(April 6, 2022) - The Los Angeles City Council today unanimously approved Council President Pro Tempore Mitch OFarrell and Councilmember Paul Krekorians initiative to create an Electric Vehicle (EV) Master Plan, a historic step to electrifying the entire City fleet of over 10,000 vehicles and, for the first time, implement the mass deployment of publicly accessible EV infrastructure citywide.Today, the Los Angeles City Council made history, said Councilmember OFarrell, the chair of the Councils Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and River Committee. We are already well on our way to our LA100 goal of achieving 100% carbon-free energy by 2035, but our actions today put in motion our plan to transform electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in Los Angeles. Historically, Los Angeles has the worst air quality in the nation, especially disadvantaged communities who disproportionately live adjacent to major transportation infrastructure, including freeways. We must prioritize historically neglected communities in our focus to clean the air with our EV master plan and our LA100 efforts more broadly.
A century ago, Los Angeles led the automotive revolution of the past. Today, the Council is leading the automotive revolution of the future, said Councilmember Krekorian. Our actions today are the foundation of a thoughtful, visionary and effective transition to electric vehicles by the City and by the public. At the same time, theres nothing inherently clean about electric vehicles unless we have clean electricity. Thats why its so important that this effort is coordinated with our LA100 Plan to transition to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.
Todays actions chart a course to fully electrify the entire City fleet. The initial focus will be to electrify the four largest departmental fleets: StreetsLA, LA Sanitation & Environment, the Department of Recreation and Parks, and the Department of Transportation. Additionally, the General Services Department, in coordination with other departments, is instructed to plan for the mass deployment of EV charging stations and infrastructure at more than 600 City-owned facilities, including parks and libraries.
The Department of Water and Power currently projects a need of approximately 97,000 charging stations by the year 2030, underscoring the need for a citywide master plan and implementation in the coming years.
By starting with public facilities and public-facing infrastructure, we will incentivize the private sector to join us in this effort, said OFarrell, who today also introduced a related motion, seconded by Councilmember Kevin de Len, to review current contractual workforce standards for EV installations citywide, as part of an effort to ensure that the City employs good workforce standards as it electrifies the transportation sector.
Krekorian, who is also a board member of the Countys Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink), is also working to ensure that the City, the County and local transit agencies all coordinate their planning for an EV future. This is exactly the work we need to go beyond slogans and bumper stickers to the real work of changing the world, cleaning our air and creating good middle class jobs.
At a press conference earlier this morning, OFarrell and Krekorian were joined by a coalition of environmental and labor leaders, including representatives from the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11.
Ensuring transportation electrification at the City will cut emissions to zero pollution, something our young people can look back on and be proud of, said Yassi Kavezade, senior representative with the Sierra Clubs My Generation campaign. Angelenos deserve clean air and good jobs, which is why we are also so excited to support the elevated workforce standards being introduced today, as well as LAs 100% clean energy plan. Local green jobs are the answer to power our city and grow our economy to success. With actions like this, together, we are putting Los Angeles on the forefront of innovation to combat the enormous challenge of climate change and the devastating public health effects of gas and diesel air pollution.