GUIDING PRINCIPLES
PREAMBLE
We have arrived at a historic moment in the nation’s journey to the clean transportation future— the convergence of strong government leadership, rapidly maturing technology and growing private sector investment. President Biden has set ambitious goals for climate action, including for electric vehicle (EV) adoption. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act commits $7.5 billion to deploy charging infrastructure, and the pending Build Back Better bill would add financial incentives for EV adoption. This more muscular federal role comes at a time when numerous 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 corporations have pledged to electrify their fleets. And manufacturers’ investments in electric drive technology are bearing fruit with dozens of models of electric cars, trucks, and buses with bigger batteries and longer range coming to market.
But a significant challenge remains— deploying sufficient charging infrastructure to assure consumers and fleet operators that they can meet all their driving needs when they go electric.
Now is the time to mobilize to address financing challenges, leverage our progress to date, and unlock public and private capital to scale infrastructure deployment.
Business as usual is insufficient to get us where we need to go. It is time for new voices. It is time for more inclusive and pragmatic approaches. It is time to break out of our echo chambers and embrace collaboration and inclusivity so that innovative thinking can deliver better, more equitable outcomes for communities and businesses throughout America. As we build out the nation’s charging ecosystem, we must address and remediate historic inequities. We must bring good jobs at good wages and economic growth to communities across America, with an emphasis on ensuring that those benefits reach historically marginalized communities.
The members of this Initiative have diverse and varied interests, perspectives, and goals, but we share a vision for a national charging network for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles needed to realize a zero-emission transportation future.
These Guiding Principles serve as our compass as we continue the journey. They convey our shared values to the public and policymakers, the private sector and financial community, and those tasked with investing public dollars to accelerate transportation electrification. They point to actions we must take individually and collectively. And they signal our commitment to collaborate, innovate and scale our efforts to meet the need.
TOPLINE PRINCIPLES
A new level of collaboration among all stakeholders is required to meet the Biden Administration’s goals for transportation electrification.
The construction of EV infrastructure should build stronger, healthier, more prosperous communities by emphasizing community-driven solutions and increasing access to electric transportation options in historically underserved communities.
There is an urgent need to scale up and broaden access to charging infrastructure to serve light-, medium- and heavy-duty EVs.
The private sector should step up with unprecedented investment, augmenting government and utility funding to finance charging infrastructure that serves all communities and vehicle types.
Construction of the charging ecosystem must create inclusive economic growth and good jobs at good wages.
Electric utilities, regulators, charging providers, and stakeholders should work together to accelerate transportation electrification in a way that supports the electric grid and benefits all utility customers.
The national EV charging ecosystem should provide a convenient, reliable, seamless, and secure experience for all drivers.