Urban Electric Vehicle Integration: Denver’s roadmap to 80 x 50 Climate Goals
Denver is becoming a leader in clean energy and sustainable development and has set an ambitious goal to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050 (Climate Action Plan 2015). The transportation sector is the second largest contributor to Denver’s greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, Denver has set the goal for 30 percent of its registered vehicles to be electric by 2030. In order to create a pathway to achieve this goal, our project will focus on EV charging infrastructure, which is a key component for increasing EV adoption. This project will build a comprehensive report which will include a distribution map that outlines the ideal number of charging stations that should be within a given area. The report will also outline policy changes and city planning recommendations in order to aid in the successful installation of the chargers. The completion of this project will not only contribute to Denver’s 80x50 goal, but it will also provide the city with a robust planning guide that is able to absorb any additional EV installation plans, such as those posited by Electrify America.