A map shows the electric car charging stations that the nonprofit group Comite Civico Del Valle plans to build in the Imperial Valley.Few places in California are as unforgiving for driving an electric car as the remote and sparsely populated Imperial Valley.are spread across the valley’s vast 4,500 square miles just north of the US-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Electric car chargers “are an opportunity for us to be able to breathe cleaner air,” Olmedo said. “It’s about equity. It’s about justice. It’s about making sure that everybody has chargers.”Luis Olmedo, executive director of Comite Civico Del Valle, shown at a charging station in Calexico, is trying to build 40 fast chargers in the Imperial Valley.
The Salton Sea has been receding in recent years, causing toxic dust to blow into Imperial Valley towns. The region’s air quality isfor both fine particles, or soot, as well as ozone, the main ingredient of smog; both pollutants can trigger asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases. “You need revenue, and if the EVs aren’t there, then your customers aren’t necessarily there, so you do have a legitimate chicken and egg problem,” Nigro said. “We have to look to public policy to help that market failure.”for up to $80,000 per charger. Olmedo says the funding has been insufficient so he’s had to turn to donations and other sources of funding.