The Equitable Charging Access for Renters in the 805 region (E-CAR 805) Project is a collaboration across three counties, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura, several government agencies, non-profit organizations, housing authorities, and property owners.to expand electric vehicle charging access to low income multifamily housing along the Central Coast.
In Spring of 2024, the California Energy Commission is anticipated to award $3,849,553 for the Equitable Charging Access for Renters in the 805 region (E-CAR 805) Project!
The University of California, Santa Barbara’s Sustainability Department is the lead agency. Sub-recipients of the grant include: the City of Santa Barbara, Community Environmental Council, and County of Ventura. County of Ventura also has a sub-recipient of the Towbes Group.
Key implementation partners include the City of San Luis Obispo, City of Ventura, San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District, 3C-REN (Tri-County Regional Energy Network), and five affordable housing providers, the Housing Authority for the Cities of San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo, People's Self Help Housing, and El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO).
Site Hosts
Site hosts include a variety of property owners of multifamily housing as well as the University of California, Santa Barbara, the City of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Unified School District, Oceano Public Library, El Rio Library, County of Ventura Public Health Administration, County of Ventura Human Services Agency Office, West Ventura Medical Clinic, Ventura County Medical Center, County of Ventura Public Parking Lot/Government Center, and five affordable housing providers are also participating as site hosts, the Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura, Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo, People's Self Help Housing, and El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO).
Cities and towns include: Arroyo Grande, Cambia, Carpinteria, Goleta, Grover Beach, Guadalupe
Los Osos, Morro Bay, Oceano, Orcutt, Oxnard, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Templeton, Ventura
Impact & Progress
379 charging ports will be installed at 67 locations. 98.4% of these charging ports will serve residents of multifamily housing properties which are either located in a low-income community (LIC) and/or disadvantaged community (DAC) according to the California Climate Investments Priority Populations 2023 Map. 167 or 44.1% are also at sites of local housing authorities and other affordable housing providers. 78.5% of the chargers will be located within a LIC and/or DAC.
Outreach and Engagement
The County of Ventura and Community Environmental Council (CEC) will conduct outreach at the Multifamily Housing (MFH) sites and affordable housing units in disadvantaged communities and low-income communities where EV charging stations are installed with REACH 2.0 funding. All outreach activities and deliverables intended for MFH residents will be delivered in Spanish and English to support increased language access and equity goals for the project.