City awarded Charging Smart Bronze designation

The City of Lewisville has earned the Bronze designation from the national Charging Smart program for achieving policies that facilitate the expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) and EV charging infrastructure.

As a Charging Smart Bronze designee, the City of Lewisville has adopted nationally recognized best practices to accelerate the deployment of EVs in the community. The City worked with Charging Smart's no-cost technical assistance team to increase local knowledge of EV infrastructure for the benefit of economic development and clean energy goals.

To achieve Charging Smart Bronze designation, the City of Lewisville has reviewed zoning requirements for anything that unintentionally prohibits EV supply equipment development. Additionally, the City has adopted a standard EV charging permit process and met with the local utility to discuss EV collaboration opportunities.

These and other actions taken will make it faster, easier, and more accessible for local residents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to install EV infrastructure and adopt EVs.

The City of Lewisville currently has more than 35 alternative fuel vehicles in its municipal fleet. As older fleet vehicles are decommissioned, alternative fuel vehicles are considered in the replacement analysis.

There are several public and private charging stations installed at City locations. The private stations are used to charge the City's electric fleet vehicles. The publicly available stations are located at:

• Thrive - 1950 S. Valley Pkwy. There are two single-headed chargers available, capable of charging two vehicles total.
• Lewisville City Hall - 151 W. Church St. There are two double-headed chargers available, capable of charging four vehicles total.
• Use this link to view all City of Lewisville charging locations on a map.

The City will be applying for a grant through North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for funding to create additional public EV charging stations in Lewisville. NCTCOG has $15 million it will use to build up to 100 EV charging ports on public property in the region in the near future.

The City encourages residents and visitors to identify locations where they'd like to see publicly available EV charging stations. Texas Department of Transportation has created an interactive website to collect that information. The site features a map where people can mark locations where they feel a charging station is needed. NCTCOG will use that information, along with additional information it has collected, to further develop its plan for installation.

Electric vehicle charging station language was included in the Unified Development Code for Lewisville. Section VIII.1.9 states: For all new developments which provide 100 or more parking spaces, five percent (5%) of the parking spaces must include the necessary infrastructure to accommodate future installation of charging stations for electric vehicles.

The City has adopted a Clean Fleet Policy as part of membership of the DFW Clean Cities Coalition. Idling policies are in place to limit idling of City vehicles (exception: public safety vehicles) to improve engine life, reduce fuel costs, reduce vehicle emissions, and improve health and safety.

Local governments achieve Charging Smart designation by meeting established criteria that are based on national best practices for building EV-friendly communities. The Charging Smart team of experts offers no-cost technical assistance and resources to help communities put these practices into action. Those that meet the criteria are designated Charging Smart Gold, Silver, or Bronze.

Electric Vehicle standards support the "Sustainability" Big Move of the Lewisville 2025 vision plan. For information about the City's vision plan, please visit cityoflewisville.com/Lewisville2025.