Alliance Board Member Joins Business Leaders to Form Electrification Coalition

More than a dozen business leaders – including Alliance Board Member Peter Darbee of Associate PG&E Corporation – came together today to form the Electrification Coalition. This nonpartisan, nonprofit organization will promote policies and actions to facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale to combat the economic, environmental and national security vulnerabilities caused by our nation’s dependence on petroleum.

Says Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president & CEO of FedEx Corporation and one of the Coalition's founding members, "It is time for business leaders and policymakers alike to step up...We are offering a realistic, practical, achievable plan to build a transportation system that will enhance our national security, propel economic growth and reduce carbon dioxide emissions."

Electrification Roadmap

As it's first action, the Coalition released its Electrification Roadmap, which, among other topics, highlights the benefits of electrification while also describing the challenges facing electric cars. The roadmap also provides specific policy proposals to overcome those challenges.

The Electrification Roadmap looks for 75 percent of light-duty vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. to be fueled by electricity by 2040. According to the Roadmap, this would result in a more than 75 percent reduction in oil consumption in the light-duty fleet. In addition, U.S. crude oil imports could effectively be reduced to zero.

Among its policy recommendations, the Roadmap proposes the creation of electrification 'ecosystems' – i.e., geographic areas in which all of the elements of an electrified transportation system are deployed. This would provide a crucial first step toward moving electrification beyond a niche product into a dominant, compelling and ubiquitous concept.

The Roadmap also proposes specific policies in the following areas:

• Batteries and Vehicles
• Charging Infrastructure
• Electric Power Sector Interface
• Consumer Acceptance

Electrification Coalition Members

• Timothy E. Conver, Chairman, President & CEO, AeroVironment, Inc.
• Peter L. Corsell, CEO, GridPoint, Inc.
• David W. Crane, President & CEO, NRG Energy, Inc.
• Kevin Czinger, President & CEO, Coda Automotive
• Peter A. Darbee, Chairman, CEO & President, PG&E Corporation
• Seifi Ghasemi, Chairman & CEO, Rockwood Holdings, Inc.
• Carlos Ghosn, President & CEO, Nissan Motor Company, Ltd.
• Ray Lane, Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• Richard Lowenthal, Founder & CEO, Coulomb Technologies, Inc.
• Alex A. Molinaroli, Chairman, Johnson Controls-Saft and President, Johnson Controls Power Solutions
• Reuben Munger, Chairman, Bright Automotive, Inc.
• Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President & CEO, FedEx Corporation
• David P. Vieau, President & CEO, A123 Systems, Inc.