Roadmap Roundup

The Inflation Reduction Act aims to create nine million good jobs over the next decade, with ten percent of those jobs in clean manufacturing. This echoes the manufacturing boom that created the Steel Belt, bringing life to communities across the heartland of America. But that boom eventually led to the Rust Belt and a sense among manufacturing workers that they had been left behind. With labor movements on the rise, workers are becoming more optimistic for another growth of sustainable communities built around these good jobs. But with persistent supply chain challenges on the horizon and neighboring countries with lower labor costs developing advanced manufacturing capabilities, how can the U.S. keep new, clean, good jobs here at home? Our guests Anna Waldman-Brown from the DOE Office of Energy Jobs and Reem Rayef from BlueGreen Alliance will discuss the vision behind the IRA, how the labor movement can build good jobs, and how the U.S. can keep those good jobs and build sustainable communities.

Atlas Public Policy rings in the new year with Gabe Klein, Executive Director of the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. In this episode, we'll hear about what impacts the Joint Office has made thus far, what they hope to accomplish in 2024, and how those efforts will affect the wider EV and charging markets in the United States to drive us toward a zero-emission transportation future.

When we think about EVs, many people immediately imagine electric cars quickly and quietly zipping down the highway. But for our guests today, the EV future includes alternative forms of transportation—like electric bicycles and scooters, or electric buses and rail. Our guests Stephanie Lotshaw from TransitCenter and Mike Salisbury from the City and County of Denver will discuss the importance of developing and providing alternatives to electric cars in an EV future, particularly in metropolitan areas around the United States. We’ll hear about challenges to implementation and adoption, as well as opportunities to reimagine navigable and clean city centers built for pedestrians, public transit, and micro-mobility. 

As EV adoption continues to grow, drivers will need ready access to charging infrastructure that can power their ride. States need to ensure that both commercial and residential property developers are thinking ahead and building for an EV-driven future. On this episode of EV Hub Live, special guest host Zack Strauss—the host of Atlas’s Buildings Hub Live—will interview Vanessa Warheit from the EV Charing for All Coalition and Adam Berry from the Colorado Energy Office about how states are approaching not only how to ensure there are enough chargers out there for future drivers, but crucially how they states can ensure new development is equitable for all EV drivers. The coalition recently released the EV Building Codes Toolkit, which helps state offices and community organizers to encourage implementation of equitable policies for EV charging building codes. This is a unique convergence of Atlas’s EV and Buildings live shows that you won’t want to miss!

With the federal fiscal year coming to a close this month and the race for 2024 beginning in earnest, Atlas Public Policy's founder, Nick Nigro, sits down with Politico's Tanya Snyder and Automotive News' Audrey LaForest to chat about the latest EV policy and funding issues at the federal level. They'll cover the budget debate in Washington, pending EPA/NHTSA rules, and the implementation of IIJA/IRA. They'll also discuss how EVs are factoring into campaigns for 2024.

For this episode of EV Hub Live, we hear from Jordan Brinn from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on building a sustainable EV battery market through policy, funding, and research. Brinn recently authored “Building Batteries Better: Doing the Best With Less” and is a transportation electrification policy expert. The conversation will be facilitated by Atlas Public Policy founder, Nick Nigro. Join us today at 3PM EST. 

Widespread EV charging deployment is in the works, and funding through programs like NEVI is beginning to take shape. As we work to build a nationwide charging network, robust relationships between utilities, charging installers, and site hosts will need to form for seamless deployment. In this episode, we’ll hear perspectives from Rachael Nealer from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, Lang Reynolds from Circle K and Brian Wilke from National Grid on key challenges such as permitting, installation, and charger reliability, and ways to foster opportunities among the parties involved in charger deployment.

NEVI is one of the first Justice40-covered programs to be implemented nationally, and we now have a chance to avoid repeating harmful transportation investments in underserved communities. Through conversations with stakeholders and a comprehensive review of initial state NEVI plans, we’ll hear from EV equity advocates Rachel Patterson from Evergreen and Moe Khatib from Atlas Public Policy on how states can lead on equitable charging deployment centering disadvantaged communities.

This episode of EV Hub Live brings together Atlas founder Nick Nigro, Atlas Public Policy analyst Zachary Strauss and Virginia Smith Reeder from The Eastern Transportation Coalition.

Companies working on EVs are doing really tough stuff. In order to build something special, you often need a team that stays together through thick and thin. In this episode, we’ll talk with two EV experts who’ve been with their companies for more than 15 years. We’ll find out what it is about working at their companies that makes them stick around.