More electric vehicle chargers are coming to Santa Barbara County in the next few years for county and public use, with plans to install at least 180 new chargers by June 2028.
“We’re doing the best that we can to make charging stations available and to make them sustainable for us right now,” county Energy Manager Brandon Kaysen told the Sun.
On Oct. 14, the county Board of Supervisors amended a previous agreement to allow the General Services Department to increase spending on the chargers from $1 million to $5 million. Most of that funding comes from a $4.7 million grant from the California Energy Commission for electrifying government fleets, according to Kaysen. Santa Barbara County will also contribute $1.4 million from its general fund for the project.
Installing more chargers works toward the county’s Zero Emission Vehicle Plan and the statewide Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation.
“In order to support that effort, that transition to electric vehicles, we need to have infrastructure in the ground,” Kaysen said.
Working with the company PowerFlex, the county will buy and install two types of charging stations: level 2 and level 3. Level 2 chargers are meant to recharge a vehicle overnight, while level 3 three ports provide a lot of power in a short period of time.
However, the upfront costs present challenges, he explained. On top of construction costs, buying the materials for a level 3 charger can cost up to $120,000. Plus, the county needs to increase the electrical capacity at certain locations, which can extend the installation period by 12 to 16 months, Kaysen said.
“The truth is that a lot of the buildings in our communities were just simply not designed to put out the amount of electricity that’s required for these fast chargers,” Kaysen said. “This is kind of that next phase where we’re really considering increasing the capacity and doing some electrical upgrades and making sure that we can install some higher capacity charging stations.”
When the county retires a gas-powered vehicle, it’s replaced with an electric one, Kaysen said. There are exceptions, he added, if there are no comparable EVs on the market or if the vehicle is used for emergency services. In those cases, the county explores hybrid options when possible.
Some of the new charging ports will be accessible to the community, but certain sites that are off-limits to the public will be reserved for the county’s fleet.
Electrifying the county’s fleet of sedans, trucks, and heavy-duty vehicles will help lower the carbon footprint and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
“Electric vehicles require much less maintenance than the internal combustion engines they replace,” Kaysen said. “There’s definitely a financial driver behind this.”
Chargers are planned to be located throughout the county. For example, 10 will be installed at the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area and 14 at the county animal shelter in Santa Maria.
“That was one of the benefits, being able to spread the love of this project throughout the county,” Kaysen said.
To learn more about chargers available to the public, download the PowerFlex app.
This article appears in Oct 23 – Oct 30, 2025.