Humboldt EV Pilot Project Tests ‘Up and Coming’ Technology

Ivan Radic, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Humboldt County is being described as a leading energy innovator as it launches a unique electric vehicle pilot project but there is concern about its cost.

The purchase and loan of two electric vehicles was lauded and debated at the Nov. 12 Board of Supervisors meeting.

The two Nissan Leaf EVs and their charging stations will be installed at the California Redwood Coast – Humboldt County Airport in McKinleyville under a $104,000 state grant administrated by Cal Poly Humboldt.

The county’s contribution to the two-year pilot project is a $34,000 purchase of one of the EVs.

Approval of the project was on the meeting’s consent agenda of routine items but it was pulled by Supervisor Michelle Bushnell.

She did so “because it’s not budgeted and it’s out of the General Fund and there are already budget issues within aviation,” she said.

Bushnell noted that the county will pay for the program’s ongoing software and cloud services if it continues beyond its two-year pilot period.

She has doubts about the accuracy of the estimated $4,400 annual services cost and is “just a little concerned with putting that money out and is it necessary?”

Dave Carter of Cal Poly’s Schatz Energy Research Center explained the EV system’s unique ability to both draw power from the airport’s microgrid and feed energy into it.

He described the technology as “an up and coming system we’ll see a lot more of in the coming years.”

Supervisor Mike Wilson said the pilot project is part of Humboldt’s emergence as an energy innovator.

“This county’s partnership with Schatz Energy and RCEA (Redwood Coast Energy Authority) and others has vaulted us as a community, as leaders in energy in so

many ways and one is microgrid systems,” he continued. “I think we probably have the highest microgrid capacity per capita of any county in the United States.”

The county is “leading the charge in that technology, he said, adding that the pilot project’s EV technology will eventually allow people to have “a battery backup system for your home and you’ll actually get one that comes with wheels and moves around so you get kind of a two for one in terms of benefit.”

Bushnell joined a unanimous vote approving the project with a caveat, saying, “I do think that in the end, it’s gonna end up costing the county more money than we thought.”

The four EV charging stations will be generally available for use but will only work for Nissan Leaf vehicles made from 2018 on.

Also at the meeting, outgoing state Assemblymember Jim Wood gave what will be his last annual update to the board.

Wood has opted not to run for re-election after serving as assemblymember for a decade.

He outlined his recent legislative efforts, including extension of seismic retrofit deadlines for rural hospitals and requiring utilities like PG&E to “better communicate” the status of requests to provide power.

Wood also gave supervisors a heads-up on the coming year’s state budget, saying it “could be as bad as last year’s, maybe a little bit better, but it’s not going to be a good budget.”

He told supervisors “we were not able this year to get any district asks of resources” and only “one-time resources” were gained last year.

“So don’t expect that we’ll be finding pockets of money anywhere,” he said.

He advised supervisors to focus “on those kinds of things that that don’t require resources — legislative fixes and other things that could be helpful for you.”

State-level advocacy will be crucial, he continued, noting Supervisor Rex Bohn’s frequent testimony before the state legislature and describing him as “a fabulous spokesman for this county.”

Supervisors praised Wood’s responsiveness and local focus on issues like health care and wildfires.