MISSOULA, Mont. — Missoula continues to work toward becoming carbon neutral, and one project aiming to move the needle is the city’s EV Infrastructure Plan, with a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
The plan calls for the city to build more electric vehicle infrastructure.
“Starting now allows us to do that more effectively. If we wait, you know, 10 or 20 years, then we’re just trying to play catch up,” planning manager Aaron Wilson with the Missoula Public Works and Mobility Department said.
According to data provided by the city, carbon emissions from transportation amount to roughly 40%.
Since electric vehicles don’t have tail pipe emissions, planners see EVs as a way to cut down on pollution.
“Thinking about environmental quality, is that, you know, I think we all know we have air quality problems; traditional gas-powered vehicles have a lot of emissions that come out of a tailpipe, and that tends to linger in our atmosphere more so than in other places, and EVs are a way to start to minimize that,” Wilson said.
The infrastructure plan looks to address a number of proposed additions.
Right now there are 15 separate charging stations for EVs in Missoula County, but planners hope to increase that number.
“The goal of it is for the city to kind of decide the role they want to play in electric vehicle infrastructure, and I think it could look like a lot of different things, like, public private partnerships to maybe incentivize charter stations and things like that,” Missoula electrification specialist Devin Filicicchia said.
The city is also looking for public input on what the future green infrastructure could look like.
Missoula sits in a travel corridor with Interstate 90, Highway 93 and Interstate 15 passing through or nearby.
Starting in September, planners will gather public feedback on conceptual goals and what to consider moving forward.
“There’s a lot of rapidly evolving technologies, there’s a lot of concerns that are kind of blown out of proportion that can be addressed just through a little bit of a conversation, so I think what I would love for all of the community is just to, like, keep an open mind with this,” Filicicchia said.
The city is still a ways out from turning these conversations into reality, as they hear what the community has to say, good or bad.
NBC Montana will continue to follow this plan and bring you updates as the EV journey continues.