*The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is installing fast-charging stations in underserved communities to make electric vehicles more accessible.
The initiative will mostly impact south and east L.A. and the San Fernando Valley. Working-class residents can receive a $4,000 rebate on used electric vehicles as part of the program, LA Focus reports.
LADWP wants to connect with local partners, particularly landowners, who want to help the city meet its carbon-free energy goal by 2035. Several local churches have agreed to help with the expansion plans.
“We realized each one of our churches has property,” said Bishop Noel Jones, senior pastor at the City of Refuge Church. “So that when we put together the EV stations, we wouldn’t have to buy the property and church folk can come and get charged while they’re in church.”
Jones added, “We are extremely glad to be a part of the partnership that is being put forward by not only our mayor but by LADWP. And I guarantee you that with their support, and our support, we’re going to make things happen and change things.”
Cynthia McClain-Hill, President of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners, said, “Our clean energy future must be meaningful and beneficial for our customers citywide. Moving forward, our clean energy future will be ‘Powered by Equity.’ Our path forward is to continue ‘Leading with Equity’ in how we fashion the framework for our city’s clean energy future.”
LADWP’s “Powered by Equity” initiative includes EV chargers and a boosted rebate.
The “Powered by Equity” project results from a two-year research study that “offers a comprehensive analysis of Los Angeles’ disparities in clean energy investments and proposes specific policies and programs to rectify these inequities,” per LA Focus.
“For these strategies to be successful, we knew we needed to tailor them to the needs of the City’s entire community. No other utility in the United States has committed not only 100% renewable but to making sure it’s implemented equitably,” said Stephanie Pincetl, a co-author of the report and director of the UCLA California Center for Sustainable Communities, per LA Focus.
“This is the power of a municipal utility, a utility owned by and for its customers.”
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