Cindy Carr (202) 495-3034 or cindy.carr@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Environmental Protection Agency has made available on its website the plan for the first tranche of Volkswagen’s National Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Investment spending, which targets 11 metropolitan cities nationwide -- including New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Portland, Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston, Miami, and Raleigh -- and several highway corridors. As a part of the first cycle of investment, Volkswagen’s “Electrify America” program is earmarked to spend $300 million on the installation of hundreds of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at multi-family residences, workplaces, highway rest-stops, commercial and retail sites, and municipal lots and garages.
In parallel with the National ZEV Investment Plan, VW and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the California ZEV Investment Plan on March 8th, 2017, outlining the plans for the first $200 million to be spent in California. In this plan, Volkswagen and CARB prioritized ZEV infrastructure build-out in areas with high anticipated ZEV demand and around disadvantaged communities throughout California, noting the potential for significant decreases in air pollution as a result of this ZEV build-out.
This plan is part of a multi-part $15 billion settlement agreement in the U.S., as a result of the VW emissions testing cheating scandal, and comes on the heels of Volkswagen settling separately with 10 states in late March.
In response, Sierra Club Electric Vehicles Initiative Director Gina Coplon-Newfield released the following statement:
"This new plan stands to give consumers even more opportunities to charge up and go. By placing charging stations in common-sense locations like multi-family residences, workplaces, and highway rest-stops, major metropolitan cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. will further elevate their clean air, clean city leadership. The environmental justice lens being adopted in California in particular highlights the huge potential for zero-emission vehicles to provide cleaner air in low-income communities disproportionately exposed to air pollution.
“By giving more people the opportunity to drive further on electricity in cleaner cars, these investments will help ensure that millions of Americans are breathing cleaner air and paying less for fuel, and we will start to see an even bigger boost to the electric vehicle marketplace.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.7 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.