Minnesota Clean Cities Coalition (MC3) and North Dakota Clean Cities (NDCC) are two of over 30 Clean Cities Coalitions across the country currently participating in Equitable Mobility Powering Opportunities for Workplace Electrification Readiness program (EMPOWER), funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). EMPOWER is an outreach and education project that provides organizations with individualized support and resources for workplace electric vehicle (EV) charging.
Get EV workplace charging technical assistance at every step of the process at no cost to you.
Are you an employer or employee in Minnesota or North Dakota looking to EMPOWER your workplace with EV charging? Thanks to funding from the EMPOWER project, MC3 and NDCC can provide your workplace with free, direct, technical assistance and consulting to help you install workplace charging.
To get started, fill out one of our short surveys below and we will schedule a meeting to review and discuss your project ideas.
Project background and history
The EMPOWER project aims to build upon the work of the U.S. DOE’s “EV Everywhere” Workplace Charging Challenge (WCC). The WCC program demonstrated that a national, scaled program can (1) drive employer interest in workplace EV charging, (2) grow overall support for EV charging, (3) build the availability of clean transportation commute options, and (4) spur significant private-sector engagement.
The EMPOWER workplace charging project aims to amplify these workplace charging opportunities through a coordinated and diverse multi-state effort that will enable partners across the nation to accelerate workplace charging program adoption, encourage plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption, and drive investment across many industries and communities.
Building upon the success and outputs of the WCC, the EMPOWER team and its partners will utilize and repurpose the best guidance and assets into a targeted engagement plan with the flexibility to involve a wide range of workplaces in diverse communities (e.g., corporate offices, airports, small businesses, universities, shopping centers). This plan and the entities involved are coordinated through a resource-based web platform, workplacecharging.com, that can broadly and specifically inform the needs of many organizations to take advantage of workplace charging benefits.
Project description and methods
Workplace Charging programs and workplace EV charging availability are areas that have previously been explored with various levels of success. EMPOWER seeks to rapidly learn what has worked best from previous programs and leverage that knowledge to provide a next-generation, customizable workplace charging program capable of producing tailored results anywhere in the U.S.
Our experience has shown that the most influential efforts to increase interest in workplace charging programming are often high-touch – they depend on relationships and a strong understanding of each stakeholder’s needs. EMPOWER brings an unprecedented diversity of relationships and clean transportation perspectives, adapting workplace charging commitments, deployment, and recognition to the needs of each stakeholder.
As part of EMPOWER, MC3 will work to engage 30 new sites to pledge to add charging for employees and procuring 24 sites completing installation. NDCC aims to engage 15 new sites to sign a pledge then install chargers.
Major project participants
Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities, East Tennessee Clean Fuels, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Cadeo Group, Portland General Electric, ICF, and 35 Clean Cities coalitions, including the Minnesota Clean Cities Coalition and North Dakota Clean Cities.
