On September 26, 2018, in the Rayburn House Office Building, with the Commission on U.S. Transportation Sector Efficiency, National Grid’s Chief Customer Officer, Terry Sobolewski, introduced the panel Pathways for Reducing Transportation Sector Energy Use 50% by 2050.
“You heard a number of the panelists already comment on this. Despite the extraordinary progress these five organizations are making, and many other organizations represented here today, or on the commission, there are still some very real barriers to exponential adoption of electric transportation, and all that goes with that.
We think that those barriers are really centered around awareness, access and affordability. So I'd love to have each of the folks on the panel here comment a little bit upon how they see those barriers manifest in their businesses or in their organizations and the challenges that they're advocating against as we speak.
I think the third key theme here is that we kind of bring everybody along. It's an aging paradigm to think of transportation as a personally-owned vehicle that gets you from point A to point B.
You've heard it said more than a couple of times. [Pittsburgh] Mayor Peduto commented on transportation being a system of systems, when we think about not just transportation, but also how it interacts with our energy systems, our networks. There's extraordinary number of complications and considerations.
We have to bring forth there and we have to do so in a way that ensures every segment of our society is well considered and well supported in the policies that we enact.
And then of course, Jason [Hartke of the Alliance to Save Energy] reminded me this morning that despite all of the work that has gone into this over the last year, today is actually the beginning. You set me back there a bit Jason. I thought we were at the end. But no in fact, this really is the beginning. Because these recommendations really serve as a starting point for the hard work that's ahead.
So, those are the four areas that we'll explore.”