The Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC) and Silicon Valley Leadership Group announced the winners of the 2013 Ready, Set, Charge! Bay Area Electric Vehicle Readiness Awards at the 2013 Silicon Valley Driving Charged & Connected Symposium, which took place at SAP in Palo Alto, California on Thursday, June 6.

The most EV ready in the Bay Area include: Google and SAP who tied for first in the “Most EV Ready Business” category; the City of Davis who won first in the “Most EV Ready Community - Small/Medium” category; the City of San Jose who won first in the “Most EV Ready Community - Large“ category, and Madera Apartments who won first in the “Most EV Ready Development” category.

BACC elected these winners because:

Google continuously provides employees with access to a growing pool of over 50 plug-in carsharing vehicles, over 75 EVs for intra-campus service and mobility, and over 400 vehicle chargers.

SAP was recognized for its employee EV leasing program, early adopter approach for EV stations on campus and EV shuttles, financial incentives, executive engagement in EV strategy, and EV ecosystem products.

The City of Davis was selected as the most EV ready small community for its proliferation of EV charging stations throughout the city, and for emphasizing community involvement and outreach to advance the local EV ecosystem.

The City of San Jose was recognized as the most EV ready large community for their intergovernmental operations of streamlining charging-station permitting processes, incorporating and enforcing EV-friendly policies, and installing numerous public chargers in accessible locations.

In the Development category, Madera Apartments was acknowledged as a notable model for establishing a pre-wiring infrastructure for Level 1 charging stations and individual house meters throughout its complexes.

Nominees were evaluated on multiple criteria including community engagement, number of EV charging stations, adopted policies and ordinances supporting charging station investment and dissemination, streamlined permitting for charging station construction, and outreach and education to further accelerate the EV market.

The mayors of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland launched the BACC to accelerate clean energy in the region and make the Bay Area a national model. A public-private initiative, the BACC includes major partners Bank of America, Pacific Gas & Electric, Environmental Defense Fund California Energy Commission, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group as well as local governments who represent over 70 percent of the Bay Area population.