Dr. Daniel Sperling is Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, and founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis). He described EVs as the second most important priority in climate change mitigation right behind converting to renewable electricity. The shift to EVs is already underway with targets for the transition to EVs being set in the European Union, China, and some US states. California's leadership in the transition to EVs has been pivotal, passing numerous bills to incentivize the purchase of EVs and requiring that that all sales of new light vehicles be EVs by 2035.
Dr. Sperling shared concerns about EVs including an increase in the cost of batteries, lack of availability of chargers, and the politicization of EVs. He assured the audience, however, that these drawbacks would lessen over time. In addition to EVs, he discussed the benefits of hydrogen fuel cells and the different use case for vehicles running on hydrogen.
Dr. Sperling closed the session by taking questions from the audience. Question topics included energy and material sources for EVs, using EVs as storage for the electric grid, and transportation on demand.
To learn more about the topic,
read an extended recap written by LWVP's Hope Salzer here, and
watch a recording of this event below or on the League of Women Voters of Piedmont's
YouTube channel . To watch recordings of all five events in the series, visit our
Climate Series playlist. The final event for the series will be held on April 5th at 4pm PT and will cover renewable energy and storage.
Learn more about that event and register to attend here.