In January 2025, the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) became a partner of Charging Smart, a nationally recognized program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The program identified partner organizations that will work within all 50 states to provide free technical assistance to local governments in order to help them achieve greater EV accessibility in their communities.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) leads the program, with the Great Plains Institute (GPI) as the primary partner, joined by other partners including NCCETC, RMI, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), Forth, the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC), EV Noire, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC), and several Clean Cities and Communities Coalitions.

Under Charging Smart, local governments can take actions to reach either a Bronze, Silver, or Gold designation, based on certain criteria. These actions include tasks such as coordinating with utilities to launch or improve the reach of EV charging incentive programs, reviewing EV zoning requirements, and installing public EV charging infrastructure. The criteria are organized across six categories:

1. Planning
2. Regulation
3. Utility Engagement
4. Education and Incentives
5. Government Operations
6. Shared Mobility

NCCETC has worked in the Southeast region of the United States to recruit local governments to participate in the program. In March 2025, the Center launched a cohort of eight communities in North Carolina that were pursuing designation under the program. The cohort includes: Cary, Durham, Greensboro, Holly Springs, Mebane, Orange County, Raleigh, and Wilmington. Geographically, NCCETC will work with any community, city, or county in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, however the March cohort was exclusively North Carolina entities.

To become a member of the cohort, local government officials have two pre-requisites to complete. First, they have to complete a commitment form which agrees they will use their best effort to meaningfully participate in the cohort. Next, they need to fill out a self-assessment form which inquires about the current state of EV charging in their community to help get a sense of where the community is in terms of criteria towards designation.

Once the members were officially part of the cohort, NCCETC organized monthly calls with the eight local governments to give information on the program, provide updates, and introduce guest speakers that would offer their expertise to further educate the communities. The team ensured speakers would be relevant toward the six criteria categories. One person the team brought in was a representative from Duke Energy, who shared the ways in which the cohort member communities can collaborate with the utility on EV charging activities. This gave the cohort insight into the utility engagement category, and how collaboration would help lead towards a designation.

The team also brought in a speaker from the Electrification Coalition who gave a live tutorial on their Dashboard for Rapid Vehicle Electrification (DRVE) tool, which provides fleet managers with unique analyses for fleet electrification.

On the final call, a representative from IREC attended to discuss the designation process and communications strategy. 

In addition to the monthly calls, NCCETC also conducted one on one calls with communities as they created a pathway towards designation. During these calls, the Center’s team would look at how many points the community already had and how additional points could be earned. This entailed reviewing their unified development ordinance while sharing resources and best practices to build a more favorable environment for EV charging development.

Senior Project Manager for Policy & Markets Brian Lips noted, “Most of the cohort members were already doing a lot to enable development of EV charging infrastructure, and Charging Smart provides a great venue for those efforts to be recognized, while also providing many examples of additional steps that can be taken to further remove barriers and encourage development.”

City of Raleigh Sustainability Manager Megan Nation says, “Having the NC Clean Energy Technology Center help organize this and having somebody to cross check [our policies] was immensely helpful in the process. Having it all prepared and prepopulated saved me a ton of time and was worth its weight in gold, really valuable in addition to the thought partnerships.”

The City of Raleigh will publish a press release on raleighnc.gov once their designation is officially awarded.

The other communities in the cohort are also in the final stages of designation. Lips says designation is about a six month process, but if there’s a community that wants to fast track that timeline, the Center would be happy to help them achieve it quickly.

There are several benefits to communities and local governments that achieve a Charging Smart designation. On the technical side, EV charging development activities will be simplified in the community, promoting clean transportation in the area. It can also be a great marketing opportunity for the community to show they are embracing new cutting-edge technology. Additionally, as more entities see a drawback in federal funding, they may seek private companies to install EV infrastructure in their jurisdictions. Knowing that those communities are part of the Charging Smart program might make an EV charging provider take a closer look at investing in that area.

NCCETC plans to launch another cohort in Fall 2025. If you’d like to be a part of the next cohort, reach out to chargingsmart@ncsu.edu to connect with the team and complete the pre-requisites.

Nation says, “It is valuable for people to participate in the cohort meetings and for us to have dedicated time to connect. That is the challenge in local governments, there are so many things to work on and dedicating the time can be a challenge.”

The Center looks forward to continuing to work with the eight communities in the first cohort, while recruiting additional local governments to advance EV infrastructure accessibility across the Southeast.