The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office in New Mexico is working with Carlsbad city officials to secure federal money for electric vehicle charging stations in the community, a spokesperson said in a Tuesday email.
The local Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper reported last week the city and DOE’s Carlsbad field office management have agreed to plans for a $500,000 grant for five electric vehicle charging stations that would be powered by solar energy.
The newspaper reported the charging stations would be in areas frequented by vehicles owned by DOE and its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which is 25 miles southeast of the city.
“DOE is excited to work with the City of Carlsbad on this initiative to make electric vehicle charging stations available for the public and the DOE fleet throughout the city,” a Carlsbad Field Office spokesperson said in a Tuesday email reply to Exchange Monitor.
“DOE is currently in the process of working with Carlsbad to provide the city with a grant to assist in the installation,” the DOE spokesperson said adding, “we will review it [the application] and will make a more detailed announcement once approved.”
The DOE field office efforts “are designed to ensure that rural communities like Carlsbad are not left out of infrastructure improvements such as installing EV charging stations,” the spokesperson added.
The DOE is encouraging sites throughout the nuclear weapons complex to increasingly utilize electric vehicles and take other steps to minimize carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.
The DOE fiscal 2023 budget justification for the disposal site mentioned both replacing underground equipment with zero-emission vehicles —and providing charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
