Transcript 0:00 [gentle music] But also from what I discovered in my own research, she says we need to meet communities where they are, which is what we're doing with our living lab. We need to build relationships with everyone. 0:14 We need to understand what we can all do together as communities and build communities. 0:24 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:41 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. As always, I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:48 In the month of October and on Connected World and The Peggy Smedley Show, I'm gonna be talking all about electric vehicles. How exciting is that? 0:56 So for today's show, I thought we would start the conversation, I guess, a little bit early. 1:01 Did you know the number of connected EV charging points in Europe and North America is set to reach seven point nine million by twenty twenty-five? Now just soak that in for a minute. That is great news, right? 1:16 Well, here is my question for you for today's show: Will it be equitable, and how can we create diversity, equity, and inclusion with our EV adoption? Now I want you to think about that. 1:31 Later on in the show we're gonna answer that, but before we get to that, I want to talk about our guests. 1:35 I'll be welcoming back Harold Haas, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Strathclyde in Glasgow, to give us an update on where things stand with Li-Fi, and then I'm gonna wrap up the show with Brian Kropp, Chief of Research at Gartner. 1:50 So as you can see, we've got great guests as always. So let's start. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation account for about twenty-eight percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions. 2:04 A good way to solve is exploring... to solve this problem, I guess I should say, is exploring how trans-- how to transition to a low-carbon or no-carbon transportation system. 2:17 But we need to make this available to all communities so everyone has access to mobility. 2:26 Earlier this year, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released its twenty-twenty-one State of Transportation Electrification Scorecard. 2:38 Now, this rates states' efforts when it comes to electric cars, trucks, buses, and other things. While there was a lot of good talking points there, one point really stood out to me. 2:52 And at the time, Sruti Vadaganathan, Transportation Program Director at ACEEE, ACEEE, uh, she said, "Electrified transportation is increasingly considered a key step to reducing transportation-related emissions." 3:13 Now, here's the challenge: We need to improve access to efficient low-carbon transportation optins-- options across all communities. We need to make electrified transportation equitable for all. 3:31 Now, this sentiment was echoed in a presentation I attended earlier this month. Dr. Shelly Francis is the co-founder and principal of EVnor. 3:44 Her talk focused on mobility best practices and e-mobility, diversity, equity, and inclusion in accelerating EV adoption. Now, she has a great perspective I want to share with you today. 3:58 She envisions a world where all communities have access to this innovative technology. Now, we all do. I, I hope we all do, but let's talk about this. 4:09 She wants to ensure it is available to frontline communities impacted by climate change, 4:17 and one of the best ways to do this is by engaging with the frontline communities to help unlock the potential for electrification. 4:30 Frontline communities are what she refers to as those adjacent to manufacturing and transportation hubs. 4:40 Now, I'm so excited how she says the people closest to the problem are also those closest to the solution. Now listen to what she had to say. 4:54 In order to change the paradigm and engage more communities, we have to start engaging with the communities. And so what does that mean? 5:02 Well, that means is that you have to engage communities or the people or the individuals that are most affected and impacted by the problem. 5:10 And so what we say in our work is that those who are closest to the problem probably have a really good idea in terms of what is needed to address whatever the ba-- the barrier, the gap is, or the challenge. 5:21 So we say that they're most likely, uh, the ones that are closest to the solution. I think we all need to really kind of listen to those words and truly soak in and l-- just listen to what she had to say. 5:38 But still, we need to understand the root cause, and often that starts with the s-- historical content, context in general, the content and the context. 5:52 Now, for most, most of you who know me and have read my books in the past, you know that I like to go back and look at the history of things. 5:59 So I'm gonna kind of start by looking at the history, some of what she presented, and some of the research I did on my own. 6:06 So for the past one hundred years or soOwning a vehicle has increased access and is one of the most powerful economic advantages a family can have. 6:18 The problem is, what we've all learned is what's known as redlining, was a practice facilitated by the federal government in the 1930s. 6:28 Agencies looked at neighborhood quality and the ethe- eth- ethic and ra- and racial makeup of the neighborhood, and the history of housing and rental costs. 6:40 Now, those metrics served as the foundation of what the neighborhood grades were, were. 6:47 So these maps were kind of skewed green, blue, red, yellow, and identified which neighborhoods were the most desirable to provide home loans to. 6:58 Now, I, I didn't know that until I started doing all of my research on all this and, and listening to her, and it was very interesting over the years when you kind of uncover how things are and the way things are done. 7:10 So typically what happened were neighborhoods of color or Jewish communities were deemed high risk, and these were considered the redline neighborhoods. Homeownership was, has been one of the most significant means of 7:28 intergenerational wealth. Not being able to have access to a, a home has driven the inequalities, or I should say, inequities we have seen today. 7:41 And here's another problem: who owns personal and private vehicles? Frances says in the nation's largest metropolitan areas, almost eight million individuals don't have access to a private vehicle. 7:58 Locational and income characteristics of zero vehicles, households reinforces the need for stronger transportation services that are electrified. Yet an- yet another kind of challenges or creates other challenges. 8:16 So another kind of key point or, or things that need to be kind of brought up here, um, brings to discrimination was the, the national highway system. And now this was kind of interesting as I was doing more research. 8:32 Highway systems during the 1940s, '50s, and '60s were placed in many of the thriving Black and other neighborhoods of colors. So... 8:44 And it's interesting, so this just points to the dis- disparate transportation policies in our nation's history. Going back to my earlier comment, they were commissioned by the federal government for deca- decades. 8:59 So these maps were critical to decisions of where and what type of infrastructure, lending, and housing each neighborhood of each American city would be able to receive. 9:14 Now think about that, and this is all crazy if you think, if you really want to digest it. So as a result, this also led to health disparities and so much more that we hear about. 9:25 So for example, climate impacts frontline communities first, and this is why they're saying that, because this is a real problem we need to kind of address. 9:36 And I love that Frances is addressing it kind of head-on in the way she talks about it. She says too often there's a big problem with perception when it comes to electrification. 9:48 While there is an interest among many different communities, there isn't enough representation. So too often people think of electrification and think of it as the three Ws, white, West Coast, and wealthy. 10:04 I found that to be interesting. But Frances says that isn't always the case. In some cases, the cost is just too high, but this is the perception. So here are the solutions she lays out. Find a liaison. 10:21 Work with the DEI experts that can help nurture those relationships. Recognize communication challenges. I really like how she says the messenger matters, but the message matters even more. 10:40 Here are the three big takeaways I have from what she said that we can do next, and I love that we, it's a collective we. First, we need to be intentional in our outreach and marketing to different communities. 10:56 She recommended making people aware of rebates. She suggested, you know, intentionally crafting and coordinating for specific communities. The second thing we need to do is use data. I'm a big fan. 11:10 You always hear me say data, data, data. She specifically suggests using data to inform policy, messaging, and programming recommendations and pilots. So data is so critical here. 11:23 Finally, we need to make sure all communities have ample charging infrastructure. Now, charging's great, but if it's not in the right places, nobody's gonna use it. They're not gonna d- adopt it. 11:34 You know, Frances said people spend twice as much time in a location where there is a charging infrastructure, and we know that. We see that already no matter what type of wealth situation. 11:47 Some areas that charging infrastructure is placed is more affluent and white, and we've seen that already, and that's what's happening. But we also need to understand w- about convenience. 12:00 We need to change where they're placed. We need to change what's happening. And as Frances says, privileged mobility will continue if we do this. You know, w- we need to recognize this. So here's my opinion for today. 12:15 We need to close the divide.We, we need to see a confluence of factors has led to this moment in history. The t- pandemic, yes, but also a number of other societal impacts. We need to understand technology changes. 12:32 Today we're at this precipice of shift, which really leads to what we can do. Innovation is changing a lot. We're understanding what our needs are. We also need to come together to redefine our world. 12:48 This is one of the three big messages from Frances, but also from what I discovered in my own research. She says we need to meet communities where they are, which is what we're doing with our living lab. 13:03 We need to build relationships with everyone. We need to understand what we can all do together as communities and build communities, and then it takes time. We need to make space for everyone at the table. 13:18 We need to understand that technology isn't only for one set of people, it's for all of us. Let's do it as she recommends here, and that things will move to the speed of trust. We have to trust everyone. 13:33 Technology, EVs, whatever it might be, should not be for just one set of people. It should be for everyone, and we need to listen. Sometimes we don't listen in society. 13:44 We need to listen to everyone at all ages, at all the d- we need to narrow that digital divide. We need to end it, but we need to take the time to understand it before we can do anything. 13:57 And I love that Frances spent the time to educate me about things I didn't even know, and I spent the time to have to do more research to educate myself. 14:06 So we all have to educate ourselves to be better listeners, to better understand the challenges that exist today in order for us to be better. And that's what I think was exciting about what this discussion is. 14:20 So we're gonna continue to have great discussions. As always, I'd love to know what you think. Send me a tweet and engage in a conversation @ConnectedWMag or post something on LinkedIn. Let's continue our discussion. 14:33 The more we continue our discussion, the better we will all be and the more we'll learn from each other. All right, check out our website at connectedworld.com or our show website at thepeggySMEDLEYshow.com. 14:44 All right, we're gonna take a quick commercial break, but as always, don't go anywhere because we will be right back. This is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 14:54 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. We'll be right back. [upbeat music]
