Project Summary
California policymakers have set ambitious targets to transition from gasoline-powered to electric vehicles, including policies to phase out new fossil fuel vehicles by the mid-2030s and to add over 85,000 megawatts of new grid capacity to support those vehicles, but access to charging in underserved and lower-income communities faces barriers including high costs, lack of parking space at multi-family homes, and limited grid infrastructure. City governments need deliberate and strategic plans for infrastructure development—private and public—to ensure that these communities are not left behind in California’s EV transition.
This project will create an open-source data analysis and mapping framework for the targeted development of EV infrastructure, with a focus on equity, for California cities of all sizes. The project will identify, prioritize, and map criteria for potential infrastructure locations, considering factors such as socioeconomic indicators, community demographics, pollution levels, transportation access, employment opportunities, housing types, and more. The end result will be a prioritization framework that complements CalEnviroScreen–an existing and widely-used mapping tool that helps identify California communities that are most affected by many sources of pollution, and where people are often especially vulnerable to pollution’s effects. The project will also produce a set of new mapping tools that local governments and the state can use to engage with the private sector and communities to make informed policy decisions.
