Most North Carolinians share an inextricable link to their automobiles.
In a rapidly growing state whose large cities are subject to suburban sprawl and where rural areas leave residents isolated, cars and trucks are vital connections to work, school, shopping and day-to-day activities.
North Carolina’s 7.5 million licensed drivers cover an average of 36 miles a day, and three-quarters of the state’s commuters drive to their jobs alone rather than carpooling or taking advantage of often-limited mass transit options, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
That enduring reliance on fuel-powered automobiles is the reason transportation accounts for 36% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, making it North Carolina’s largest source of pollution contributing to human-caused climate change.
The automobile’s outsized influence on North Carolinians poses a challenge to NCDOT as it maps the state’s route toward climate-related goals tied to the vehicles we drive and how we drive them.
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The agency laid out its vision Wednesday in a draft of the N.C. Clean Transportation Plan, and is seeking public comment on the 48-page document through March 15.
An electric vehicle is charged at an Electrify America charging station at a Sheetz convenience store along I-85 in Hillsborough in December 2021.
In the Triad, officials will take comments in person Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at the Morehead Recreation Center at 101 Price St. in High Point. Comments also may be submitted online at publicinput.com/NC-Clean-Transportation.
Given North Carolina’s mix of geographies, the state’s approach to clean transportation must be versatile and include options for rural, suburban and urban areas, the plan notes.
The draft calls for the creation of work groups made up of public and private stakeholders to advance the transition to electric passenger vehicles, medium and heavy-duty trucks, and business and government fleets; reduce the overall number of miles driven on the state’s roads; and deploy a broad, accessible network of vehicle chargers.
With nearly 54,000 registered electric vehicles in North Carolina as of Jan. 1, the state is on pace to meet Gov. Roy Cooper’s goal of reaching at least 80,000 “zero-emission” registrations by 2025.
However, the state faces a steep climb to reach Cooper’s longer-term target of having 1.25 million EVs on the road by the end of this decade.
The Clean Transportation Plan references several initiatives already underway. Those include the N.C. Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan, or NEVI, through which state officials are using $109 million in funding from the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to create a network of DC fast charging stations along designated major highways and in selected communities.
“We’re really dialed in right now on focusing on what those (NEVI) guidelines are and making sure that we meet those guidelines and build the network out across our state in an equitable way (while) also looking for opportunities to fill in gaps,” said Jen Weiss, NCDOT’s senior adviser on climate change. “So we’re going to be doing a larger analysis of our state to see what the infrastructure needs are going to be and then combining forces with our sister agencies (including the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality) to help us build it out together.”
Making drivers confident that chargers will be available and accessible when and where they need them is critical to the state’s EV transition goals, Weiss added.
The draft Clean Transportation Plan also incorporates elements of environmental justice into its recommendations.
“The planning process created the opportunity to reflect on the impacts of past decisions, listen to the needs of traditionally underserved communities and work to ensure that the externalities of the past are not carried forward into the future,” the plan notes. “In North Carolina, as with other states, transportation decisions have often negatively and disproportionately impacted traditionally underserved communities and have contributed to generational harms.”
The plan also calls for the creation of a Clean Transportation Interagency Task Force made up of representatives from NCDOT, NCDEQ, the Governor’s Office, N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, N.C. Department of Administration and other organizations.
The panel would “clarify responsibility, resource and coordination needs to implement NCCTP strategies, encourage agencies to align related policies and remove barriers to implementation of the NCCTP recommendations.”
John Deem covers climate change and the environment in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. His work is funded by a grant from the 1Earth Fund and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
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