Speaker A
Please welcome Jeff Allen, the executive director of Forth. Good morning. I heard the chuckles out there. So, somebody got the Seattle reference right?
Day 1 of the 2026 Forth Roadmap Conference in Seattle highlights clean transportation, community impact, and a major nonprofit merger announcement.
Key Takeaways
- Clean transportation requires community collaboration and long-term vision.
- Equity and accessibility are central to Forth's approach, focusing on those with the greatest barriers.
- Forth has pioneered innovative programs in EV education, car sharing, e-bikes, and electric farming.
- The merger with Calstart will create a powerful nonprofit to accelerate clean transportation efforts.
- The Roadmap Conference is a key annual event for networking, learning, and advancing clean mobility.
What the video covers
- Jeff Allen, executive director of Forth, welcomes attendees to the 2026 Roadmap Conference in Seattle, emphasizing community and partnership.
- The conference focuses on building a cleaner, more equitable transportation future through collaboration and innovation.
- Forth's history is shared, including its evolution from Drive Oregon and pioneering efforts like the first brand-neutral EV showroom and electric car sharing.
- The importance of clean mobility is highlighted through personal stories demonstrating its impact on individuals' lives.
- Forth's programs include electric car sharing, electric bicycles for underserved communities, and electric farming equipment.
- The organization's theory of change centers on long-term vision, prioritizing those facing barriers, and broad collaboration.
- A major announcement reveals Forth's combination with Calstart to form one of the largest clean transportation nonprofits globally.
- Logistical details about the conference venue, sessions, exhibit hall, and networking opportunities are provided.
- The conference aims to continue fostering partnerships and innovation in clean transportation across the US.
- Future Roadmap Conference dates and locations are announced, with the 2027 event set for Long Beach, California.
Chapters
- 00:00Welcome and Introduction by Jeff Allen
- 07:04Impact of Clean Mobility on Lives
- 14:06History and Evolution of Forth
- 20:34Forth’s Programs: EV Showroom, Car Sharing, E-Bikes, E-Farming
- 26:46Theory of Change and Community Focus
- 33:26Major Announcement: Forth and Calstart Merger
- 40:00Conference Logistics and Networking
- 46:40Future Roadmap Conference and Closing Remarks
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Um, fun fact, Heart was my first rock concert ever. So, thank you. Welcome to the 2026 Roadmap Conference.
Speaker A
Thank you. I am Jeff Allen, executive director of Forth, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to Seattle. Thank you. Yeah. Can we get a shout out for Seattle?
Speaker A
Uh, thank you especially for joining us a little early this morning. Uh, I promise you will be glad that you did. We're going to have some big news coming up to share with you.
Speaker A
But first, whether this is your first Roadmap conference or you've been joining us for years, we are really thrilled that you're here. Every year, this conference brings together really an extraordinary community of diverse leaders committed to building a cleaner,
Speaker A
more equitable transportation future. So, I guarantee you're going to learn some new things here, but more importantly, you're going to build some partnerships, collaborations, and friendships that are going to move this work forward long after this conference ends.
Speaker A
Um, so first thing I need to do is thank the sponsors who make this all possible.
Speaker A
And particularly a shout out to our major sponsors, including our registration lanyard sponsor, Whimo.
Speaker A
Yep. Applause is encouraged. Um, thank you to our track sponsor, Calstart, and to our Yap and to our mini session sponsors, Puget Sound Energy, Zuks, and Charger Help.
Speaker A
Thank you very much. I also want to give a special shout out to our Mobility for All sponsor, General Motors.
Speaker A
They make possible the attendance of folks from community-based organizations working at the intersection of electric transportation and racial equity. So, some quick logistical information for this morning, uh, about our venue. Our mainstage programming and meals are going to be in
Speaker A
this ballroom over the next couple of days. So, congratulations on finding us here. Uh, the breakout sessions are going to be next, uh, I'm sorry, on the fourth floor, one floor down. Our exhibit hall, our fabulous exhibit hall is right next
Speaker A
door over here, uh, in the Summit Ballroom 1. And very important, that's where the coffee will be all day long. We are in Seattle.
Speaker A
Enough said. Um, also, that's where the reception is going to be at 4:00, 4 to 5:30, also in that exhibit hall. And we'll have complimentary drinks and appetizers. And that's, as many of you know who've come to this event, that's
Speaker A
where the real work happens. So, before we get to our big announcement, I want to indulge me for a minute while I talk a little bit about how we got here. Um, if you've been in this room before, and I know at least
Speaker A
one of you, two of you have been doing this for over 15 years, you know, this is not your typical industry conference.
Speaker A
It feels a lot more like a family reunion. And that's not an accident. That's what happens when a community builds something together year after year. And many of you also know that Forth began as Drive Oregon in 2011.
Speaker A
Um, and when I joined as the first and, uh, only employee in 2011, uh, some of you who've been working in the space will remember electric vehicles sounded like science fiction to a lot of people still. Um, there were only a couple of
Speaker A
models. The first Roadmap or the Roadmap conference that year, uh, I think we had less than a hundred people. But what we did have was a vision and we had a community that believed in what was possible. We brought that community
Speaker A
together to exchange ideas, to build partnerships, try new things, overcome barriers, and map the road ahead. Thus the clever name of the event. And we built this event together year after year. This has been the conference that brought together people who otherwise
Speaker A
might never have found one another in this space of transportation electrification. So I'm very happy to announce that Roadmap is going to continue to be the place where we all come together and do this work. In fact, you can mark your
Speaker A
calendars. Get out your calendars, your phones right now and mark September 7th through 9th, 2027, Long Beach, California. Roadmap is going to be in California for the first time ever. Um, and I hope to see you all there.
Speaker A
So, a little more history lesson. Uh, Forth really grew alongside Roadmap over the last 15 years. And I just want to give you a few examples of how we've evolved and, and I promise this is going somewhere. Um,
Speaker A
first of all, we saw a need to help drivers understand the value of electric vehicles. So, we brought together partners from the US Department of Energy, Portland General Electric, automakers, charging companies. We created the first brand-neutral EV showroom in the US in
Speaker A
2017. And when COVID shut that down in 2020, we found new partners and we turned it into a mobile showroom that's traveled to events all across the West.
Speaker A
As we were doing that work, we heard from community partners, um, particularly in low-income communities. They needed a way to access electric mobility that didn't depend on buying a new car. So we started with a small pilot with two cars
Speaker A
in 2017 offering car sharing and since then we've worked with over a hundred partners including community groups, housing agencies, utilities, automakers, and dozens and dozens of others to launch electric car sharing across 40 communities in eight states. Those
Speaker A
vehicles have driven hundreds of thousands of miles. Um, yeah, thank you. There's, and there's the numbers, but I want to share a quote from one of our users in New Mexico who said, "Without Car Share, I wouldn't have gotten my job. I
Speaker A
couldn't have put food on the table when my family was hungry." Car share has been a tremendous boost for my self-esteem.
Speaker A
That's why we do this work. That's what clean mobility looks like when it changes someone's life. It's not just about tons of emissions or about total cost of ownership. It's about transforming lives.
Speaker A
Now, during that car share work, we heard from people who couldn't drive, often because they were undocumented and at that point in Oregon couldn't get a driver's license, and they asked how we could help them. That led to another
Speaker A
round of dozens of partnerships and projects and program designs that have now helped hundreds of people access electric bicycles for the first time as a practical way to get to work, buy groceries, deliver their kids to school, not just a way to pass me out on the
Speaker A
bike path, but to actually get the needs of daily life done. One more example, we also noticed a few years back that farming, one of the most diesel-dependent industries in the country, was ready for its transition to electric
Speaker A
vehicles. So we started with one electric tractor, um, and today our e-farms program has put electric equipment in front of nearly 1,500 people across 18 farms in two states. So, yeah.
Speaker A
Um, so I'm not just telling you this because I'm really proud of my team and the work that we've done, although I am, but because I want to help you understand our theory of change, which is really think big picture and long
Speaker A
term. Start with the end in mind. Second of all, start with the folks who could benefit the most and face the most barriers to accessing this technology and design around them. And third, collaborate with everyone. None of this
Speaker A
is work we did alone. We did it in partnership with a lot of you in this room and, as I say, literally hundreds of other organizations.
Speaker A
That all leads up to the announcement we're here to make today, uh, where that theory of change is taking us next, which is Forth is proud to announce we are combining with Calstart to create one of the largest and most impactful clean
Speaker A
transportation nonprofit organizations in the world. That definitely calls for applause. So you'll be getting more details about this in the conference app and the email, and we will be—I encourage you to stop by our booth in the exhibit hall and we
Speaker A
can talk about all the details, but the important thing is we're coming to this with really deeply complementary, uh, strengths.
Speaker A
technical expertise, and decades of experience advancing clean transportation across all vehicle types, markets, and geographies. You put these together, we're going to connect community insight with industry expertise, local innovation with global reach, and bold ideas with the ability
Speaker A
to bring them truly bring them to scale. We share a vision of a world where clean equitable affordable transportation moves all people and goods. That's what's really important.
Speaker A
And achieving that vision requires an organization that can catalyze change at scale. and that is what we're going to build together. So, I'm enormously proud of what Fourth has become over the last 15 years. I'm even more excited about
Speaker A
what comes next. Now, after this transition happens, uh I'm going to be leaving at the end of the year, so I will be watching and cheering from the sidelines, but the mission is in good hands. And I'm pleased to introduce the
Speaker A
person who will lead us forward, Michael Baraby, CEO of Calstart and our combined organization.
Speaker A
Thank you. Thank you. There we can Sorry about the mic noise. I'm sorry. Um, thank you, Jeff. And uh I really want to start by recognizing the Fourth team, Jeff uh and the group and all that they have built, the
Speaker A
community that they have created and the role that Fourth has played in moving clean transportation forward. It is truly impressive. I was at some of those earlier events and I have seen I remember when you announced that we've
Speaker A
outgrown the venue in Portland and we have to grow from there. This is a hugely important moment for both our organizations but for this community as well. Two teams distinct histories but very complimentary strengths and a deeply shared belief
Speaker A
that anything is possible if you put your shoulder into it and you have a vision and you stick to it. All of you in this room are that that inspiration that motivation I think that helps keep all of us sticking to it as well.
Speaker A
This is the next phase and this is the right place to be announcing this momentous change of bringing CalStar and forth together as one organization.
Speaker A
Roadmap has been the venue where people can gather and get together as Jeff said to think about the future to take stock of what's happening right now, what's working, what's not working, where we need to go. We will can be continuing
Speaker A
that for sure. Moments like this are built on where we come from, but they shape where we are going next. Which is why I actually have a second major announcement about our future that I'd like to share with all of you.
Speaker A
When Calstar was formed over 30 years ago, we imagined a world where transportation was transformed by new kinds of manufacturing, by innovation and new technologies, where we could work collectively with local and state agencies and create an ecosystem of
Speaker A
entrepreneurs. At that po point, we had a bold vision that electric vehicles in the future would be as exciting as the yettobe invented iPhone. That drivers would love as they get in their vehicle how their car is actually saving them money. That
Speaker A
truck drivers, bus drivers would say, "Oh my god, this vehicle is so quiet. It's fun. It's enjoyable to drive." That there'd be global hubs and quarters interconnected.
Speaker A
Today, those things may seem inevitable, but back then they were anything but. When you think back then, GM's EV1 was still years away. Chrysler's TE van, the first product that I actually worked on when I was a young engineer uh at
Speaker A
Chrysler, cost $120,000, had at best 50 miles of range. Lead acid batteries were like the state of technology at the time, which is really just kind of funny to think about now, but think about how much progress was
Speaker A
made. You know, back then we're working on methanol and ethanol flex fuel vehicles to reduce smog, which was critically important. That was the technology needed. We were debating how much catalytic converters could really reduce emissions. And there was ample
Speaker A
debate in California and around the country and Detroit where I was about an electric vehicle mandate for that seemed crazy at the time.
Speaker A
But then as of now, we didn't wait for the future as an organization. was much smaller then has grown. We said we can help build that future. We've formed enduring partnerships with state officials with local communities.
Speaker A
Going back in the history books before I was with the organization of course it's amazing to see the things we did. We bought brought 50 cityb electric vehicles from Norway. You can look that up online to see them as one of the
Speaker A
first electric car demonstrations here in the US. We helped secure and manage the first statewide deployment of 500 public EV chargers in the state of California. We were working with people like Alcoa on lightweight vehicle design and GM with their skateboard technology
Speaker A
that today, if you look at a BYD vehicle, is exactly how it's built. We actually helped launch the T0 electric sports car. Not many of those actually sold, but a good demonstration. Worked on electric snowmobiles, aircraft for those in the off-road space today.
Speaker A
Still, we're doing that. and in actually electric transport and EV to what today we would call EV toll which was not then and also working on transit and bus rapid transit systems and last mile and when not a single electric truck existed
Speaker A
at the time we helped work with people in the industry to create the first class 8 hybrid demonstration vehicle this history has made the organization of who we are today now what began in California now reaches across the
Speaker A
country and indeed across the globe today. Microommobility is everywhere. EVs are available in every category. We have long range electric trucks, draage vehicles running off the ports, off-road vehicles. I love the tractor picture that Jeff had up there. New battery
Speaker A
technology is still abounding. There's a long way to go. And clean port programs exist across all parts of the country and along the inland waterways as well.
Speaker A
Globally, I'm glad to say Calstar is partnering with 43 countries that are now signatories to the globalou for zero emission trucks. We recently announced an initiative called BC to BC, British Columbia to Baja California, electrifying the I5 corridor. And then
Speaker A
probably the biggest proof point of all, today globally, 25% of all new vehicles are battery electric. 25% that is huge.
Speaker A
looking across that. You all deserve applause for that. We are going to get there on that here in the US. I will say big programs working um with states in the state of California. We are very proud. We have
Speaker A
now deployed 1 billion dollars in the centers for class 8 heavy duty trucks that goes across 2,000 fleets, 11,000 clean commercial vehicles. We're working to help develop with UCLA wireless corridor for the 2028 Olympics. And I am very proud to say we are strongly
Speaker A
partners as fourth has been with clean city coalitions across the country. In fact, today clean city coalitions cover 93% of the entire country and remain a very strong partner. I know many of you are here in the room as well. We look
Speaker A
forward to keep partnering with all of you. My team likes to say if it floats, rolls or flies, we have the capability, the knowledge to work across it and we have a vision of where the future can go. So
Speaker A
that brings us to the second announcement for today. Today I think the industry needs a very clear signal of where we are going. Now is the time that we collectively are more capable than ever to achieve that vision. the vision where we have clean,
Speaker A
equitable, and affordable transportation that can move all people and goods. The name Calstart actually no longer captures fully that vision and that place where we can be in the global impact. So today I'm proud to announce that we are rebranding the organization
Speaker A
to Catalyst Mobility. you know, catalyst because momentum matters. For the engineers in the room, we think of a catalyst. It's the active ingredient.
Speaker A
It's the spark that helps make things happen. It doesn't bound us by geography or technology. It helps tell our story and mobility because at its core, what we are about is how do we deliver clean, equitable, and affordable mobility for
Speaker A
all people, the movement of all goods. This name and the energy will help us attract the partners, the funding, the community we need to achieve that collective vision. The technologies are ready. The markets are demanding scale.
Speaker A
We believe we are uniquely positioned to help meet the challenges of this moment. Where we come from really helps set that vision. Where we are today helps gives us the capability. Where we go next, we will build together because every person
Speaker A
everywhere deserves cleaner air and more access to mobility. The momentum continues from here going out. I think the future is ours collectively to make.
Speaker A
So, Catalyst Mobility, building clean transportation, we look forward to working with all of you to make that happen.
Speaker A
In a minute, Jeff and I um we've asked three tremendous leaders uh in the space to come and um share a little bit more like what this moment means. Um but before I do that, there's one thing I do
Speaker A
want to touch because it's a question as we've been sharing a little bit of this news coming up with um with all of you.
Speaker A
A question people have asked is as this combined organization, what happens to roadmap? And as Jeff said, we will be one year from now in Long Beach. But I want to share with you just a little bit more a glimpse of who as a collective
Speaker A
organization catalyst is and the way we want to approach things. We over this next year one of our theories of change is that we need to take the activity that has been in pockets country and we need to grow that across the country.
Speaker A
You in this room get that you know that. But we need to get that momentum going.
Speaker A
So I want to share with you actually um our map of a road map of the future. One of the things we will be doing, we've already started to put in place. We are going to be working across the country,
Speaker A
working to build upon the history of roadmap to create that road map across the country. We are going to be convening groups in in each region of the country knowing that the road map in each region is unique. It's separate.
Speaker A
But we do need those individually and then we need to build it to an overall national roadmap. We'll be convening regional roundts, building advisory councils in each part of the country, really trying to capture the momentum that we think is starting to rebuild in
Speaker A
this space. That takes some time to do. This certainly is not all done in one year, but we will be doing that through this coming year and bringing it all to Long Beach with all of you. We want to
Speaker A
see all of you there and each of you bring one of your best friends as well collectively and we will be pulling that together in Long Beach to really identify and lay out the national roadmap for the future. We think the
Speaker A
timing is right. We say you have to like skate to where the puck's going to be, not where it is today. This work over the next year is skating to where we think we need to be one year from now,
Speaker A
which will put us in the right place going forward from there. So look forward to uh seeing you all one year from now as well as in work across the country in these regional roundts as well. All right, with that Jeeoff bring
Speaker A
up the panel. Yeah, come on up. So we're going to invite to the stage uh Henrik Holland as of I think last week, president of EV realy and the board chair for this catalyst mobility. Katie Sloan, vice president, Southern
Speaker A
California Edison, and Nadia Malik, senior vice president of strategy, CGC. I think we have an extra mic. I can there. Is that the extra one?
Speaker A
Great. We're gonna have a little bit of a conversation here. First, I get to ask the question I've really wanted to ask since we first started talking about this. Um, Henrik, how did you react when Michael brought this uh to you as board
Speaker A
chair? Uh, this was not on his dance card. your dance card for for the year.
Speaker A
Um, yeah. No, it was simple. It was Michael, great idea. Go ahead. It was a blank checkbook. Go get them.
Speaker A
As you point out, uh, Jeff, um, this combination was not uh on the plan as we were thinking about 2026 in 2025.
Speaker A
Um, moreover, you know, Michael um had just come into his role. Um and and beyond that when you're thinking about bringing two organizations together there's really a lot that um comes along with that there's implications to strategy programs people the financial
Speaker A
side of things. So there was really a lot um for us to consider but the initial reaction was actually kind of knowing both organizations um and this was widely shared in our board is hey there really could be
Speaker A
something here like bringing these two organizations together we had a sense there was some real complimentarity to that so Michael you know with the team uh go and really look into this this could be really interesting so I have to
Speaker A
say that I was really impressed with the diligence that was done um by both teams, the conversations that were had uh by the fourth team, the Calstar team and after um a very robust and rigorous process, what came back was um an answer
Speaker A
which was a resounding yes, like we we see the uh the vision here, the opportunity and I think you know for both boards that was very much shared as well. Um I mentioned there's a lot to go through as you think about diligence and
Speaker A
we I won't touch on all of that. We'll get to some of it but I do want to highlight one thing um that also in the nonprofit world the financial side of things is really really important. So we
Speaker A
were very keen to understand okay as we bring these two organizations together are they together going to be stronger more resilient more impactful also from a financial perspective and there too the team did a great job in terms of
Speaker A
diligence you know we were impressed to see how forth had structured its financials this was a healthy organization together with calstar we really saw not just the programmatic and strategic synergies but also the synergies on the financial side of
Speaker A
things. So, um, and the teams were very convincing. So, yeah, we, uh, we're super thrilled that we're here today.
Speaker A
Um, so after a long process, we're we're very excited to be here at this moment, uh, this historical moment today.
Speaker A
Nadia, I'm curious um, from your perspective, right, being on the Ford board, how how how did this evolve in your mind and like why why was this compelling to do?
Speaker A
Great question. Am I on? I'm on. Okay, good morning everyone. Uh, great question. I think we sitting Jeff last year at roadmap last year we started talking about this the moment seemed right. We're seeing the industry uh we're seeing more natural consolidations
Speaker A
in the industry due to maturity as as you all mentioned a lot of growth but this is a moment for us to really strengthen and be ready as we think about scale as we think about durability as we think about our reach. And so
Speaker A
leveraging the strengths of both organizations as you've heard uh was a a organic outcome of this merger so to speak. I know it's not always common in the nonprofit space but the same reasons that compel anyone else were compelling
Speaker A
here and I have to say um it's a great opportunity to merge teams. Uh just a huge shout out to both teams, both organizations, the new organization, amazing people and um I'm really excited about what the future is going to bring.
Speaker A
But with intentionality and thought um the the new scale we have again leveraging different strengths. Uh there is some overlap, but there's also areas of divergence and that's going to make us stronger and ready for the future.
Speaker A
So, um, great due diligence as you mentioned, my old very old legal hat like like to see that from years ago.
Speaker A
Um, well, Henrik, let me get back to you for a minute and like what are some of the specific opportunities that you see coming out of a combined organization?
Speaker A
Um, well, I I can build a bit on on what I just said before that there are a lot of areas that, you know, need to be considered as you think about a merger like this. And let me touch on like
Speaker A
three um areas of key opportunity that I see. I think there's many more, but like let me bring it down to to three essential ones. First is on the just the programs side of things. So, if you think about what CalStart's been strong
Speaker A
in, leadership in medium, heavy duty, off-road, national policy, and where Fourth has been strong is equitable access to, uh, light duty transportation, community mobility, uh, regional market, um, activation. Those are not just programs that are very complimentary, but they're also very
Speaker A
complimentary skill sets in terms of what you do to transform an industry. So, I think there's a huge opportunity to bring those programs together. I think there's going to be scale advantages and I think the organizations can learn a lot from each other as they
Speaker A
come together. The second bit um is regional. Uh Calstart of course has its roots in California but you know over the past I'd say decade or so has started to have much more of a national footprint. Fourth has a very strong
Speaker A
regional footprint. There's very limited overlap there and again it comes back to capabilities of how you do that but I think also in terms of just regional presence that strengthen strengthens things. The third thing I'd say is just
Speaker A
stakeholders membership um funding access to funding um you know relationship with philanthropic organizations um there's a huge opportunity there to uh combine our approach to stakeholders and I think together we're going to have a much much broader reach. So if you
Speaker A
think about all of that in the context of today's market, I think today more than ever, what we need in the US, but also to a degree globally, I think is a really strong national presence, an organization that is, I'll repeat those
Speaker A
three words, you know, strong, resilient, and impactful in this space. And I think today more than ever is the right time not just for this combination but for this transformation into catalyst mobility as a strong national organization.
Speaker A
You know Katie I'm cur you and I have had a chance to work together in a number of roles now over the years.
Speaker A
You're in uh in your role atce really at the front lines and have been for a while in this transition and the and the challenges right. Um I'm curious your perspective of how you see Catalyst Mobility able to really help address
Speaker A
those challenges going forward. Yeah. Well, just a couple things. Uh first I wanted to say what I'm what I'm excited about here. Not just from a business and an industry perspective, but also um more personally. Um being on
Speaker A
the board at CalStart has been a great joy for the last um five, six years that I've been part of it. And we have really phenomenal people that are on the board.
Speaker A
And so one of the things I'm most excited about are our new board members like Nadia that are going to be joining us on the CalStar board bringing all of their wealth of experience and also not just um experience with forth but in the
Speaker A
industries. I really feel like they complement as well our board. Um, and I'll also say, um, I'm very excited for this moment because I had the opportunity to be on the search board to find Michael Buru in this role and just
Speaker A
less than a year he's been in the role and we've done this amazing um, merger with fourth and a rebrand. I think just phenomenal and it just makes me know that we chose the right person to lead us as we said in this strong national
Speaker A
moment. Um, so just wanted to start with those things that I'm really excited about personally and then more from an industry perspective. Um, if you aren't at a a not nonforprofit or one of the organizations that are helping to speed
Speaker A
up policy and you're sitting in a company like an automaker or a charging company or a utility, uh, you find that there's a lot of different folks that you can work with. Um, and it's never you're never quite sure, should I be
Speaker A
working with everyone? Should I be working with some people? I think this really helps to have a one-stop shop um really covering the gamut of all types of vehicle electrification and bringing that focus to equity. Um as we were
Speaker A
having our board conversations, one of the the main things we talked about was how are our mission and our vision going to fit together and um we know that having equitable outcomes is something very important to forth and we wanted to
Speaker A
make sure that we were ready to support that from a board and an organizational perspective. And we found that even though it hasn't been in the name of what we say our vision and our mission are, because we focus on medium and
Speaker A
heavy duty fleets and that has the highest impact in air quality and on folks that are in uh underserved communities, we actually do have a very big important role that we were already playing um in the equity transition and
Speaker A
we think that this will be a really good compliment. So these are some of the things that I'm most excited about for this moment.
Speaker A
Great. Yeah, as mentioned, Naja, you're one of four current fourth board members who are going to be coming over to the to the catalyst board. So, what are some things you're excited about uh in this combination?
Speaker A
Yeah, I echo a lot of what Katie said. This is an opportunity for us to think about jobs, about public health, about reaching the communities and pockets of America that have not had access to affordable clean easy uh accessible
Speaker A
mobility and transportation. And so I think that, you know, you keep hearing these theme words, affordability, reliability. Um that's something that we have the power to help on the policy front on the um you know industry whether it's as you said a large utility
Speaker A
uh developer we have the ability to bring together all the key players and continue to push this forward uh so that all reaches of the country and and even globally and beyond. But we can help um rural America, we can help uh folks that
Speaker A
are in multif family housing. We know that these are areas that we continue to see opportunity and so I'm really excited about the brain trust that's been brought together. I go back to people. Um everything that both forth
Speaker A
and legacy forth and and legacy kestart and now you know catalyst are are bringing together. It's a really strong group of people who have the expertise, who have the passion, and who are dedicated to helping move this ship
Speaker A
forward. Uh again, with with everybody here. So, I'm very excited about that and the benefits that we're going to continue to see with um you know, public health benefits, uh saving, you know, wearing an old utility hat. Um, if done
Speaker A
properly, this whole transition helps put downward pressure on customer rates and so energy rates. Um, I'll just give one last quick anecdotal item. My Uber driver last night, I selected the EV Uber driver, but he was saying here, I
Speaker A
haven't double checked it, gas is $7 a gallon. So, we were just chatting on the ride over at like 11 last night uh about all of the benefits of driving electric and how it really made a difference uh
Speaker A
for him. So, anyway, exciting times and that's that's what I'm uh looking forward to seeing.
Speaker A
Yeah. The uh Henrik, we mentioned you just started a new new job. Um, I'm curious kind of putting your industry hat on and you we talked about kind of this idea of like where's the momentum going and like we need to be looking out
Speaker A
to the future as you look out yourself in the industry in the next year, two years, where's um where's both the opportunity and the challenge and where where do you think this organization will really be able to kind of help play
Speaker A
a role? Yeah, I think um like I'm a little bit of a perpetual optimist and I think it's important to kind of have that a little bit when uh you operate in a in a space that does have its challenges in front
Speaker A
of it. Um I'm really optimistic actually about where we are right now globally as well as as a country as it comes to um you know adopting cleaner and in general electrified transportation. So where I see um globally the opportunity is that
Speaker A
it is very clear that the technologies the fundamental technologies that are driving this transition are really at maturity to a large degree and at scale right and I think there are some geopolitical issues with respect to how those technologies get distributed um
Speaker A
but in general I think it's important to always think about well what is the the foundation of what is driving things and technology is an important part of that and I think we're there I think that the question of what what is going to win
Speaker A
long term is largely settled. I think as we look at um the US um what's called North America in general, I'd point to like three areas of real optimism. Um I do think that we are struggling as a
Speaker A
nation with affordability. I don't think that's just a US problem, but high energy pricing is an obvious aspect of that. And um you know, it's anybody's guess, but if um $7 gasoline um I saw a picture of a gas station in Southern
Speaker A
California, owned by my one of my former employers with $9 gasoline. you start to have that type of pricing levels for a prolonged period of time and it's going to start to impact the procurement decisions that fleets are making and
Speaker A
that individuals are making about their cars and I just have anecdotally so many conversations like you just described Nadia where people are starting to make that switch. So I think that translates to I think renewed interest and um you
Speaker A
know excitement about what electric vehicles could offer. So I I think that is a I think we'll be surprised over the next you said year to two years. I think we'll be surprised of what we'll see in the consumer space. There's also a lot
Speaker A
of like used secondhand cars making it to market. So I think that's really exciting. Not just I'm excited about it.
Speaker A
I think that could really make a difference to people's lives from an affordability perspective. Um which I think is really really important. Um then secondly um autonomous vehicles are obviously coming. there's a thousand less than 2,000 on the road today. That
Speaker A
market is going to grow, I think, much faster than we all anticipate. I generally am very excited about it because I think it's going to lead long-term to better road safety statistics, which in the US, unlike in any other OECD country in the world,
Speaker A
have actually gotten poorer over the last 10 years, which is a real real problematic thing. And as somebody who has two young kids, uh it scares the heck out of me. So, I think that's really important. And I think that'll
Speaker A
have good environmental outcomes as well, but challenges as well that I think as catalyst mobility, we're very well set up to help think through. And then lastly, I do want to point to the heavy duty side. I think we do have an
Speaker A
issue with product in the market today. Tesla's coming to market with the semi. I think that's an example of a great product. And just putting apart for a moment that that is Tesla. It just shows that also in North America as an
Speaker A
industry we can put a product in the market that is compelling and I think that that will drive really start to drive transformation because we're going to start to see um financially attractive routes being uh driven goods being moved in much cleaner ways uh and
Speaker A
more costefficient ways. So across that that spans light to heavy I think that there's so much to be excited excited about. I do think that you asked about challenges Michael I won't go through all of them. I do think it is really
Speaker A
important right now that as an industry we do a lot of collaboration also internationally.
Speaker A
Um I think you touched a bit on international like Calstart has had of course international activity already having um set up and run international businesses. international is hard and I don't think you want to do that when you're subscale because you you have to
Speaker A
have a certain degree of scale and capability to be able to go outside of your own borders. You kind of have to have your shop at home in place before you do that.
Speaker A
I think catalyst mobility is going to really uh catalyze that for um you know what Calstart um used to be and and what now is this combined organization. So there too lots of progress being made in this space outside of the US but there's
Speaker A
a lot that the world can learn from what's happening here and there's a lot for us to learn from what's happening globally more than ever today in the world that we live in. I think collaboration talking to each other breaking down
Speaker A
silos and borders I think is really really important to the industry and to society as a whole and I think catalyst mobility is really really well set up to do that.
Speaker A
So, we've been talking a lot about the combination, but Katie, I would love to just Can you unpack the name a little bit more? Don't you have to tell us all the alternatives that you all talked about, but what does the name
Speaker A
debate over the logo dots or not? Yeah, the colors of the dots. Um, no, I I'm so excited to talk about this name, Catalyst Mobility, and it really represents where we are as an industry and also where in particular
Speaker A
Calstart is as an organization coming together with forth. I think they wanted me to talk about this because I'm the Californian on the panel. So, I'm here I'm here to tell the Californians it's okay that we lose the the name Calstart.
Speaker A
It will be fine. Um, but really, you know, as someone that operates in California, I was a big proponent of this because I don't have blinders on. I recognize that California can be divisive in some places. And with
Speaker A
CalStart um really expanding this catalyst mobility expanding the name um in some places had a lot of cache and a lot of um good recognition but in new places we were going into um some places if it started with Cal folks just didn't
Speaker A
listen and so this is a good opportunity to really rebrand create a name that isn't tied to any geography it's not tied to the United States it's not tied to California and it really is representative of what the organization
Speaker A
is doing. Um, and I think that's a big key here is making sure that the name and the brand is representative of what the organization is doing. So, another piece of that is start. We're not starting anymore. It's been 30 years.
Speaker A
We've made a lot of progress. Like we heard 25% of all sales globally electric. Um, so we really wanted a word that would talk about the forward momentum that these organizations together already have been and will continue to bring across multiple
Speaker A
different stakeholders. and really just keeping it neutral as far as technology goals goes. Having it be catalyst mobility. We're talking about not just all different types of vehicle sizes, but different types of technologies. We want to be open to that. Um, and so
Speaker A
really having this name is about making sure that we have something that represents who we are. that when people meet us for the first time, they know that we're all about mobility and making things happen, moving things forward,
Speaker A
whether it's technology, whether it's programs, whether it's whether it's industry, policy. Um so really, we thought that this would be the best representation of our groups. And you know, I will say one thing, like many of you probably have gone through um
Speaker A
branding exercises before, they can be brutal. There are always a lot of names, a lot of ideas, a lot of opinions and at the end of the day it takes the folks that are working on it to just say we
Speaker A
are going to go with this. This is the one that we believe is the best and let's make a decision and move on. So kudos to all of the team that has been working on this rebranding and really
Speaker A
excited to be announcing it here today. I remember Jeff um 10 years or so ago when uh we were I was in the department of energy you came to DC to meet and you said one of the things I want to share
Speaker A
with you is we're rebranding and uh so you you taught me well early there uh good good mentor in that um well as we're getting close to wrapping up here Nadia I just want to touch on you brought up uh really important this this
Speaker A
idea of like community right and how we work across communities um communities can mean many things right communities local communities communities of people, communities of of drivers and truck drivers. But um in your you know you've had a number of roles in the space. I'm
Speaker A
curious yeah your perspectives as we just focus that a little bit more where um where will you see and challenge us as an organization as a board to kind of focus on that community aspect bring that together while also trying to drive
Speaker A
scale right there's a balance there. Great question. So part of scale is reaching every single person that you can and every business that you can and every community and neighborhood that you can. That is scale. And so I think
Speaker A
the challenge before us is um whether it's policy, programmatic, light duty, heavy duty, medium duty, public transportation, uh all forms of mobility, how do we get solutions to the end users that need them? And and that's really important,
Speaker A
right? We know the benefits. we know the the public uh health benefits, we know the economic benefits, we know the affordability, resiliency, but at the end of the day, it has to work for the end user. So, I think that's front and
Speaker A
center. And what I would say now at my role at CGC, we're uh we finance, we lend um for uh clean energy infrastructure projects. So definitely in the clean transportation space um is is an area we're focused on but having
Speaker A
having that scale helps um CG CGC we're focused on finding market gaps and bringing along a lot of the institutional lenders to say hey we can derisk this but what we're doing here helps derisk right scale gives us the
Speaker A
durability it gives people the choice but we have to do this in a way that it brings along everybody so I think Having the um equity lens focusing on how do we reach all of our communities is going to
Speaker A
be key uh for the infrastructure for the developers um for the money that brings you know that fuels this and um that that can be foundational support grants.
Speaker A
I also think that this is going to create such a healthy organization. two healthy organizations now stronger um not competing but not that we were before but bringing together uh having a a stronger stance to compete because let's face it in some ways we're all
Speaker A
competing for dollars competing and winning on getting the funding we need to get that scale.
Speaker A
Yeah. I will say one um one thing that is very important um important to me and to the organization overall as we as we think about that as we're coming together uh Jeff and I have done quite a
Speaker A
bit of work um talking with our partners with others in the nonprofit space it is a community there as well and that is really important community that as uh catalyst as an organization we are really committed to working collectively
Speaker A
at the end it's a team effort it's a team sport u no one organization can get it done we really got to find ways to work work together.
Speaker A
Yeah. I think as we're we're coming to the end, maybe we do a last lightning round. Um maybe Michael and I get to participate in this one, too. Um put us in our time machine and it's a year from
Speaker A
now. We're in Long Beach. What's one thing we're going to be really excited about sharing at Road Map in Long Beach next September, which you've all put on your calendars and are going to be attending?
Speaker A
You want to go first, Michael? Um the uh the room is uh I'm going to give maybe more than one. The room is twice as big.
Speaker A
We have everyone's brought their friends friends with them. Um and at that moment no one is thinking actually about the past about two organizations but we're just like one team and everyone here is just thinking about one organization
Speaker A
catalyst and it's like oh yeah what were those names again? You know it's forwardlooking.
Speaker A
Love that. I think the strategic work you're doing in the tour uh is going to benefit all of this and we'll be able to go back and say yes, we're really hitting all parts of our community and we're making uh growing this change,
Speaker A
right? Doing our part to help expedite and make this change happen uh in a in a fast, seamless and equitable manner.
Speaker A
Yeah, today is the start of a journey and I thought that the map that you put up uh Jeff Michael was really awesome and you know we should have like a a card or something where somebody can stamp off if they go to all of those and
Speaker A
they get like a prize when they're at the end. It looked like a little bit of a game board. Like I'd love to try that.
Speaker A
Um but yeah, today's the start of a of a journey. I think next year what you're going to see is as you pointed out like um catalyst mobility. It's you're going to see a team and an organization that
Speaker A
um operates seamlessly and harmoniously. And I think what we're I'm going to be optimistic to say I think across some of the business areas that we touched on earlier, I think we're going to be showing some data and information in
Speaker A
terms of how the market is transitioning and transforming. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that I think that we're kind of somewhat bottoming out in terms of adoption across some of these segments. So I'm going to put out there
Speaker A
that next year at Roadmap we're going to see Catalyst Mobility as a really well operating national global organization and we're going to um be talking about some of our programs and be talking about some really really good progress
Speaker A
that we're seeing not just qualitatively but that we're going to be starting to see some of that um you know growth pick back up in some of these really really important segments. So, I'm really really excited about the pro the
Speaker A
progress that I think we're going to see between now and then. Awesome. My fellow panelists have said it really well. I'll just say I'm excited to be welcoming everyone to Southern California for the first California base.
Speaker A
That will be really great and I think that um we'll we'll continue to be a big part of the organization of Catalyst Mobility and really looking forward to continuing that partnership.
Speaker A
Fabulous. I strategically did this so I could go last. Uh all all of the above.
Speaker A
I mean for us from the beginning it's really been about how do we achieve the mission? How do we achieve that impact?
Speaker A
How do we do it at scale? So I'm excited to have hopefully some early examples by next year of how do we take that person in New Mexico whose life has been changed by our car share program and say
Speaker A
we can now do that anywhere in the country. We're bringing these programs to scale. Um, and I'll I'll take two.
Speaker A
Uh, that this event still feels like a family reunion. It's like we just got married and now the family got bigger.
Speaker A
Um, and there's a few new people to meet, maybe a lot of new people to meet.
Speaker A
Uh, but the feeling of road mapap as a community of folks who are all in this together never changes. So, we'll see you all there and thank you all uh on the panel.
Speaker A
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Okay, the show must go on. So, as our panelists are leaving, uh we're going to get ready for our next plenary. Um we are really excited. Um I had to chuckle,
Speaker A
uh Katie, when you're talking about California. You know, those of us who are in Oregon and Washington know hating on California is kind of a major pastime. Um, so, uh, we're excited to go to California next year, but we're also
Speaker A
really excited to be in the Pacific Northwest, uh, this year with this conference after two years in the great city of Detroit. Um, and of course, the number one reason we're here, we're excited to be here, is because Seattle's
Speaker A
been such a leader in sustainability, innovation, and technology. But a close second, where are my slides? A close second of course is we're all hoping for a sighting of Jimothy. Um this is definitely not an AI generated image. U
Speaker A
we we know that Jimothy embraces all forms of clean technology. Um so hopefully we will see him somewhere uh around the grounds here. And if you don't know what this is all about, text your kids. They'll explain it to you. Um
Speaker A
and our with that our first next plenary uh of the conference is going to introduce you and sort of ground you in place here in Seattle and in Washington and introduce you to the whole scope of Washington's transportation
Speaker A
electrification work from transit and fairies to microobility and personal vehicles. Um so to set the stage for that and to bring up our panel, I'd like to introduce our presenting sponsor, Seattle City Light. Please join me in welcoming CLC Lights interim general
Speaker A
manager Rob Santo to the stage. All right. Good morning. Um have some notes written here, but Jeff threw me off when they showed the picture of Jimothy. So I had to tell I'm going to tell a quick story. I was at a a tattoo
Speaker A
festival a couple weekends ago and walking through checking all out all the different artwork and happened to run across probably a hundred different Jimothy tattoos. So if anyone's interested, you can go to a local tattoo shop and probably get yourself a Jimy
Speaker A
tattoo. But uh yeah, so good morning. Uh welcome to Seattle. I'm Rob Santo, intermed general manager and CEO at Seattle City Light. And on behalf of Citylight, I'd like to welcome you all to uh the city of Seattle. Uh I think this is the right
Speaker A
place to have this conversation today uh here in Seattle. Uh you might have traveled here by uh electric bus or maybe a light rail or our street car, maybe even electric scooter. And then I did hear someone traveled here by an EV,
Speaker A
an Uber. So that's great. Um and if you did that, you've already experienced our electrified transportation system that we're working so hard on here. And I know that you're all working hard on in your communities. Um the electric
Speaker A
systems here in in Seattle, they're powered by Seattle City Lights uh carbon neutral energy and it's mostly powered by our hydroelectric resources and also like you all we are uh focusing on innovating. Um, many of you saw examples of this at the Ride to
Speaker A
Evergreen current tours or if you visited the Metro King County uh 100% zero emission bus depot or even at Packhar's lineup of the zero emission trucks.
Speaker A
And those experiences are what progress looks like. And Seattle City Lights proud to be at the center of that progress. Um, Seattle City Light's committed to uh serving our customers with safe, reliable, affordable, and environmental responsible energy. In
Speaker A
fact, that's our mission statement. Uh, and in Seattle, transportation accounts for 56% of core emissions and we project by the year 2045 that 20% of our load will be because of electrification of vehicles. And so, that's why we're keeping electrification
Speaker A
at the top of our priority list. In recent years, we've expanded programs to help our customers and our community uh transition to electric power. This includes deploying more than 900 electric vehicle chargers and enabling residents and businesses to switch over to
Speaker A
electricity. On the waterfront, we're partnering with the Washington State Fairies for their conversion to a hybrid electric fleet. And if you get a chance, go down and check out our newly rea renovated waterfront. Uh it's really nice, beautiful. If you walk south on
Speaker A
the waterfront, you'll see the Washington State Ferry terminals. And you'll probably get a chance to see one of their hybrid electric um fairies.
Speaker A
And so for today, this panel is proof that transportation electrification is a collective effort. Uh we have representatives here from the power grid, from streets, from ports, fleets, and transit along with our advocacy uh folks in the room. And that com
Speaker A
combination is what turns individual projects into a connected lowcarbon system that works for all.
Speaker A
And with that, I'd like to introduce our next moderator for the session, Akquila Sori, associate program director at Forth. So please join me in welcome welcoming Akila to the stage.
Speaker A
Hello. Can everyone hear me? Thanks, Rob. Good morning, everyone. Um, I'd actually like to invite my fellow panelists to join me on stage as we get set up, but thanks Rob for setting that up so well and to Jeff and Michael for
Speaker A
that exciting announcement today. My name is Akila Suri. I'm an associate programs director here at Fourth Catalyst Mobility. Uh and it is my pleasure to moderate this conversation today morning on building the electric multimotal ecosystem.
Speaker A
We've already heard a bit this morning about the power of bringing different strengths together. Fourth and Calstart are joining forces because we believe that we can accomplish a whole lot more together than individually. And that feels like a great way to talk about
Speaker A
multimodal transportation. Different modes electrified coming together into one system to help us create greater impact and expand access.
Speaker A
And there's no better place to have this conversation than Washington, right? Washington has been electrifying several modes at once. Transit, fies, bikes, buses, trucks, you name it. and Seattle and King County in particular have really been like a test bed for
Speaker A
transport innovation. Um I think folks who were on yesterday's evergreen tour probably saw some of that firsthand.
Speaker A
So without further ado and to kind of let our panelists do a lot more of the talking today, uh I'm happy to introduce them all. Uh we have a fantastic group today. Please join me in welcoming Jennifer Grove, assistant director of
Speaker A
energy leading the Washington State Energy Office over at the Washington Department of Commerce. Kirk Hovinder, executive director over at Transportation Choices Coalition, Washington State's nonprofit advocate for fast, frequent, and reliable transit. Steve Nicholas, senior manager for air quality and sustainable
Speaker A
practices at the Northwest Seapport Alliance. and Dion Bikman uh director of business development and operations for commute with enterprise uh a part of enterprise mobility that operates commuter vanpool programs.
Speaker A
Very excited to have you all join us today. Okay, let's get into it. So I want to start by actually giving each of you a couple of minutes to actually ground us in the work that you're doing. Um, and I
Speaker A
think that's really important for folks in the room here. If so, if you can tell us in a couple of minutes, and I'm going to hold you to it. Uh, share a little bit about yourself. Uh, your role in
Speaker A
transportation electrification, the modes that you work with, and bonus points if you can tell us one thing you're excited to be talking about today.
Speaker A
Okay. Well, good morning. I also have a major announcement. I don't have a name change, but I have a photo change.
Speaker A
That's not me in that photo. This is the real Jennifer Gro. Um, that is an amazing executive assistant that works uh in our agency who is also named Jennifer, but I tell you if you email her, she'll probably respond quicker
Speaker A
than me. So, I'm okay with that photo change. Um, but good morning everyone. I'm Jennifer Grove. I'm the assistant director of the energy division at the Department of Commerce and lead our state energy office. Um, I hope it's
Speaker A
okay. And don't count this against my minutes, but I do want to take a minute to recognize Jeff Allen. Um, he is someone that I met. I don't really want to count the years, but I'm going to say
Speaker A
it's at least over 10 years, probably 15. Um, one of my first memories was sharing a uh Uber with him. I think we were in Colorado. I don't really quite remember what conference we were at, but we were both leading very small
Speaker A
nonprofits in the Northwest working on clean energy and transportation work. And it takes so much tenacity, stamina, creativity, a heavy dose of optimism to lead nonprofits through what we've all been through in the last few decades in an
Speaker A
evolving landscape and really tough and challenging financial and economic environment. Um, and then to craft, I'm just a teensy bit jealous, an amazing exit plan where you can feel like you can leave an organization behind that you're really proud of um, and that
Speaker A
you're really hopeful for the future. So, can we please take a moment to recognize Jeff and the fourth team?
Speaker A
So, as I mentioned, I get to lead uh the state energy office in Washington. And in Washington, um our transportation takes up about 40% of the energy use um in our state. And it's the single biggest source of emissions in our
Speaker A
state. So, you might be wondering, what is the state energy office doing dabbling in um transportation electrification?
Speaker A
Well, the more that we electrify cars, trucks, uh fairies in our state, um we've got to make sure that that grid can meet that demand. And state energy offices are very uniquely positioned uh to participate and partner in um that
Speaker A
evolution. Um, for longstanding decades, state energy offices have been trusted partners not only to the public, but to our elected officials. We advise the governor um quite often. He doesn't always take our suggestions, but um we're there to advise him when he's
Speaker A
ready. Um, and we're also uniquely positioned to partner with other state agencies such as Department of Transportation and Ecology in our state uh to leverage the best of our skill sets um to our share goals of electrification. Um, in Washington in
Speaker A
our office, we've been really growing our work in the transportation sector over the last six years um with EV charging programs. You're going to get to hear a little bit more from me today about that. EV, uh, rebates, point of
Speaker A
sale rebates, um, uh, marine transportation electrification as well as aviation. We have a unique strength, um, of that obviously in our state as well. Um, but I want to mention that it's not just about reducing pollution and those emission gains uh,
Speaker A
in our state. It is uh, the most economical thing to do. We heard about the gas prices, not $7 today, but it was It's about 5.56 560 right now for gas in our state. Um but the equivalent of
Speaker A
powering an EV it can be pretty close to a dollar right now. So just purely on the economics um is where we need to be.
Speaker A
I would like to see more discussion but also shifting as a state. Uh economy that is based and run entirely on fossil fuels um is not economical. It's not sustainable and it's not healthy for our communities. Um, that's another reason
Speaker A
why as a state energy office, we're very focused on scaling electrification work across our state. We want to make sure that every family, every community across our state can benefit from those economic gains, but also the health gains that come with it. Um, so the
Speaker A
thing that I'm most excited to talk about today is how our programs are reaching some of the hardest to reach communities in our state, but also the communities that experience the worst pollution in our state. So, you'll get
Speaker A
to hear me talk a bit more about that. Hopefully, I stayed close to my time.
Speaker A
Hand it off. Uh, thanks, Jennifer. Is this on? Hear me. Um, I'm Steve Nicholas. I uh um I lead the air quality and sustainable uh practices program and team for the Northwest Seapport Alliance. That is my my photograph. Um I want to begin um
Speaker A
just by thanking uh Fourth and Calstart um uh for hosting the conference, for inviting me to be on the panel. Uh I have to say I've been in Seattle for a long time. I've never been in this part
Speaker A
of the convention center. It's beautiful. Uh the live music on the way in was a really nice touch. Uh Bad Bad Leroy Brown, one of my favorites. And I'm sorry I'm dating myself a little bit there, but um uh so I work for the
Speaker A
Northwest Seapport Alliance, which um for those who don't know, which is probably many of you, uh it is um a public development uh authority that was formed in 2015 to manage the cargo operations in both Elliot Bay here in
Speaker A
Seattle and Commencement Bay uh down in Tacoma on behalf of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. So that's kind of what we do. We manage the cargo in and out of um all the terminals in in both of those um
Speaker A
harbors. Um we are one of the busiest cargo terminals, cargo gateways, excuse me, uh in the United States. Um not as busy as we used to be and there's a lot of angst uh around that um as you can
Speaker A
imagine, but still pretty busy. There about 3 million um containers that travel um in and out of our terminals on a on an annual basis. About 300,000 cars uh come into the US via um our terminals and a whole bunch of other different um
Speaker A
kinds of um cargo. Um so as you can imagine we um because of that we actually play a very central role in sustaining the economic vitality of Puis and um and Washington state. Um there about 52,000 jobs that are directly
Speaker A
associated with the cargo operations that we manage about $14 billion in um total business output um annually. Um I think it's about one in five jobs still in Washington state that are that are trade dependent. Um, we also play a very
Speaker A
central role um, lesser known I think to folks um, when it comes to clean air, climate and environmental uh, justice uh, solutions because if you look at all of the seapport related emissions um, in uh, the Puget Sound and the broader um,
Speaker A
uh, airhed about 90% of those um, whether you're talking about diesel particulate matter or greenhouse gases or anything in between are associated with the cargo operations that we have responsibility for. And as many of you who are local know uh uh a significant
Speaker A
percentage of those uh emissions um are uh are impacting or affecting uh overburdened communities. If you look at the communities that live near the terminals in both Seattle and Tacoma and along the major freight corridors in the Pueshan region, virtually all of them um
Speaker A
are ranked very high in terms of the environmental health disparities that they are experiencing according to a map that uh our Washington um uh health department uh produces. So um important from a from an equity standpoint as well
Speaker A
as as we'll get into. Um the alliance takes its responsibility both for economic vitality as well as for clean air, climate and environmental justice very very seriously. We operate under something called the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy. This is a joint
Speaker A
strategy across the ports of Seattle and Tacoma and the Northwest Seaport Alliance and the Vancouver Frasier Port Authority in um British Columbia. Um and we updated that strategy back in 2021.
Speaker A
And at that point we embraced um the goal of phasing out all seapport activity, all emissions from all seapport activities by 2050 um or sooner. And that goal, that vision was unanimously adopted um by the 10 elected port commissioners that serve as our uh
Speaker A
governing body. Uh not the easiest uh governing body to get uh unanimous vote from. So very proud of that. So, literally all of the work that my team and I do is in service to meeting that goal and I'm excited to be here to tell
Speaker A
you a little bit about um give you a few examples of what we're doing as we go and just really excited to be a part of the conversation. So, thank you.
Speaker A
Off to you, Kirk. All right. Hi all, welcome to Seattle. Welcome to Washington State. Uh if you need coffee recommendations, I got you.
Speaker A
Find me afterwards. I'm Kirk Hopen Carter. I'm the executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition. We are Washington State's nonprofit advocate for safe, sustainable, and equitable transportation. Uh, and our big passion is transit. For 34 years, we've been a
Speaker A
coalition of business, labor, transit agencies, uh, transit riders, and elected leaders beating the drum for more investments in transit and safe walks to transit. We do work across the state, a lot of that in our state legislature fighting for more funding
Speaker A
for transit. We organize transit riders across the state, typically in places where transit agency board members are trying to cut back their own transit service for transit riders. But we're most known for running and winning transit ballot measure campaigns. If
Speaker A
you've ridden light rail in this region already, that is in part thanks to my organization. We led the ballot measure campaigns in 1996, 2008, and 2016 that expanded light rail across the region.
Speaker A
We also lead ballot measure campaigns across the state. Uh we just led a campaign in Spokane. We have two more coming up this fall. And transit is key because as you heard earlier, 56% of the emissions in the city of Seattle and 40%
Speaker A
in the state of Washington come from cars, comes from people driving alone in their cars. We need to give people another option that gets them out of their car. We need to make transit irresistibly good that people choose it
Speaker A
over uh a car or another polluting option that gets them to where they need to go. And making transit fast, frequent, and reliable is key to that.
Speaker A
And you asked us to talk about one thing that we're excited about. One thing I'm especially excited about is that on Friday, we kicked off a new campaign with Mayor Wilson that is going to go to the ballot this November 3rd. It's the
Speaker A
hop on board Seattle campaign. It is a transit ballot measure that would be one of the boldest city-led investments in transit in the country. It would renew and expand the Seattle transit measure, which is a city purchase of bus service
Speaker A
from our transit agency, King County Metro. That would double that sales tax that purchase that would make people's buses run more often. Would build bus lanes to make sure those buses are reliable. And it would also get affordable transit passes into the hands
Speaker A
of our Seattle Housing Authority residents to make sure they have an affordable way to get around. And so if you all can do me a favor while you're Yeah, that's worth an applause.
Speaker A
So if you all can do me a favor, if you see a Seattle voter out on the street, if you can tell them to vote yes for Prop One this November, do me a huge solid. So I want to give a huge thank
Speaker A
you to Fourth and Now Catalyst for having me here today. and I'll pass it on to Dion.
Speaker A
Thanks, Kirk. Um, thanks for having me here today. Uh, my name is Dion Bikman.
Speaker A
I work with Commute with Commute with Enterprise, which is a division of enterprise mobility. Most of you probably know Enterprise Mobility for our car rental brands, but Commute with Enterprise is a division that focuses entirely on commuter transportation and
Speaker A
shared mobility. And in particular, what we do is partner with public transit and employers to provide commuter van pools as part of the public transit system. So a lot of folks, maybe not so much here in Washington because commuter van pools
Speaker A
have been a much more well-known thing here for many years, but in in much of the country it's not as well known, but um you know, commuter van pools actually have a very significant impact on many of the things we're talking about today.
Speaker A
um just the commute with enterprise footprint across the US. We partner with over 120 public transit agencies around the country um and thousands of employers and the impacts of those commuter van pools are significant. Um over 1.2 billion single occupancy
Speaker A
commuter miles reduced every year and several hundred million pounds of carbon emissions reduced every single year. And so many of our partners both on the public transit and private employer side have a lot of interest in converting those programs and those van pools that
Speaker A
already have a significant impact into electric vehicles to have an even larger impact. But the reality is a lot different than that ambition where only a very small percentage across the country of commuter van pools today operate with electric vehicles. So, you
Speaker A
know, one of the things I'm really interested in talking about today is, you know, the the intersection with that ambition to make this mode of shared mobility even better through electrification and the reality of the environment that that mode has to
Speaker A
actually work in and re and retain some of those outcomes. So, um, you know, it's a very complex system and it's an equation where transitioning one vehicle doesn't necessarily automatically equate to better outcomes.
Speaker A
And so, I'm really excited to kind of discuss challenges that I think everybody here probably has in slightly different ways um, in moving this moving this forward.
Speaker A
Thanks, Dion. And actually I you know that's a great segue into my first set of questions to this panel. Um each of y'all have been you know really focused on electrifying your own modes or set of modes and but we're talking about a
Speaker A
system here. We're talking about many modes coming together uh and not just one. So, Jennifer, starting with you, I'm curious, how do you think about commerce's role in supporting the electrification of other modes or like partnering with other modes and
Speaker A
organizations to get us more towards a system? Yeah, I think that's an interesting question because um I feel like we're in a a period of like all of the above, right? We need all of it um at scale and our dollars are just
Speaker A
simply not going especially our our state dollars and public dollars are simply not going as far as they were. Um especially under this federal administration. Um but I think that speaking from sort of the public sector perspective um we can't uh skip on to you know the
Speaker A
next um thing to electrify uh too quickly. So, I want to um kind of caution against um for instance, we're really heavily focused on electrifying passenger vehicle uh because of the mission gains in our state, but also accessibility and I think that's pretty
Speaker A
important because that can't be fully supported by the private sector yet. And so, public dollars are are definitely needed there. Uh we have a demand that every time we open up a grant round, thank you to my grant managers who are
Speaker A
in this room. um it's like triple amount of demand um that we get for EV charging but also point of sale rebates and so that interest is there um and we'll want to continue to support that at the same
Speaker A
time um all of that you know leads to excuse me u support for electrification and other sectors um such as transit and I will do my Seattle plug right now because I'm a Seattle native. Uh if in between your
Speaker A
coffee breaks and networking, please get out and experience the wonderful mobility options we have in the city right out the store. And I'm pretty sure this is on your bucket list, but please ride the light light rail um across the
Speaker A
only light rail on a floating bridge. I'm pretty sure that's on your your bucket list. If it's not, it should be.
Speaker A
So anyways, I think all those mobility options need to be invested in. I feel lucky that I live in a dense neighborhood in Seattle where honestly right now it's a choice of what's more convenient. Do I take the bus? Do I get
Speaker A
on a scooter? Do I get in an EV, my state sponsored EV? Thank you very much state for leading by example. Do I get on link light rail? Do I hopefully soon in the future get in on a fully electric
Speaker A
ferry? um or in a sustainably uh fueled plane. So all of those options making them convenient, accessible, and by and large affordable, I think we need to invest in and support. I don't know if I answered your question, but
Speaker A
I think you helped me with my next one as well is like transportation. So it sounds like you're talking about transportation choices and and Kirk, so I'm really curious and this is always something I've thought about. You know,
Speaker A
I'm a huge proponent, like huge believer in transit and biking and walking, but people are still going to always be driving. So, I'm curious how you see your role in helping making cars go electric. Do is there a role for you at
Speaker A
all? Yeah, I mean, I think they named our organization right 34 years ago when they chose transportation choices. One, we need all the above if we're going to give people options. And you don't just travel in one mode every single day. If
Speaker A
you're going to the Seahawks game, you're going to take light rail because you're not going to pay $100 to park. Uh if you're going to the grocery store and you need that huge trip at Costco, you might drive that day. But we need
Speaker A
options to work as much as we can. And I think as Jennifer pointed out, we've made huge strides in providing choices because 17 years ago, if you visited Seattle, we had no light rail trains running.
Speaker A
Today, we have the busiest light rail system in the country. And that's thanks to the leadership and focus of our elected leaders, advocates, our agency partners, and our transit agency partners who built a system that works for people that want runs fast,
Speaker A
frequent, and reliably that you can build your life around. And I think it's just a testament to what we can do in a short amount of time to radically shape our cities and provide more options for people to get around. And I think just
Speaker A
to wrap, while light rail gets all the attention and you should definitely find some time to go across Lake Washington on the two line is the most beautiful stretch of light rail in the world and I will fight you over that. Uh check out
Speaker A
our incredible bus system. I know a lot of you got to go to the Tquila bus space, which is just a remarkable show of the investment that King County Metro is making in electric buses, but also take one of their buses to uh a
Speaker A
destination in this region. So many people rely on this system is the backbone of our region, and we don't have a clean uh energy future without a well-funded King County Metro to be able to get people there.
Speaker A
Dion question for you and I know this was something that you know we had a really powerp pack prep call and one of the things I remember you saying is that I want to talk about the challenges right and I know that when we talk about
Speaker A
um your role as a shared mobility operator talking about vanpool as an alternate additional mode of transit and so what has that been like to kind of get that implemented and what's are some of the challenges you've seen along the way
Speaker A
yeah so there like I said earlier There's always been a lot of interest from our public partners and our private and partners on the employer side to figure out how to shift vanpool vehicles to electric vehicles. Um, but the
Speaker A
reality is very little has actually occurred there. Um, I will say one exception there is locally here, King County's vanpool program has actually made some pretty significant investments in trying to experiment with moving with bringing electric vehicles in. So I'm
Speaker A
really excited to over the next couple of years learn how that goes because I think everybody along the around the country will learn from that. Um but if I had to really boil it down to two challenges and I think you know this
Speaker A
little microcosm and vanpool is probably a good faximile for similar but different challenges that many other modes um go through. Um I could boil that down to vehicle fit and charging.
Speaker A
So I'll hit the first one first. Vehicle fit. So van pools, one of the reasons they're so incredibly effective um is the high occupancy at which they're always traveling at. Right? So typical van pool is traveling 70 plus percent
Speaker A
occupied. You have five, six, seven, eight more people. Van pools typically have anywhere from five to 15 people in them. And so one of the challenges today is that there's still not many good options that can comfortably fit more
Speaker A
than five full-size adults, right? And so if we have to make a choice to transition a van pull to an EV, and that means that instead of carrying six people, we can only comfortably carry four or five. That means that we have to
Speaker A
have 25 to 50% more vehicles to move the same number of people, right? And so what does that do to the other outcomes that we're that the mode is actually there to solve for, right? Access cost for the
Speaker A
riders, congestion, and parking mitigation, right? All those things, right? So we have to balance all those things and understand what the impact is there. So as there are more options for higher capacity vehicles that will start to become less of an issue. Um the other
Speaker A
one is the is the charging piece right so van pools are unique in that these are typically very long distance commutes. These are your super commuters. The average van poolool across the country goes 90 to 100 miles roundtrip each day. Right? So these are
Speaker A
long-d distanceance regional commutes often coming from rural or suburban areas into the urban center or reverse commutes the other direction or between rural and suburban areas. Right? So not necessarily areas where there's density of charging infrastructure. Um not only
Speaker A
that, but one unique aspect of Anpool that um that makes it so efficient is that it's actually the people commuting in those vehicles that are the drivers.
Speaker A
They're volunteer drivers that are qualified to drive that mode of transit. And so these vehicles end up at places like parking rides or big box store parking lots or even participants homes at night. And so since that wrership
Speaker A
while largely consistent can shift over time, investing in charging infrastructure at the home end isn't really practical. Um and so that falls to the employer, right? And so the employer has to really be committed um to investing in and you know having a
Speaker A
commitment to providing charging infrastructure at the work site. If a you know a a 90 mile round trip per day with five full-size adults you know cranking the AC they need to have guaranteed access to charging at their
Speaker A
work site minimum every two days right and so that's that's a challenge that we'll need to overcome over time.
Speaker A
Thank you. And Steve, coming to you. Um, we've spoken a lot about different ways that we move people. Um, and I think you play a really interesting role here when it comes to electrifying port operations where it's also about goods and I'm
Speaker A
curious about how you see your role in in that space and as complimentary or supportive to electrifying other connecting modes to ports.
Speaker A
Yeah, thanks. Um, yes, I'm I'm the one person on the panel focused on not the sustainability of moving our bodies, but moving uh our our stuff. Um, and uh uh and actually one of the one of the challenges and you know where you where
Speaker A
you stand depends on where you sit. I so I certainly think that goods movement is an important part of the you know the clean mobility ecosystem. Um, but it is often, I have to say, kind of the forgotten, you know, second cousin of of
Speaker A
the ecosystem, let me say. And so I do spend a fair amount of time reminding folks, you know, don't don't uh don't forget don't forget about us. um you know as you're as you're developing your land use plans, as you're developing
Speaker A
your you know uh EV charging infrastructure map, uh let's let's make sure to um to consider uh you know uh for example um what the dreage trucks you know and and the other trucks are are going to need um uh in in terms of
Speaker A
um uh you know challenges though it's interesting um how similar I think they are to your your point Dion across the mode. So in our case, um the two biggies that I would um speak to, one is um uh
Speaker A
uh and again I think I think we share it is um we don't have a lot of direct control over the emissions that we're seeking to uh phase out. In fact um in our emissions inventory um we we have
Speaker A
direct control over maybe one or 2%. Um and the other 98 plus percent um the only way we can really get to those is by working in partnership and working in collaboration. In our case, it's working with the the the companies that own the
Speaker A
big cargo ships, the dreage trucking companies, the rail companies, um, etc. So, that's a a big part of the challenge. Um, but also um and um uh this got mentioned in the previous panel. You know, we have to be honest
Speaker A
about the economic uh realities and the economic, you know, headwinds that uh we we face. I mean, I'll give a a couple of examples examples from my world. Um, one of the big parts of our program, it's a
Speaker A
different kind of transportation, but we have a lot of focus on um, what's called shore power. Um, which means u putting infrastructure on the cargo terminals that allows these gigantic ships to literally plug into our, as you heard,
Speaker A
squeaky clean uh, local uh, electricity grid. Um those are highly impactful pro uh uh projects because they really they literally allow um the ships to to shut off almost all of their uh engines um and almost eliminate uh their emissions
Speaker A
while they're at you know birth for two three days you know getting unloaded and loaded. Uh so huge impact huge benefit especially for the near uh communities.
Speaker A
Also incredibly expensive. Um we're installing shore power infrastructure right now Terminal 18 which is the big one down on Harbor Island. you can see from the beautiful uh Seattle waterfront. Um it's a $30 million project. Um and uh Dreage Trucks is
Speaker A
another example. Um most of our Dreage truck uh drivers are purchasing uh their diesel trucks on the second or thirdand uh diesel truck market for $40 $50,000.
Speaker A
Uh we're saying, "Wait a minute, there's a there's an electric version available and it's only $450,000. The Tesla will be cheaper thankfully." Um you you get my drift there. Then at the same time for the ports we are feverishly
Speaker A
competing for uh in a you know very competitive um cargo you know industry. I mentioned earlier that um we're not as busy as we used to be and all the angst around that. So there's tremendous pressure. We're competing with ports to
Speaker A
the north to the south and even increasingly the Gulf Coast and and the east coast of the United States. And so a tremendous focus on um you know carefully managing the cost of doing business uh in the gateway. So that's a
Speaker A
big challenge and I know we share it in different ways sort of these are these low carb these lower carbon solutions are still quite a bit more expensive than the incumbent um versions um and uh how do we move in that direction and and
Speaker A
make these investments while also holding the line on costs. Thank you. You know, I uh want to take this conversation back to something you mentioned, Jennifer, um which is um sort of centering equity in this conversation, right? At fourth, we often
Speaker A
come back to the idea that access to transportation is access to opportunity. Um transportation for a lot of low-income households here in the in this country is often the second highest household expense after housing. Um, so electrification we know makes
Speaker A
transportation cleaner, but what are we doing to make the system more accessible, equitable for folks to access it and for folks who especially carry the heaviest transportation costs, right? And I know Jennifer Washington is doing a whole lot of work around this.
Speaker A
Y'all have centered equity in a number of programs. So I'm curious, what have you learned like what are like number one number like top three things you've learned from your experience so far that is really informing your future
Speaker A
programming in this space? Yeah. Well, I want to say thanks to Fourth also for being a good partner to us um in our first EV charging program and helping us really design a community first and and informed program. Um I was
Speaker A
looking at numbers because we got a new round of grant money out this this morning. And I was just checking my numbers and we've had about 135 million invested through our state cap and invest program uh that generated that
Speaker A
revenue that we were then able to fund um over 5,000 maybe close to 6,000 charging ports across the state. Out of that about 25% is going directly to tribal communities in our state. We have 29 federally recognized tribes in our
Speaker A
state. And then 70% of that is going directly into the most heavily polluted and burdened communities across our state. So that's great progress. Um but there's so much more to do. And if anyone's curious of those metrics, we do
Speaker A
actually also have a public dashboard on our website. So to again provide accountability back to the public and transparency where you can dig into that. Um, also our EV rebate program um was the first to launch in our state uh
Speaker A
an innovative program to provide uh rebates for leasing as well. And that program was entirely aimed at lowincome individuals and families and that was about 45 million and 6,000 in rebates um that went out the door and we've got
Speaker A
another round coming up. So yeah, I think um there's a lot of opportunity and it is um I don't know that it's any more challenging. Um I would say things that we've learned are to have a lot of
Speaker A
flexibility, a lot of early dialogue. Um it's very important. Each community has unique mobility needs. So the mobility needs of you know a community in South Dwamish area of Seattle that's heavily polluted um or has had to deal with a
Speaker A
lot of heavy legacy pollution in our state to a community a farming community in Yakama Valley to you know peninsula communities are very very unique and different and it's so important to understand what those are before you kind of go in and um offer solutions. So
Speaker A
I just a strong advocate for community designed and informed solutions and especially working with tribes that needs to be completely self-determined by the tribe and respected as sovereign nations. Um one of the programs I'm really excited about um which we just
Speaker A
launched is a new tribal electric boat program. Um there's a lot of tribes in our state that are interested in electrification and particular particularly around fishing vessels um and patrol uh vessels. We're learning a lot really quickly about electric boats
Speaker A
and charging electric boats, onshore power for all of that. Um so that's been really interesting, a little bit challenging. um understanding what those costs um a lot more expensive uh the timeline for implementation getting procuring all the equipment that goes
Speaker A
into that. Uh so that's one thing I think that's been challenging is uh serving community on particularly from a state perspective a state timeline um when we have money available for maybe a certain budget cycle um has been
Speaker A
difficult. So we've done our best to get creative and flexible. Um but still I think that's a bit challenging. Um so that's just a little bit of the challenges. I think um the challenges in I think are pretty real right now. Also
Speaker A
just in the whole supply chain. So I think every week I'm signing an amendment to a grant uh just to extend it to ensure that we can give folks the longest runway to make use of those critical dollars. Um but it also does
Speaker A
feel a little bit of a scarcity mindset where are we going to have this funding again? Is this onetime money? Um and so just again trying to build confidence in the marketplace by having the public dollars uh derisk some of those
Speaker A
investments is super important but we have to be um super flexible as to as well which you know we have a lot of legal uh guidance around but um yeah I'd say that's one of the challenges and lessons learned
Speaker A
and talking about a community community first approach because I I feel like you sort of ended with that and I'm coming to you. Uh do you see um a role for ebikes and electric bikes in sort of helping expand mobility and access for
Speaker A
underserved communities? You know, folks who maybe don't and can't drive. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, after housing, transportation is the largest cost for most people in Washington state. AAA Washington estimates that the average cost of car ownership is $12,000 a year. The fastest
Speaker A
way we're going to put $12,000 back into someone's pocket is to make it easier for them to live with just one fewer car or without a car. And that's going to take great transit, safe routes to ride an ebike and affordable ebikes. I want
Speaker A
to go back to your last question that you posed to Jennifer though. I mean, I think the challenge for everyone in this room is to not bake in the inequities and the unfairness of our current gas powered transportation system into this
Speaker A
new clean electric system that we're building. I think it's so obvious when you go out and talk to people in our state just the lack of dignity and fairness in our system for people who don't drive. One out of three
Speaker A
Washingtonians don't drive. They're non-drivers. They're either too old, too young, or don't have the ability to. And for them, options are so much more limited in this state. They can't get to jobs. They can't see their friends and
Speaker A
family as much as they want to. I think key for us is how we're building a system that makes it so there's frequent affordable transit. There's great options that provide people the way to live their life as fully as possible.
Speaker A
And so that it shouldn't you shouldn't have to work twice as hard to live without a car. That's something that we're seeing just firsthand. We're running a transit ballot measure campaign this November in Pierce County, which is to the south of Seattle where
Speaker A
Tacoma is located. And currently the bus system today, it ends before most people's workday does. They are forced into driving and using a gas-powered car to be able to get to job opportunities, to get to school, to get to medical
Speaker A
appointments. And this uh measure went to voters back in 2012 to expand it to increase funding for the bus system so you could have more frequent routes, longer hours, uh just more accessorized services. And unfortunately, it lost by
Speaker A
just 700 votes in 2012. And that was after 20,000 people voted for Barack Obama at the top of the ticket in 2012, but didn't make it to the bottom of their ticket to vote for this transit ballot measure then. And I'm working and
Speaker A
my team is working to make sure that that doesn't happen. So Tacoma, Pierce County, a place that needs options more than almost any place in the state gets those uh resources, get that fast, frequent bus service. So people do have
Speaker A
options and if they live without a car or they don't drive, they have the dignity and fairness to live their lives as they want to.
Speaker A
Um I I love this. I love this question because vanpool is fundamentally an access mode, right? And specifically job access mode, so access to opportunities.
Speaker A
Um, you know, some of the stats that you were talking about, you know, the average cost of car ownership in Washington, $12,000 a year. Um, for those people who do vanpool to their job, for every single one of them, it's
Speaker A
the most cost-effective way that they could get to work. Most of them save several thousand dollars a year on their on their commuter transportation, but for many of them, it's the only way that they could get to that job. Um, you
Speaker A
know, Vanpool is really filling the gap. So, from an access perspective, right, out in those rural areas in the in the times where people are working second and third shifts and they can't they can't get access to your normal
Speaker A
traditional uh modes of public transportation, Vanpull's filling those gaps, right? And so when we think about electrification and how to make that mode even better, we just need to be thoughtful about not imposing any negative outcomes on the thing that the
Speaker A
mode is meant to provide in the first place, which is that access to transportation for these folks. So there's a path there. We just need to make sure that we don't optimize for the one thing at the expense of the other.
Speaker A
Steve, I know you already sort of alluded to this, but you want to talk a little bit about how does this sort of impact, let's say, communities around ports and, you know, is there a perspective that you're able to share
Speaker A
there? Yeah, thanks. Uh, I mean, equity is a huge uh deal for us. It's a big driver of all the work that my team and I do.
Speaker A
mentioned earlier that virtually all the communities that live near the terminals in both Seattle and Tacoma and along the freight corridors are already experiencing, you know, very significant environmental health uh disparities or overburden communities, whatever term, you know, want to use. So, that's very
Speaker A
front of mind for us and um we uh we we feel the responsibility to be part of the solution to help you know reduce and ultimately eliminate those those health disparities. Um and I think we do that in a couple ways. One is that um it
Speaker A
really drives our priorities. So the the um I would say the 90% of the work that my team and I do um is on the three sources of port related pollution um to which um near port communities are are
Speaker A
the most exposed. I mentioned the shore power program uh because they're exposed to those those emissions while the ships are right there uh in the terminals. Um and then um uh the dreage trucks I mentioned we have a very strong focus on
Speaker A
on the dreage trucks um and also on um what we call cargo handling equipment which is basically uh off-road you know heavy uh equipment all of which has been very diesel dependent historically. So, so equity, our concern about equity and
Speaker A
our role in creating inequity really drives our priorities. And then also a lot of work kind of similar to what Jennifer talked about and that is that um as we were updating that clean air strategy that I alluded to earlier, we
Speaker A
did a ton of stakeholder and community engagement. I'm very proud of we spent two two plus years. Part of it was COVID, but part of it was our commitment to um to really listening. And you know what we heard over and over again is
Speaker A
like, "What do you guys do down there?" Anyway, we see the big cranes and trucks and trains and um but you know what do you do and there's you know there's um you know there's a trust issue let's say
Speaker A
between most ports and most nearport communities. So we've made a real commitment um to engagement and transparency just again to um Jennifer's point just recognizing how critical you know that is just to be more open about what we are doing. Uh so one thing we
Speaker A
did is we started a quarterly newsletter which is really um we've received a lot of great uh feedback on um when we put together uh groups that uh to to help us develop solutions um we make sure to um
Speaker A
have nearport community representatives at the table. One example is um we created about three years ago something called the zero mission truck collaborative which is a multistakeholder uh group we put together to figure out like we've got these 5,000 heavy duty diesel trucks
Speaker A
that are providing cargo hauling services in and out of our terminals. We've made a commitment to get them to zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. We don't have any we don't know how to get there. We really need to take a So we
Speaker A
have nearport um community representatives on that collaborative. Um and then we also recently launched I'm very proud of this. We just recently launched a a web portal because one of the things we heard is you've got the port of Tacoma and the port of Seattle
Speaker A
and then this funky organization called the Northwest Seaport Alliance that's doing work for both on the cargo side.
Speaker A
Um we don't care whose responsibility is what. You know, we don't care that you have three different clean air implementation plans. We just want a one-stop shop for what you're doing visav clean air and climate solutions, environmental justice solutions, and
Speaker A
importantly how we can engage in those solutions. And so we created this web portal which is tribranded and uh um www.nwcleanports.com check it out that we're really really proud of. So um increasing our commitment to to to authentic engagement
Speaker A
um and transparency. Thank you. Okay. So coming up in the last couple of questions here and I'm going to make things a little exciting uh and put you all a little bit on the spot. So we have spoken about these
Speaker A
modes as compliments right like really complimentary to each other. Um uh but we know that these modes share a lot of the same resources. They share street space you know dollars uh electricity from the grid political attention workforce capacity you name it. So
Speaker A
I am so curious about how we prioritize between these modes. Should we prioritize how we allocate? And so the challenge here is, and we're going to have to move through this a little quickly, if we woke up tomorrow and you
Speaker A
had $50 million of new transportation funding available to you to spend in Washington, what would you put it towards? And interestingly, what would you not put it towards?
Speaker A
I don't want to put you on the spot, Jennifer but Oh, I'm happy to go first. I would love that $50 million check. um because we never get to make that decision as a state agency. The legislature makes it
Speaker A
for us. So, I would love to have my Oprah moment. Um what I would do is I would ensure that every route this would not I'd need more than 50 million, but um every route in Washington um had EV
Speaker A
charging accessibility. I've been doing a lot in the last two weeks driving across the street in my state again EV uh vehicle and there are definitely charging gaps. Um I'm sorry for my team that has to listen to all my chats of
Speaker A
like what's happening with this charger. Um but uh so yeah, I would I would do that and I would start with a backlog of um weight lists that we actually have.
Speaker A
So that would be immediate for me. I would just fund right down that list um and make sure that we could fund um and get EV um charging and electrify our uh highways uh throughout the state. What I
Speaker A
would not fund, and this is also easy for me, is anything that continues to harm um the communities that are experiencing the most pollution harms in our state. So any program um any um any um continued use of you know as Kirk was
Speaker A
saying fossil fuels um anything that's continuing to harm um those communities in our state. Uh I would not fund that.
Speaker A
Steve, we're going right down the line. All right. I'm going to give Kirk 10 million for transit. Uh that much then 50 million go doesn't go very far.
Speaker A
Uh another 10 million to Dion for the uh for the sustainability. No. Um I I have to say I mean I I know you're trying to push our boundaries and think about other modes and and and the reality is
Speaker A
that all of these modes need need that $50 million and a lot more. But I have to say that um if if if uh if it was my decision um I would take the vast majority of that and and put it into the
Speaker A
zero emission draage program that we have underway because it is so woefully uh underfunded. Um and also because I uh when I look at the trucking sector in our state, I really feel that in part because frankly our commitment as as
Speaker A
ports, um I feel like the dreage trucking sub sector is kind of the tip of the spear in terms of trying to uh advance the transition toward zero mission um trucking at large. Um and uh at one point we had about $50 million uh
Speaker A
serendipitously enough uh to invest in our incentive program. Um uh 38 million of that was federal funding that we never ended up seeing for obvious reasons. Um and so the one project that we have underway is actually thanks to
Speaker A
uh the state of Washington and the climate commitment act to which Jennifer alluded earlier. We have a initial deployment of 19 battery electric trucks under development. Um it'll put n it'll put it'll put the very first 19 battery
Speaker A
electric draage trucks into operation in our region by hopefully the middle of um uh next year. And that that's a great collaboration which we don't have time for me to get into. Um but I I do feel like that program even though it's self-
Speaker A
serving for me to say it, um I do feel like that program is woefully short on investment and so I would I would put it there.
Speaker A
Good. I'll say this with a straight face. 50 million straight to advocacy organizations. I think the amount of funding that advocacy is able to leverage is incredible. And I think there was an a great illustration of this just this last August in
Speaker A
Spokane. We were a part of a coalition that was fighting for the renewal of a point 2% sales tax for transit in Spokane. And there's a group out in Spokane called Spokane Reimagined. It's just a small nonprofit of people who
Speaker A
really care about Spokane being an accessible, inclusive place and transit being key to that. And this ballot measure that went on the August 4th ballot was extremely close and it went up against the largest anti-transit campaign in a primary in Washington
Speaker A
state history. We had $300,000 mostly donated from three multi-millionaires who contributed money to cut bus service for seniors, cut bus service for youth, cut bus service for working families in Spokane. And this was just a sales tax renewal.
Speaker A
It was this group, Spokane Reimagine, who we got to partner with, who organized people, door knocked, uh, held events, held a flash tattoo sale. You could get a bus tattoo to show your support of transit in Spokane. Uh,
Speaker A
second time tattoos have come up today. But it was that group who helped this ballot measure campaign win by just 3,500 votes. It won with 51.5% of the vote. And for the next 20 years, the people of Spokane are going to have
Speaker A
fast, frequent, and reliable bus service that also goes to fund a brand new, clean, electric bus out in Spokane.
Speaker A
Really, because of that small group, organizing people, knocking on doors, and they were knocking on doors during the wildfires when so many people were fearing for their lives, having to evacuate. They were making sure their friends were okay, but also spreading
Speaker A
the word about how important this was and that there was an election just days after these fires that was going to matter to this community for the next two decades.
Speaker A
I'll make this quick because I know we're getting short on time. Um, if I take my van pull hat off and even my transit hat off for a second, like some of you said, $50 million isn't a whole
Speaker A
lot of money to really make a massive impact on an issue like this. So, I think I'd be very pragmatic about it.
Speaker A
And that requires understanding what is the unit of measure for the outcome that we're actually trying to get to, right?
Speaker A
And whatever whatever deployment of that money can make the biggest impact on on that outcome, then I think that's where you put it. And I think that's a, you know, probably with limited resources, probably something that we all need to
Speaker A
be thinking about as we're figuring out how to deploy the funding in this area.
Speaker A
And on that note, my last wrap-up question to you all is what is one opportunity in 60 seconds or less because we we really are like five minutes in. Uh what is one opportunity to accelerate this transition that
Speaker A
you're excited about in the next year? And bonus points if within the 60 seconds you can tell us how stakeholders in the room today can help you get there.
Speaker A
I know it's a dub two-part question. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Let's let's let's start on that side.
Speaker A
Okay. Um so I I think you know none of this can happen in a in a vacuum, right?
Speaker A
Um you can't you can't um just try to go down one path here without taking the entire ecosystem into account. So I think the the biggest thing that everybody in the room here can do to help move this forward is continue
Speaker A
breaking down organizational barriers and work with all the other stakeholders to ensure that you know we're not maximizing for one outcome while you know while potentially harming others.
Speaker A
Right? I really appreciated the focus from the earlier panel on making sure that we're keeping access and equity at the at the front line at the front of the conversation here and not losing sight of that as we as we move towards
Speaker A
making the transportation cleaner. Say the thing we can do to accelerate this is to organize and flex our political power. We saw with the last administration that when they pulled subsidies for electric cars, nothing happened. If gas prices go up,
Speaker A
people riot in the streets and governments are toppled. I think we need to organize and flex our political power. And there's small things that people in this room can do. Just emailing your elected officials about how important this is and making sure
Speaker A
it's a top issue in campaigns and that they're thinking about it as they get into office. We wouldn't have had the light rail expansion that we have in this region without the focus and leadership of elected officials like
Speaker A
Greg Nichols or agency leaders like Joanie Earl or elected leaders like Senator Patty Murray. This doesn't happen with consistent uh focus and commitment from our elected officials and they don't do it if they're not pushed and encouraged to do it.
Speaker A
Steve, yeah, I'm going to come back to the zero mission dreage challenge. Um in terms of the year ahead from my perspective I mentioned that we have this one deployment thanks to um some state funding. We're leveraging a lot of
Speaker A
private uh investment. Um we we selected through a competitive procurement process a third party um infrastructure developer called Ze Solutions. So we're going to be very focused my team and I on making sure that that that first deployment will be successful. Um but
Speaker A
also I would like to get at least one additional deployment of battery electric draage trucks happening or at least initiated before the end of this calendar year. and we're just going to need help with that. There probably are
Speaker A
people in this room if you if you are a a commercial fleet or you know uh uh you have connections in with uh trucking fleets, if you have connections with um truck charging infrastructure developers, um uh you know, let me know
Speaker A
and let's see if we can make something more happen here in Washington state. Well, the first thing that came to mind is um we're just taking so many blows at the national level and that we got to keep fighting. Um we are I think the
Speaker A
West and particularly the Pacific Northwest is a mecca for innovation um stamina and grit and so um we got to keep fighting. And I think we always punch above our weight um when it comes to deploying innovative solutions. I
Speaker A
would love to see more and I think it's going to be critical for our next evolution, next future, even in the next year. Um more public private partnerships evolve. Um you can't go a week without reading about housing
Speaker A
affordability or data centers in our region in the headlines. Um and transportation is connected to both those things in many ways. Um, I was really intrigued by going out to see the King County Electric Bus depot yesterday and one of the things that I did not
Speaker A
know was um to get the megawatt power scale um to charge the bus depot. They had partnered with the nearby data center to make those grid investments that were needed in order to charge all that electric mobility. And so it made
Speaker A
me think about what are those opportunities that are out there um for some of the other large loads um that we're going to be competing against um on the grid um as we continue to electrify transportation. And then with
Speaker A
housing, one of the areas uh that has been really hard for us to reach is multifamily housing, but there is so many um equity and access opportunity there um and much work to do. So, I'd love to see us spend more time on
Speaker A
housing figuring out how we can uh borrow some of that money from that data center community um to achieve shared goals.
Speaker A
Amazing. Uh with that, can we give our panelists a huge round of applause for this fantastic discussion? I want to thank you all for joining us today and really kind of setting the stage for I know so many conversations and
Speaker A
discussions that are going to be happening over today and tomorrow at road mapap. So, um, as we continue on our first day, I have a list of notes that my team has given me to kind of share with you all before
Speaker A
you leave. Um, if you haven't already, please be sure to download the road map conference app to view the schedule, session details, speaker information, and receive conference updates. uh make sure to visit our expo expo hall to connect with exhibitors, explore the
Speaker A
latest technologies and you know we have a lot of folks at the fourth lounge and I think the uh catalyst lounge as well.
Speaker A
Uh so please meet us learn more about our work. We encourage you to share your conference experience on social media.
Speaker A
We're very active there. So uh use roadmap4th uh and you can tag us on LinkedIn as well. Um, our mainstage programming and meals will occur in this ballroom for the next two days. Breakout sessions are on the fourth floor. So, you know, feel
Speaker A
free to navigate there. And we look forward to seeing everyone at today's uh reception in the evening at 4 p.m. in the exhibit hall. And yeah, that is pretty much it. I don't know if we need to change the slide here, but we're
Speaker A
going to be taking a 30 minute break uh networking break right now presented by Atlas Public Policy. So feel free to, you know, stretch your legs, walk around, get to know folks, visit our exhibitors. Um, and yeah, we will be
Speaker A
back. Breakout sessions begin at 10:45 a.m. And I believe all of these are held on the fourth floor. So thank you everyone. Thank you again to our panelists for joining us today. And see you soon.
Topics:ForthRoadmap Conference 2026clean transportationelectric vehiclesEV car sharingelectric bicyclesequity in transportationCalstart mergersustainable mobilitySeattle
