In an article on California's advanced transportation sector, the Daily Democrat cited AEEI's recent survey on Advanced Energy Jobs in California and spoke with AEE's own Steve Chadima.
The fast-growing clean transportation sector, which includes hybrid, electric and natural gas vehicles, added 7,000 new jobs in California last year, a 65 percent increase over the previous year, according to a study by industry group Advanced Energy Economy.
More than half of the people employed in the sector work on electric and hybrid vehicles. The industry got another boost this month from Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors, which booked more than 300,000 reservations for its lower-priced sedan in a week.
Steve Chadima, senior vice president for external affairs at Advanced Energy Economy, said the rebate program has encouraged clean vehicle purchases, much like the subsidies that helped build the market for solar panels a decade ago.
The price of electric vehicles will decline as more are produced, he said. “Is the program working?” Chadima asked. “The answer is mostly, ‘yes.’”