Past Webinars

Electric vehicles may seem like cutting-edge technology, but they are in fact quite the opposite: electric versions of the “horseless carriage” first appeared nearly two centuries ago. This webinar invited International EV experts Dr. Gijs Mom and Dr. Daniel Sperling to reflect on lessons from the history of EV technology and policy innovation that could help today’s policymakers and automotive experts smooth the path for cost-effective EV adoption.

Earth Day 2022 called for us to "Invest in Our Planet," and explore key questions about EV technology, regulation, subsidy, and charging infrastructure is critical to furthering the potential for EVs as climate-friendly transportation.

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About the Speakers:

Dr. Gijs Mom is Associate Professor Emeritus at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he also served as Programme Director for Mobility History. Today he is recognized globally as one of the foremost experts on automotive history, known for his unique ability to blend analysis of technological, cultural, and political forces. 

Dr. Mom began his career with degrees in both literary history and automotive engineering, and briefly worked on engine development at Renault, in Paris. He next completed a doctoral degree in the history of technology. His dissertation, The Electric Vehicle: Technology and Expectations in the Automobile Age, was published in 2004. This book received both the ASME Engineer-Historian Award and the Best Book Award from the Society of Automotive Historians. 

Among Dr. Mom’s many scholarly articles is a prize-winning analysis of early electric trucking, coauthored with David Kirsch (2001). Later books include a cultural history of Western automobility, Atlantic Automobilism; The Emergence and Persistence of the Car, 1895-1940 (2014), a history of automotive technology: The Evolution of Automotive Technology, A Handbook (2014), and the first volume of his world mobility history, Globalizing Automobilism; Exuberance and the Emergence of Layered Mobility, 1900 – 1980 (2020). The last won best-book awards from both the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) and the World History Association (WHA). The sequel of this book, Pacific Automobilism, Adventure, Status and the Carnival of Mobility, 1975-2015, will be published in September 2022.

In 1997 Dr. Mom founded the European Center for Mobility Documentation, located in Helmond, the Netherlands. In November 2003, he co-founded the International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility (T2M), which he led as president during its first five years. In 2011 he founded the journal Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies and served as its first editor.

Dr. Daniel Sperling works at the University of California, Davis, where he is Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, and founding chair of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and Economy .

Dr. Sperling has been recognized for three decades as a leading international expert on transportation technology assessment, energy and environmental aspects of transportation, and transportation policy. He has authored or co-authored hundreds of technical papers and books. Dr. Sperling was co-director of the 2007 study that designed California’s landmark low carbon fuel standard and co-director of a follow-up 2010 national study. He was also lead author of the transportation chapter on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. His books include Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future (Island Press, 2018) and Future Drive: Electric Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation (1995). In 2022, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Sperling’s many public service roles include his appointment in 2007 to the California Air Resources Board, where he oversees state policies and regulations on climate change, low carbon fuels and vehicles, and sustainable cities. 

Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (with minors in Economics and Energy & Resources), Dr. Sperling worked two years as an environmental planner for the US Environmental Protection Agency and two years as an urban planner in the Peace Corps in Honduras. He has an undergraduate degree in engineering and urban planning from Cornell University.

The Mineta Transportation Institute, in partnership with SPUR and researchers at Arizona State University, created a parking census of the Bay Area has revealed the true enormity of land that we dedicate to our cars: 15 million spaces spread across the region’s nine counties. To coincide with the launch of this census we’re also releasing the database that was used as the backbone for our research. This innovative, publicly-available tool can serve as an important asset to help policymakers and planners throughout the Bay Area make more strategic decisions about parking. But such a tool is only useful if you know what to do with it. This interactive workshop taught us the data-rich index of the region’s parking surfeit can be wielded to inform policy changes, both big and small, in your own city.

*MTI was a proud co-sponsor of this event.

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How are high tech employees returning to work? Maybe by bike. Google employees borrowed high quality electric- assisted and conventional bicycles for free, for up to six months. MTI researchers discussed their recent evaluation of this transportation demand management program in this webinar.

The lending program at Google represents one of the largest employer-sponsored bike and e-bike lending programs in North America with over 1,000 bikes in its inventory. More individuals and agencies have shown interest in e-bike rebates and in the role of public policy in the shift from four wheels to two. This evaluation is a critical first step toward understanding the potential for bike lending as a strategy in North American suburban contexts. 

CM Credit Certificate.

PDH Credit Certificate.

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How can the transportation industry approach issues of diversity and accessibility in the workforce, in transit riders, and in the community? How can we overcome historic and current injustices both by taking action now and by laying the groundwork for further transformation down the road? By shifting from broader conversations on equity to timely, focused discussions and hands-on planning, our industry can begin to understand and address the needs of community members of all ages, races, genders, and abilities. This Black History Month, MTI and a panel of experts to discussed transforming racial inequity in the transportation industry. We reflected on some of the most pressing issues of equity in our nation and industry today, and contributed to the discussion about how to address these issues.

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