Phoenix approves roadmap to have 280K electric vehicles on the road by 2030

PHOENIX — The Phoenix City Council this week approved a plan that has a goal of 280,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030.

The Transportation Electrification Action Plan, which passed unanimously, puts forth various recommendations to reach that lofty goal.

“We know that in the city of Phoenix, the transportation sector, and in particular gas-powered vehicles, are the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions and our poor air quality here in the Valley,” councilmember Yassamin Ansari, who served as chair of the committee that built the roadmap, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“In order to make the biggest dent in tackling this and cleaning up our air, we know that transitioning to electric vehicles is one of the most significant actions we can take.”

Among those actions is expanding access to public electric vehicle charging stations. The goal is to install 500 city-owned public charging stations by 2030, up from the 63 currently available.

“We know that right now one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption is enough charging infrastructure around the Valley, whether that’s at people’s homes, in their workplaces, in the public,” Ansari said.

Ansari added she hopes funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill and other grant opportunities will help expand charging stations in the Valley.

The roadmap also advises finding ways to streamline the permitting process for installing charging stations at the workplace, business, home and multi-family complexes, developing proposals for electric vehicle-ready building codes and ordinances, as well as creating an education program specific to builders, developers and businesses.

Other recommendations in the roadmap are launching an education campaign that works to clarify the benefits of electric vehicles, dispel myths and provide resources, as well as converting a portion of the city’s light-duty fleet to electric.

“I think the passing of this plan is really exciting, especially the fact that it was a unanimous bipartisan vote,” Ansari said. “Data and polling in Arizona shows there is overwhelming support for clean energy investments and electric vehicles are a big part of that.

“We’re just really excited that the city of Phoenix is leading not only locally and nationally but internationally in this realm.”

Development of the plan involved 40 community meetings since Mayor Kate Gallego announced the launch of the committee in June 2021, along with more than 1,500 survey responses and over 750 written comments.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Colton Krolak contributed to this report. 

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