Road to Zero: Decarbonization through clean mobility

SMUD is on a bold journey to eliminate all carbon emissions from our power supply by 2030. It’s the most ambitious decarbonization goal of any large utility in the nation. And when we developed the 2030 Zero Carbon Plan, it was with the recognition that our goal is about much more than carbon. We’re taking a holistic approach. Our decarbonization will deliver far-reaching benefits, including cleaner air and better public health outcomes and more equitable solutions for communities that haven’t typically had a voice in decisions that impact them. Our Plan will bring clean tech jobs, skilled labor and inclusive economic and workforce development. Vehicles and buildings—the two largest carbon emitting sectors in California—are at the center of our plan. In this article, I’ll focus on what SMUD is doing in the mobility space to accelerate decarbonization.

Why mobility?

At SMUD, we’re approaching decarbonization through an equity lens. We won’t leave any community behind in our journey to reach zero carbon. And being a community-owned electric utility means we frame everything in a local light:

• Sacramento is ranked the sixth-most polluted city in the country based on days of unhealthy and unsafe levels of air pollution in the ozone layer.
• Sacramento’s childhood asthma rates are unacceptably high. Our children are 22% more likely to suffer from asthma than the average American kid.

The recent California Air Resources Board mandate requires that by 2035, all vehicles sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles. That’s in response to the fact that the transportation sector accounts for more than half of the carbon pollution in our state. Estimates show that by 2030, we’ll have about 8 million electric vehicles in California. Based on SMUD’s service area, our share of that is about 300,000 EVs, and today we have about 27,000. So, like other utilities, we’re working to ensure we understand and address potential grid impacts. Simultaneously, we’re creating programs and developing partnerships to make electric transportation accessible for all.

Programs

Since the early 1990s, SMUD has been working to encourage and accelerate EV adoption. Today, we have a range of programs that help make EVs accessible for residential and commercial customers, including in historically under-resourced communities as well as to fleet operators. Some include:

• Charge@Home – a cash incentive of up to $1,000 for customers that install a charger at home
• SMUD eFuel – a full-service program to assess, design, construct and maintain electric vehicle chargers for commercial customers interested in business/fleet electric vehicles and charging, workplace employee charging or multifamily tenant charging.
• Electric buses – Twin Rivers Unified School District was the first school district in the country with electric school buses. This year, the district is planning to fit more than 20 electric school buses with vehicle-to-grid technology as well, and other school districts are expanding to add vehicle-to-grid.

We’re just getting started and we have more programs in the works. It’s an exciting time and we’re looking forward to pilot and roll out new programs soon.

Partnerships

Our goal is ambitious, and we know we can’t get there alone. Partnerships are going to be key to implementing our Plan. SMUD is proud to have led the regional effort to create and launch the California Mobility Center (CMC), bringing Zeus work trucks into the fold. The CMC will be a catalyst for workforce development in clean mobility. We’re also part of a four-agency partnership, developing regional funding priorities for zero emission vehicle deployment in the Sacramento region. This partnership recognizes the importance of regional coordination, and through this four-agency partnership we’re developing shared priorities that leaves us well positioned to move our region forward together.

Other examples of our current partnerships include:

Zeus Electric Chassis, Inc. : Their all-electric work trucks are the first of their kind, filling a major gap in the market. We can’t wait to see them join our fleet soon when they’ll be deployed in a variety of applications to support our utility operations. Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) Power Inn Charging Hub: The largest hub of its kind in the country when built out. Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District : The Clean Cars 4 All program enables income-qualified residents to access to clean transportation and we provide EV charging installation support to incentivize the transition.Del Paso Mobility Hub: We’re bringing e-mobility to a historically under-resourced area. This hub includes an electric shuttle bus to provide free rides to qualified students to training centers, electric bikes, scooters, electric vehicle charging stations and more.

We recently launched a managed charging pilot in partnership with BMW Group , Ford Motor Company , General Motors and aggregators to explore vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid technologies for light, medium, and heavy-duty electric vehicles. This pilot will help us understand and mitigate potential impacts on the grid as more EVs hit the streets.

SMUD is also working closely with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) , bringing public/private sectors together to think big and bring innovative solutions forward. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the DOE along with stakeholders from the State of California and local governing authorities – including the California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission – automakers and think tanks from across the country, working to accelerate the development, commercialization, and deployment of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies for the grid.

Fleet

SMUD’s goal is to have a 100% carbon-free fleet by 2030. We retired the last gas sedan from our fleet in 2021. The bigger challenge will be heavy-duty vehicles, like service trucks and construction equipment. We’re excited to bring on five Zeus all-electric work trucks to our fleet soon that are class 4, 5 and 6.

The Road Ahead

I’m pleased by the progress we’ve already made in the mobility space, especially the work that will bring equity to those historically underserved through innovative clean mobility projects. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, and that means there will be great opportunities for more public and private partnerships. These partnerships will be important to helping us develop solutions for seamless charging and grid reliability not just in Sacramento, but across the country.

Our vision is an inclusive one, with an open invitation for others to partner with us. We’ve set a very large table for others to partner with SMUD on this very important journey to a clean energy future. I hope you’ll join us.