Zero-emission electric vehicles are a must to limit global warming

November 10, 2018

By Emily L. Davis & Jeanne C. Myers, for Philly's Ready For 100

The City of Philadelphia recently published a strategic transportation plan. It’s called Connect. Upon reviewing it , we found that it did not address decreasing the use of private vehicles, especially those with internal combustion engines. Currently, the transportation sector is a major contributor to air pollution and in the US, it’s the largest producer of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. In Philadelphia, transportation accounts for 19% of our greenhouse gas emissions.

While it is great to encourage people to walk, bike or take public transportation, most will continue to use personal vehicles for convenience and independence. The city should work to

  1. decrease the number of private vehicles and

  2. increase the percentage of electric vehicles.

To decrease the number of private vehicles, it is essential that shared vehicles be easily available. When the non-profit Philly Car Share was founded, its objective was to remove individually owned cars from the road, and it did remove more than 8,000 before it closed. Car share should be like bike share. Infrastructure to support a city-wide car share needs to be considered by oTIS. Furthermore, these shared vehicles should be EVs and their parking spaces will therefore require charging facilities.

To increase the ownership of electric vehicles, there must be both incentives for their purchase and convenient places for charging. There are a number of ways to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles and to discourage the purchase of gasoline vehicles. For example in China, the cost to register a car is over $10,000 but the fee is waived for electric vehicles in the interest of cleaner air. Some states in the U.S. now provide subsidies for the purchase of an electric vehicle, including PA. To increase the number of charging stations, we must work with those who will benefit. One idea would be for electricity providers to sell their product using electricity vending machines.

Transitioning from fossil fuel-burning cars to EVs is an achievable goal of highest priority.

both Emily & Jeanne are active with the Philly's Ready for 100 team.