IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Coalition Supports Biden’s EV Charging Plan
WASHINGTON (Nov. 17, 2021) – A broad coalition of industry, labor, and public interest groups offered its support for the Biden administration’s drive to install electric vehicle charging stations nationwide.
Members pledged to work together to unlock public and private capital to scale infrastructure deployment, and to do so in a way that creates middle class jobs and economic growth, ensures historically marginalized communities share in the benefits, and delivers a convenient, reliable and secure experience for drivers.
The National EV Charging Initiative – made up of 34 regional and national groups representing tens of thousands of companies, union members, investors, EV drivers and advocates – sent its detailed guiding principles to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy today.
As part of this initiative, industry groups are promising to complement the Biden administration’s historic efforts and help build the vehicle-charging infrastructure necessary to assure consumers and fleet operators that they can meet all their driving needs when they go electric.
The Guiding Principles emphasize creating well-paid jobs and stress that low-income, rural, and historically disadvantaged communities so often excluded from or harmed by transportation investments in the past, should benefit from the buildout of the charging network.
“The organizations represented by this unprecedented coalition are ready, willing, and able to meet the challenges of this historic moment,” said Nancy Ryan, a partner in eMobility Advisors and one of the coalition’s organizers. “We need to build the charging network in a way that creates good jobs, ensures the benefits are shared by all, and delivers a convenient, reliable, seamless, and secure experience for all EV drivers.”
The release of the Guiding Principles follows President Biden’s signing of the infrastructure bill this week that includes $7.5 billion to install charging stations along highways and in communities nationwide.
The legislation comes as states and cities have already made great strides in promoting and enabling transportation electrification, utilities are investing billions to support EV charging infrastructure, and many of the country’s largest automakers are pledging to transition to a fully zero-emission fleet of vehicles.
The members of the EV Charging Initiative are optimistic about the opportunities ahead and will work together and with the administration to ensure that the build out of the network is done expeditiously and consistent with the inclusive values put forth by the Biden administration.
The coalition reaches across the historically distinct electricity and transportation sectors, and brings together organizations representing automakers, utilities, fleet operators, and financiers, labor unions, consumer groups, environmental groups, and social and environmental justice advocates. Collectively, participating organizations represent hundreds of companies, thousands of workers, and millions of consumers.
“We are at a historic moment in the nation’s journey to the clean transportation future,” said Colleen Quinn, president of eMobility Advisors and the coalition’s other organizer. “But we need to make sure that this new transportation system meets the needs of all Americans and doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Members of the coalition and contributors to the Guiding Principles can be found here.
MEDIA CONTACT
Amelia Gilchrist, amelia@evcharginginitiative.com, 336-549-7313