April 2021 was a milestone month of for clean energy, climate, and electrification: The Biden administration unveiled the American Jobs Plan, convened a Leaders Summit on Climate, and announced the U.S. climate goal to reduce our climate emissions 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Because decarbonizing the transportation sector is necessary to achieve these goals, the Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and General Services Administration announced new programs and funding to rapidly scale deployment of EVs and charging infrastructure nationwide. 

Bolstering these efforts, two landmark transportation electrification reports hit the streets – the 2035 2.0 report series, released by a team from the University of California, Berkeley, GridLab, and Energy Innovation, show what it really means to achieve 100 percent EV Sales by 2035. In the first of our three part series on transportation electrification, host Sara Baldwin discusses the report’s findings with the two of the co-authors, and why widespread accelerated transportation electrification would bring major benefits to consumers, the economy, and the climate.

Guests: 

Dr. Nikit Abhyankar, Senior Scientist at the Center for Environmental Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley & Scientist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He regularly advises national and state governments, regulators, and utilities in multiple countries on designing clean energy policies and programs. Nikit has conducted extensive research and policy analysis on renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, and energy access. Nikit holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from Stanford University.

Taylor McNair is the Program Manager at GridLab, where he is responsible for the coordination, management, and execution of GridLab’s technical projects. Taylor works with GridLab’s team of experts to provide comprehensive technical grid expertise to policymakers and advocates. Prior to GridLab, Taylor worked at Bright Power Inc., a leading provider of energy management services throughout the U.S. Taylor graduated from Emory University with a BBA from the Goizueta Business School and a double major in Environmental Sciences. 

To Dig in Deeper, Check out these Must-Read Resources: 

• 2035 Report 2.0: Plummeting Costs and Dramatic Improvements in Batteries Can Accelerate Our Clean Transportation Future (UC Berkeley, GridLab, and Energy Innovation, April 2021)
• Accelerating Clean, Electrified Transportation by 2035: Policy Priorities: A 2035 2.0 Companion Report(Energy Innovation and Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, April 2021)
• Biden Administration Advances EV Charging Infrastructure (White House.Gov, April 22, 2021)