SACE's Electric Transportation Director shares insights into timely electric vehicle (EV) topics on LinkedIn. Check out what's captured his attention recently and join the conversation.

As fall arrived in the Southeast, multiple hurricanes devastated swaths of the region, including where I live in Western North Carolina. We learned that Americans waste more than 3.3 billion gallons of gas yearly in traffic congestion. We also saw forecasts for battery prices to fall below the threshold whereby EVs reach price parity with gas cars.

The destruction caused by Helene reminds us of the risk we impose on ourselves by warming the planet, and the wasteful burning of gas in traffic shows us how unconscious and routine our contributions to climate pollution are. Meanwhile, the promise of lower-cost EVs inspires hope that the transportation sector, the most significant contributor to the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, may blaze the trail to a clean energy future.

Helene Hits Home: Using Our EVs During a Natural Disaster

It’s nearly impossible to work in the clean energy space in the Southeast without addressing the devastation left by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. I live in the mountains of North Carolina, at an epicenter of the Helene-caused disaster. Let me be blunt: there is a direct link between the intensity of this storm, rapidly warming sea and air temperatures, and the climate pollution our human activity emits. One of the largest geographically impacting systems ever seen, Helene brought record rainfall that triggered landslides and rose rivers as much as a third more than ever recorded, inundating and washing away sections of towns well outside historic flood zones. But on a lighter note, our family’s EVs came in incredibly handy. With gas challenging to find, my wife and I were able to stay juiced, delivering supplies, doing wellness checks, and picking up prescriptions in our Tesla Model Y and Chevy Bolt. Read more.

Up In Smoke: America Wastes 3.3 Billion Gallons of Gas

America wastes more than 3.3 billion gallons of gas every year in traffic congestion! Gas and diesel vehicles emit more than 29 million metric tons of carbon dioxide while just crawling down the highway. That’s the equivalent of 7 million passenger cars driven for a year, 3.8 million homes’ energy use for a year, or 7.5 coal-fired or 78.3 natural gas-fired power plants in a year. As if the climate impact wasn’t enough, now let’s think about the economic impact. Though the fuel wasted is a mix of gasoline and diesel, for simplicity’s sake, let’s imagine it is all gasoline. At $3.37 per gallon (the national average at the time of this post), 3.3 billion gallons wasted equals $11.1 billion. That’s $11.1 billion just up in smoke! Just one more reason to love EVs. Read more.

Electric Vehicles May Soon Cost the Same As Gas Cars

Speaking of the economic impact of gas cars vs. EVs…buying and owning an electric vehicle may soon cost the same as buying and owning a gas car, without subsidies. For the past decade, battery prices have been dropping precipitously but have not fallen below $100/kWh, which is when EVs begin to achieve cost parity with gas cars on an unsubsidized basis. However, we may soon arrive at sub-$100. Researchers at Goldman Sachs forecast average battery prices could fall to $80/kWh by 2026. That would amount to a drop of nearly 50% from 2023 and get us to where, without subsidies, buying and owning an electric vehicle would cost the same as buying and owning a gas car, kickstarting a consumer-led adoption phase! Read more.

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SACE’s Electrify the South program leverages research, advocacy, and outreach to accelerate the equitable transition to electric transportation across the Southeast. Visit ElectrifytheSouth.org to learn more and connect with us.