Super charging EVs in Fresno and beyond

Great things can happen when public need aligns with smart policy and clear market signals. That’s certainly true for Turn Key Construction and Solar, a construction company based in Fresno, CA, which is capitalizing on market incentives to boost opportunities in the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Unfortunately, Fresno is also known for having some of the worst air quality in country, due to greenhouse gas emissions and particulate pollution from transportation — specifically large shipping trucks and personal vehicles.

The good news is that Fresno has made great strides in addressing air pollution from the electricity sector by becoming a leader in solar. Fresno has the highest per-capita installed solar PV capacity in the contiguous U.S. But to expand the use of EVs in Fresno, more work must be done to expand its charging infrastructure. Currently, Fresno has fewer public EV charging stations per capita compared to the California average.

Turn Key was founded as a residential construction company over ten years ago, but when owner Jeff Harmonson saw an opportunity to expand the business into solar, he took it. By leveraging federal and state incentives for their customers, Turn Key could install low-cost solar arrays, helping customers access financing tools to lower their energy costs while also benefitting the local environment.

And, with recent generous state and local EV incentives available in Fresno, it was an easy transition to expand Turn Key’s business into EV charger installations at low-to-no cost.

“We engineer projects to improve our customer’s quality of life through energy efficiency upgrades and to maximize their solar installation cost savings,” says Harmonson.

Turn Key is also expanding public access to EV charging stations by installing ChargePoint chargers in both public and private spaces. ChargePoint — the world’s largest and most accessible EV charger network — integrates cloud-based software with their charging stations to provide EV drivers and station owners support through centralized station monitoring and a smartphone app.

Top priorities for Turn Key include:

• Increasing accessibility and flexibility
• Leveraging state and local policy incentives
• Making charging stations affordable
• Supporting the continued adoption of clean energy alternatives in Fresno
• Helping disadvantaged communities

Currently, most EV-chargers are installed by homeowners, and few multi-family homes provide this infrastructure for their tenants. This puts renters and apartment dwellers at a disadvantage.

Installing EV chargers in public spaces, including multi-unit housing, can help lower-income residents access the EV market and contribute to Fresno’s clean transportation future. Increasing public EV charging stations can also help to ease range anxiety and provide economic development opportunities for nearby businesses.

Although Fresno’s need for cleaner air remains, smart policy decisions have created a market for improving EV infrastructure. Turn Key helps to serve this market, making the transition to clean transportation more accessible for all Fresno residents. And the best part — the benefits of this innovative approach are not confined to the City’s limits. Communities across the country can model this public-private partnership approach to catalyze economic and environmental transformation, just as Fresno has done.

The City of Fresno has participated in the Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps program — an innovative program that brings together an arsenal of top talent, resources and expertise in a variety of subject matters and industries to help organizations meet their climate and energy goals — for the past four years.

We are entering a new era of environmental innovation that is driving better alignment between technology and environmental goals — and results. #FourthWave