Electric vehicles present a critical opportunity to curb harmful
air pollution that wreaks havoc on public health and our climate. Electrifying
our transportation also reduces our dependence on dirty oil and lessens the
need to drill for more extreme sources of fossil fuels, whether it is oil from
the Gulf, tar sands in Canada, or natural gas from the Everglades.
Electric
vehicles are the cleanest cars around, even after taking into account the
electricity needed to charge them. Even better yet, as we retire more coal
plants and bring cleaner sources of power online, the emissions produced from
charging an electric vehicle will drop even further. But
as long as our highways and communities are dominated by gas stations rather
than electric vehicle charging stations, we will never see the benefits of zero
emission vehicles. The need to prepare
our cities and regional corridors for growing electric vehicle use is becoming
more and more imperative.
Working together we can make that happen and collaboration is
our key to success.
To drive this change, Sierra Club's Florida Healthy Air campaign
is organizing a series of Electric Vehicle Collaborative stakeholder
workshops. The first workshop was held
in Sarasota, FL on June 11, 2013. Seventy-four members of the
community attended the first workshop which was designed to identify local
barriers to electric vehicle adoption. Participants ranged from local
business owners, to EV drivers, to industry experts, to local government
officials, to those that would just like to see an oil-free community with
cleaner air to breathe.
The evening began with a networking happy hour which provided
attendees a chance to meet and mingle. After
happy hour, the collaborative workshop convened with a presentation by Florida
Healthy Air campaign organizer Britten Cleveland, who outlined the vision and
objectives of the Electric Vehicle Collaborative process. During the
presentation, several U.S. cities that are considered ahead of the curve in
terms of EV community readiness were spotlighted to set the stage for the work ahead.
.jpg)
The real fun began when the 74 participants broke into 8
discussion groups, each focusing on one question that solicited input with
regards to the barriers to electric vehicle adoption. Questions like: "what
are the cost concerns that inhibit EV adoption?" and "what are your
perceptions associated with charging a plug in electric vehicle in a public
place that may be inhibiting greater EV adoption?" were asked at each of
the tables. Three rounds of discussion were held so each participant visited
three different discussion groups and brainstormed for 20 minutes at each
table. The results were
outstanding. Thanks to the enthusiasm and
engagement from our stakeholders, we now have a solid framework to work with in
solving local challenges to EV adoption.
The
most thrilling moment came at the end of the 3-hour workshop when we asked
participants in the still-packed room how many would come back in July for the
next session to brainstorm local solutions to the problems they identified.
Every single person rapidly and enthusiastically raised their hands to
say they would be back.
The next workshop in Sarasota will
be held in July and will focus on brainstorming local opportunities to overcome
the barriers to EV adoption that were identified in the first meeting. The end result will be a list of tangible
community action steps that members of newly formed action teams will bring
forth to the community and to decision-makers to fulfill our goal of making the
Sarasota region a leader in EV adoption and integration. The Sierra Club’s Electric Vehicle
Collaborative model will be duplicated in other parts of Florida later this
year. Next up: Tampa-Saint Petersburg and
then Orlando.
To learn more about the Sierra
Club’s Florida Healthy Air Campaign and the Electric Vehicle Collaborative, visit our Facebook page.
