Readout of the White House Convening on Expanding Federal EV Infrastructure
Today, White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Brenda Mallory and General Services Administration (GSA) Acting Administrator Katy Kale, along with Federal Chief Sustainability Officer Andrew Mayock, senior staff of the White House Climate Policy Office, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) held a virtual convening with senior representatives of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure providers, utilities, unions, and others on President Biden’s commitment to expand the Federal EV charging infrastructure.
Chair Mallory underscored President Biden’s commitment to transitioning the Federal fleet to 100 percent zero emission vehicles, as outlined in Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. She noted that leveraging the buying power of the Federal Government and transforming its fleet of more than 600,000 cars and trucks to an all-electric fleet will accelerate the advancement of America’s industrial capacity to supply domestically-produced zero-emission vehicles and electric batteries, while creating good-paying, union jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and skilled-trades, and significantly cutting the Federal Government’s carbon pollution. Administration officials, including GSA Acting Administrator Kale, highlighted agency-specific fleet and facility needs and current EV charging station deployment efforts. The officials also highlighted the critical investments in the American Jobs Plan that would supercharge the future of American transportation and manufacturing, building a national networking of 500,000 EV chargers and bolster domestic supply chains to deliver EV infrastructure.
EV charging infrastructure providers and utility representatives shared past efforts, plans for expanding partnerships with Federal agencies, and tools needed for success. Austin Keyser of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) highlighted how union jobs could be created through the manufacture of electric vehicle infrastructure as well as through the construction, installation, and maintenance of charging stations. Both long-standing and start-up charging providers shared ways that their diverse technologies and business models can benefit Federal agencies.
Meeting participants shared that promising partnerships are already taking shape around the country, including the Department of Veterans Affairs participating in a program offered by National Grid in Massachusetts, Southern Company engaging with Department of Defense (DoD) in Georgia through a GSA areawide contract, American Electric Power working through a utility energy services contract in Texas with DoD, and Xcel Energy coordinating with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.
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