Challenge

The Town of Cary is a vibrant community located in the heart of North Carolina’s Research Triangle. With a population of over 170,000 residents, Cary is one of the fastest-growing towns in the state and has become a hub for innovation and technology. As the world shifts towards sustainable energy solutions, the Town of Cary is taking strides towards a more sustainable future. In 2019, the Town of Cary adopted Carbon Reduction Recommendations, including the goal to reduce community carbon emissions from a 2018 baseline 25% by 2025 and 100% by 2040. 

Solution

Kittelson conducted an EV Charging study with the Town to identify EV trends and infrastructure needs, transition the Town’s fleet of vehicles to EVs, and identify changes to codes and programs that would support private EV charger development. This included: 

• Conducting a trends and infrastructure needs assessment to determine appropriate assumptions for future EV adoption.  
• Estimating the number of EV chargers needed, broken down by year and type, including considerations for DC Fast Charging, public Level 2 charging, and workplace Level 2 charging. 
• Conducting a spatial analysis to identify priority locations with charging demand based on housing and employment densities, key points of interest, Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), and disadvantaged communities. 
• Interviewing peer cities and providing recommendations for electrifying the Town’s municipal fleet. 
• Conducting a review of Cary’s codes, recommending revisions to its Land Development Ordinance and developing an EV planning checklist for use by Town staff when reviewing projects. 

We then prepared an EV Roadmap, outlining best practices to guide design for charging infrastructure according to EV user needs, surrounding land use, accessibility, and site constraints, as well as setting a course for electrifying the Town’s municipal fleet.