Mesa Mayor John Giles joins federal electric vehicle committee
Mesa Mayor John Giles has been named a member of a federal committee that will focus on promoting the widespread adoption of electric vehicles nationwide.
The city of Mesa announced Monday that Giles is among 23 members of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s Electric Vehicle Working Group, which consists of automotive industry experts and policy leaders who will make recommendations to U.S. Energy and Transportation secretaries.
“With extreme weather events and rising temperatures becoming more and more common, it’s more important than ever that we take steps to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Vehicle electrification not only reduces our impact on the environment, but it also lessens costs in city government and creates high-tech and high-wage jobs,” Giles said in a statement. “I’m proud of the steps Mesa and Arizona have already taken to embrace EVs, and I look forward to furthering that work as a member of the Electric Vehicle Working Group.”
Mesa is a growing market for advanced manufacturing and supply-chain innovation for the electric vehicle industry. The city is developing an electric vehicle charging master plan to guide decisions on policy and infrastructure investments to support transition to electric vehicles.
In addition, Mesa is home to electric vehicle companies, battery manufacturers, research and development centers, and suppliers, including Cirba Solutions, Li-Cycle, Urbix Resources, Exro Technologies, Hyundai Transys and Nxu.
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The federal committee will focus specifically on facilitating adoption of electric vehicles among low-and-moderate income residents and underserved communities; assessing cost of battery manufacturing; identifying charging infrastructure, grid capacity and EV cybersecurity needs as well as identifying charging infrastructure regulatory issues.
The committee also includes leadership from the U.S. departments of Energy and Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. General Services Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service.
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation was created through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to strengthen collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation to deploy a national network of electric vehicle chargers and zero-emission fueling infrastructure, transit and school buses.
“The adoption of electric vehicles continues to evolve at a lightning pace,” Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, said in a statement. “The thought leaders we’ve assembled for the EVWG understand the unique challenges and opportunities of this evolution and will align efforts across government and industry to ensure we work together to build an electrified transportation future that benefits all Americans.”