As U.S. pushes a shift toward electric cars, where should the chargers go?
Summary of story written by Michael Laris, The Washington Post originally published December 29, 2021
This article dissects the issues impacting federal guidelines for investment in charging stations, including where electric vehicle chargers should be placed to meet the needs of all communities, not just affluent drivers traveling on the busiest roadways.
StreetLight’s EV infrastructure planning metrics address those issues, spanning the identification of gaps in the current EV charging station network, predictive tools around future EV demand, demographic overlays, and project-level tools to help streamline traffic study work required to deploy chargers right now.
The article quotes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, as well as StreetLight CEO Laura Schewel, who had worked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on electric vehicle policy prior to founding StreetLight.
Laura Schewel commented on the need to consider EV charging locations outside of the most obvious high-traffic roads and highways, pointing out that…
“the most convenient way for many people to charge is at home overnight, or at work… with lower-income residents having limited control over their [ability to charge overnight] because they’re renters or they street park.”
To learn more about the issues examined by The Washington Post, read the full story.
Huerta joins the StreetLight Data Board of Directors as the company looks to harness its rapid growth to further help state, local and national entities improve their data driven understanding of how the country moves, and thus how to best invest infrastructure dollars.
“From helping manage and prepare for the Olympic Winter Games, to the years working with the FAA, I considered my work with the U.S. Department of Transportation an incredible opportunity to help shape the country’s future,” said Michael Huerta.
“StreetLight Data offers technology and insight into infrastructure needs that the country had never considered possible before.”
“What impressed us about StreetLight was its ability to innovate and build meaningful insights from a rapidly expanding base of data. We expect that those insights will have broad application and deliver significant value across multiple industries,”
About StreetLight Data
StreetLight pioneered the use of Big Data analytics to help transportation professionals solve their biggest problems. Applying proprietary machine-learning algorithms to over four trillion spatial data points over time, StreetLight measures diverse travel patterns and makes them available on-demand via the world’s first SaaS platform for mobility, StreetLight InSight®. From identifying sources of congestion to optimizing new infrastructure to planning for autonomous vehicles, StreetLight powers more than 6,000 global projects every month. For more information, please visit: www.streetlightdata.com.
