Electric Vehicles and Equity

Can electric vehicles play a role in advancing equity in underserved and historically marginalized communities? A new report by Clean Energy Group explores this question in four parts. The report begins with an overview of electric vehicle costs, performance characteristics, and environmental and health impacts, then considers possible pathways for electric vehicles to deliver tangible benefits to communities, including electric school buses and harnessing energy stored in electric vehicle batteries to power critical services in an emergency. It concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges limiting equitable adoption of electric vehicles and potential solutions to help overcome them.

This Clean Energy Group webinar featured presentations by report author Michael Brower of Cantus Firmus Consulting and Nathan King from Itselectric, a curbside electric vehicle charging company with a mission to unlock access to clean vehicles for millions of drivers who park their cars on the street. Panelists discussed potential pathways for electric vehicle deployment to lower harmful emissions, reduce transportation expenses, and increase energy resilience in historically marginalized communities.