Public EV Charging Infrastructure

Dane County Department of Administration- Public Works Engineering Division is inviting proposals for professional consulting services for the County’s Public EV Charging Infrastructure located within Dane County, WI.

The purpose of this project is to analyze and schematically design public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in areas of Dane County where the private market is unlikely to install such infrastructure. These installations will support more equitable access to the benefits of EV adoption across the County, consistent with the County’s Climate Action Plan led by Dane County’s Office of Energy & Climate Change (OECC). The County’s focus is on filling gaps in existing and planned EV charging infrastructure, especially in multi-family housing, rural areas and multi-modal hubs.

Additional background on this Charge Up Dane County initiative can be found on OECC’s website . This project is federally funded through a FHWA’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) discretionary grant that is managed through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Along with requirements of CFI, the Consultant must perform all work under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Standards and Requirements .

One of the grant requirements includes a 20% local match by CFI grant recipients. Under CFI guidelines, Dane County must require private vendors to provide the 20% match for their fees. Therefore, this 20% local match will need to be credited to Dane County OECC by the Consultant as part of their proposed fees, during the fee negotiation phase, which is not part of the RFP response.

In 2024, the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization, along with assistance from other agencies, released the Dane County Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Plan . This plan identified more than 100 potential zones for public EV chargers within Dane County. These zones were identified at a high level via traffic patterns, and not examined at the individual site level for feasibility. OECC will use the MPO analysis as a starting point for identifying locations for 60-70 station sites via a competitive process where OECC prioritizes the grant priorities including overall equity considerations, multifamily housing, rural areas and multi-modal hubs. We anticipate both public and private station locations across Dane County and it is likely that of the locations identified, that 25% are feasible, 25% are likely feasible with minor modifications, 20% are likely feasible after significant modifications, and 30% are unfeasible.

This RFP will select a consultant to advance planning associated with the potential station sites (study and analysis) and schematically design an estimated 60-70 of the sites. Every site location is subject to a NEPA review, as defined under 23 CFR 771 or documentation of a NEPA Categorical Exclusion. See Notice of Adoption of Electric Vehicle Charging Station Categorical Exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act for more details on the categorical exclusions available: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/20/2023-20238/notice-of-adoption-of-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-categorical-exclusion-under-the-national See also the Wisconsin-specific NEPA template and template instructions included in the attachment section of this document.

OECC presumes most of the charging station sites will be Level 2 EV charging stations attached to 208 V or 240 V electrical service with 2 kW to 19kW charging capacity, though it is possible that a few cases will entail three-phase AC service with a Level 2.5 charger with a 30-60 kW capacity. OECC does not anticipate installing any DC fast chargers (DCFC) with 150+ kW charging capability because other funding sources are addressing those needs.

It is the intent of OECC that these 60-70 estimated sites can advance under Phase 2 of Dane County’s CFI funding to design development, construction drawings, bidding, and construction administration, depending on available funding. Contractual design and construction management services for this future phase might be appended to this contract or may require an additional RFP, depending on the scope of the future phase(s).

The Consultant point of contact will be OECC’s designated Project Manager, or their designee. The procurement contact with Public Works Engineering will facilitate contract initiation and modifications, but will not be a day-to-day project contact for the Consultant. In addition, OECC will be forming an EV Advisory Commission that will consist of partner community groups, utilities that serve Dane County, and local government officials. The OECC PM will serve as the liaison between the Consultant and the EV Advisory Commission.