Today, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) announced it will invest $7.5 million over the next five years to develop a bold new education campaign to create awareness, expand electric vehicle (EV) ownership and lead the charge among large cities to electrify the transportation sector. The “Power Your Drive” program will seek to reduce harmful air emissions, promote the use of EV charging with power from the wind and sun, and to establish San Diego and south Orange Counties as America’s EV and clean energy capital.
The education campaign will complement the $45-million pilot program recently approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to install 3,500 charging stations at 350 local businesses, multi-family communities and disadvantaged neighborhoods. This combined $52.5 million comprehensive effort is expected to increase the use of clean energy as a fuel for transportation and help consumers overcome any obstacles to EV ownership.
Below are remarks made at today’s press conference by IBEW 569’s Business Manager.
Johnny Simpson, IBEW 569 Business Manager, Remarks at Power Your Drive News Conference
IBEW 569 is tremendously excited about Power Your Drive.
Big picture – we know we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, need to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and we know the transportation sector is a huge opportunity to do this, representing roughly 40% of climate emissions statewide.
The good news – we can accomplish our climate goals while putting local people to work here in the community with programs like Power Your Drive.
What’s especially exciting to us about plugging in instead of fueling up, thanks to our state renewable energy targets, when we plug into our grid, a third of the energy comes from renewables and soon it will be a full 50%. So we’re powering up with clean, green electrons.
We look forward to working with SDGE and with our many partners in the community in the coming months to make this program a national model for how communities create good jobs, reduce climate emissions and make the air cleaner, all while working collaboratively with the local utility as a true partner in the effort.
