Free Republic

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D) is set to join electrification nonprofit organization Rewiring America as a senior counsel. In a news release, Rewiring America said that Abrams, a former House Minority Leader in her home state of Georgia, will use her new role to help launch a national awareness campaign and also a network of communities working together to help Americans go electric. Abrams will also guide the nonprofit organization as it continues to build the tools and capacity to connect citizens and communities in the U.S. to machines, installers, Inflation Reduction Act incentives, and jobs in the...

Climate change communists keep talking about electrifying our economy because it is the only way to conceivably get to zero or near zero carbon emissions. Beege wrote a must-read post on this yesterday. Must. Read.Now I have no problem, in principle, with reducing the carbon footprint of the economy, as long as it can be done with inexpensive, abundant, and reliable power sources that perform the job as well or better than fossil fuels. And that is the promise that is made by the advocates of electrifying our economy.Perhaps someday that dream can be achieved, but that day is way...

The mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, installed a new gas line and gas-powered fireplace in his home despite his push for the city to phase out fossil fuel usage and boost electrification. City permits show Christopher Taylor, a Democrat who has served as mayor of the city since 2014, installed the gas line to hook up to his new fireplace earlier this year, MLive reported. Taylor has been a strong proponent of climate policies, including the so-called A2Zero carbon neutrality plan that calls on residents to buy electric vehicles, install solar panels and rely less on fossil fuels. […] Ann...

In the first big hit to the Bay Area from the Trump administration, newly minted Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has put the brakes on $647 million for Caltrain to go electric — and in the process pretty much killed for high-speed rail coming to San Francisco anytime soon. “It puts the (electrification) project in serious jeopardy,” Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy said Friday. Caltrain carries about 60,000 riders a day between the South Bay and San Francisco, but its diesel-driven trains are both costly to operate and slow. Officials see electrification as a way both to increase ridership and save money...

"U.S. Transportation department executive approved grant days before taking job with rail contractor" A top Obama administration executive at the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a $647-million grant for a California rail project in mid-January and less than two weeks later went to work for a Los Angeles-based contractor involved in the project, The Times has learned. The grant provides a significant part of the money required to install a $2-billion electrical power system on the Bay Area’s Caltrain commuter rail system, allowing the rail to retire its diesel locomotives.

In brief: This new coalition of members of the electric vehicle community, infrastructure, and more proclaim that the U.S. needs to have 75% of its light-duty vehicle miles go electric by 2040. They officially released their report titled Electrification Roadmap, which outlines a vision for the deployment of EVs and infrastructure on a national scale. Members of the coalition include GridPoint, INc., Coda Automotive, Nissan Motor Company, Johnson Controls, FedEx, and A123 Systems. Everyone in the coalition produces vehicles, infrastructure, or components for the EV industry. That 75% goal would mean 200 million cars being replaced by electrics in only...