2040: San Francisco plans for zero-emission transport

The City of San Francisco has released the ‘Electric Vehicle Roadmap’ with the goal to transitioning transport off fossil fuels by 2040. The initiative includes a number of interim targets such as more infrastructure powered by renewables.

More so, the policy document lays out six specific areas of action on 48 pages. Measures include actions to raise public awareness of electric mobility; incentives for zero-emission vehicles; the development of charging infrastructure; focus on grid integration of renewable energy and EV charging capacity; leading the way in medium and heavy-duty vehicle electrification; and advocating for emission-free technology in emerging mobility options.

The City’s Roadmap proposes that, for example, by 2023, all large commercial parking lots and garages (which means anything with more than 100 parking spaces), would be required to build EV charging stations for at least 10 per cent of the spaces. This will affect more than 300 locations across the city. In addition, the City of San Francisco and its partners hope to have up to 340 new charging stations installed in municipal parking lots — such as those managed by the Port or Airport.

“By including a lower rate in our proposed TNC Traffic Congestion Tax for electric vehicles, by transitioning our public Muni fleet to electric and by requiring more charging station opportunities, we’re giving San Franciscans options and incentives to go green,” says Mayor London Breed. He added: “Of course we’d like to see walking, biking, and public transit prioritized but if San Franciscans are going to drive, we hope they go electric.”

While a direct sales ban on ICE’s has not been proposed, San Francisco will check various options to set incentives to switch to electric vehicles. More so, all “emergent” transport and mobility options, we think sharing vehicles etc. must be electric from the start.

The Roadmap asserts that “San Francisco is a Transit First City. To create a more livable environment, the City and County of San Francisco envision a town where numerous transportation and mobility options are available and affordable for all so that there is less need for individually owned cars.

San Francisco has already been making progress, since 1990 greenhouse gas emissions have dropped 36 per cent citywide. And transit is just one part of that; large privately owned buildings are also under pressure to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Additional reporting by Nora Manthey.

sfweekly.com, sfenvironment.org (pdf)