In Carol Becker’s recent commentary (“The future is electric — which is to say, still mostly on four wheels,” Strib Voices, Oct. 11), the author offers an overly narrow vision for reducing transportation emissions in Minneapolis. She suggests that privately owned electric vehicles (EVs) are the only strategy to pursue and goes so far as to advocate for “removing bike and bus lanes.”
As a convener of Drive Electric Minnesota, I recommend taking a broader view. Personal EV ownership will work for many people and should be encouraged. Many lower-income residents depend on other modes (biking, walking, transit, shared EVs) to get to where they need to go. In Minneapolis there are more multifamily housing units than single-family homes, and those units are harder to serve with EV charging. We must work to make low-cost EV charging universally available, while remembering to include in our plans the residents who can’t afford to own a car or who choose not to. There are other ways to benefit from an electrifying transportation system, including using Evie Carshare or riding one of Metro Transit’s electric buses. Also, more e-bikes than EV cars were sold in 2022, enabled in part by Minnesota’s improving bike infrastructure.
The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report finds that multiple transportation strategies offer “substantial potential to reduce net emissions by 2030,″ including EVs, public transportation, and bikes and e-bikes. The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization states that “decarbonizing the entire transportation sector will require a diverse portfolio of solutions and technologies.” Minneapolis can ensure that it serves all of its residents by pursuing a similarly multifaceted approach.
Brendan Jordan, Minneapolis
The writer is vice president of transportation and fuels at the Great Plains Institute.
