Securing America's Future Energy

Challenge Accepted! 78 Cities Submit Innovative Proposals to DOT’s Smart City Challenge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ellen Carey
Number: 202-461-2382
Email: ecarey@secureenergy.org

SAFE applauds 78 cities, America’s laboratories of innovation, competing to transform the future of transportation

Washington, D.C. – Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) offered its congratulations today to the 78 cities that submitted detailed proposals for the Smart City Challenge, emblematic of the will and motivation cities have to tackle America’s outdated transportation system and revolutionize the future of mobility. A landmark project by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Smart City Challenge will award $100,000 to five finalist cities to develop their plans in greater detail. The winning city will be awarded up to $40 million from U.S. DOT to implement bold, data-driven ideas that make transportation safer, easier, and more reliable. Additionally, Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc., has announced its intent to award up to $10 million to the challenge winner to support electric vehicle deployment and other carbon emission reduction strategies.

The proposals came from cities widely diverse in size and geography, and the overwhelming response demonstrates that city leaders are ready to spearhead the future of transportation that will reduce congestion, improve efficiency, expand access to mobility, and accelerate the adoption of electric transportation, all while making our cities cleaner places to live and work. A map and full list of cities that applied can be found here.

“American cities are our greatest asset—hives of activity responsible for producing our greatest, forward-looking ideas and the technologies to power them,” said SAFE President and CEO Robbie Diamond. “Beset by oil’s monopoly over U.S. transportation, failing infrastructure, record-breaking congestion, and expensive alternatives to driving, this country is desperate for innovation and 21st-century transportation solutions like electric and self-driving cars. Thank you to our cities for leading the charge.”

As Vulcan’s implementation partner in the Smart City Challenge, SAFE brings its expertise in creating and managing comprehensive “deployment communities,” including its pioneering Drive Electric Orlando and Drive Electric Northern Colorado projects, to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. In the public sector, SAFE collaborates with mayors and city managers to transition municipal fleets away from petroleum fuels through its Energy Secure Cities Coalition.

SAFE looks forward to working with Vulcan to engage with the Smart City Challenge’s finalist cities to help them further develop their proposals and to work with the Smart City Challenge winner as it redefines the concept of mobility within its city limits.

To learn more about SAFE and its current initiatives, visit www.secureenergy.org,www.electrificationcoalition.org, and www.energysecurecities.org.

About Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE)

Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) is a nonpartisan organization that aims to reduce America’s dependence on oil and improve U.S. energy security to bolster national security and strengthen the economy. SAFE advocates for expanded domestic production of U.S. oil and gas resources, continued improvements in fuel efficiency, and in the long-term, breaking oil’s stranglehold on the transportation sector through alternatives like natural gas for heavy-duty trucks and plug-in electric vehicles. In 2006, SAFE joined with General P.X. Kelley (Ret.), 28th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, to form the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), a group of business and former military leaders committed to reducing the United States’ dependence on oil.

 

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