A community forum slated for this evening (Wednesday) aims to gather more input as Fairfax County officials work on strategies to support the growing number of electric vehicles on local roads.
The online forum, set to run Aug. 6 from 6 to 7 p.m., will be another step toward the adoption of a Fairfax County Electric Vehicle (EV) Readiness Strategy. The project is being led by Fairfax County’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination and Department of Vehicle Services.
More than a year after it launched, Fairfax County’s program to help neighborhoods introduce communal electric vehicle charging stations has resulted in its first installations.
County officials joined residents of the Harpers Square cluster in Reston on Dec. 18 for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the addition of two EV chargers, making it the first community to successfully get through the Charge Up Fairfax program.
A new federal grant will enable Fairfax County Public Schools to upgrade more than three dozen school buses to more environmentally friendly models.
Virginia’s largest public school system will receive $12.9 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program — enough to replace 43 buses with electric or zero-emission vehicles, Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced last week.
In a bid to upgrade its electric vehicle infrastructure, Fairfax County is turning to the federal government for a little extra support.
The Board of Supervisors approved a board matter on July 30 directing staff to join U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) new “Charging Smart” pilot program, which offers free technical assistance to help local governments in eight states, including Virginia, expand EV charging infrastructure “efficiently and equitably.”
Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors plans to use $260.6 million in unspent funds for improvements to roads, schools, parks, public safety and other community services.
The surplus is due to increased revenue, decreased spending and funds left from the American Rescue Plan Act, County Executive Bryan Hill said in a July 29 memorandum to the board.
Five more homeowners’ associations have been selected to receive grants for electric vehicle charging stations through Fairfax County’s Charge Up Fairfax program.
Spearheaded by the Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC), the initiative originally launched in 2023 as a pilot program to encourage residential neighborhoods to invest in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure by reimbursing HOAs for up to a third of the costs to install charging stations.
Fairfax County is set to receive close to $51 million from the federal government to buy 60 new diesel-electric hybrid Connector buses.
Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner announced yesterday (Wednesday) that the county has been awarded over $50.5 million for the buses from the Federal Transportation Administration’s Low or No Emission Grant program, which has funded more than 1,100 buses in 47 states.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday that the state will no longer follow car emissions standards set by California, despite his party’s failure to repeal or roll back a 2021 Democratic law that tied Virginia to those regulations.
The move tees up what could be another legal fight over Republican leaders’ efforts to undo climate change-related measures Democrats passed when they had full control of state government a few years ago.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) has the green light to apply for a federal grant to replace dozens of buses in its Fairfax Connector fleet.
However, none of the new buses will be all-electric, despite the county’s earlier pledges to electrify its fleet of vehicles.
(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) Local elected officials, including Rep. Gerry Connolly, gathered in Lorton on Wednesday to celebrate the introduction of 42 new electric buses to the division’s fleet.
These buses, which were funded by a $16.5 million federal grant announced in January, join the 18 electric buses already in operation. Although the division currently operates over 1,600 diesel buses, county officials emphasized that these new electric buses mark the start of a larger transition.
