stakeholders including the US Department of Transportation, the US Department of Energy, and the Utah Clean Cities Coalition on the prospect of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure funding in our region as part of an EV corridor including Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Utah Clean Cities Coalition is serving as the prime of this project and their executive director, Tammie Bostick. 

USDOT is actively working with Clean Cities Coalitions to organize workshops with rural communities across the country to (1) obtain feedback on the toolkit content and inform a revised version, planned for Summer 2022; and (2) facilitate knowledge exchange within rural communities on getting started with EV charging projects. USDOT is seeking feedback on this first version of the toolkit—with a goal to release a revised version this summer. The workshops bring together 10-20 stakeholders from a single community or region, with participants representing diverse community and planning roles.

“We are excited to focus one of these workshops on Moab and surrounding areas. Being in Moab today is an incredible opportunity for all of rural Utah. Today, We bring together  leadership with the possible vision of electrified transportation. Our goal in bringing resources to rural Utah communities is to ensure equity, funding access, and the tools to secure opportunities to build out zero emission technologies and renewable fuels” said Tammie Bostick, Executive Director of Utah Clean Cities. 

This workshop is also a part of the Utah Clean Cities Coalitions Drive Clean Rural USA – Rural Utah Project focused on helping rural counties transition to cleaner fuels and vehicles. This project provides outreach, education, and technical assistance to local county decision makers to support opportunities for transitioning fleets to cleaner fuels and vehicles. Support county governments transition their fleets to cleaner fuels and vehicles. 

For more information on this workshop and projects, please contact Tammie Bostick at tammie.bostick@utahcleancities.org.