clean FLEET Careers
LA’s Expanding Clean Energy Economy
Los Angeles’ clean energy economy is thriving. As the city with the most clean energy jobs in the nation, nearly 200,000 Angelenos wake up and go to work on our clean energy economy every day.
LA’s transition to 100% electric buses and trucks is dramatically expanding our clean energy economy by generating thousands of new career opportunities in transportation electrification. A recent report by Jobs to Move America found that full-scale electrification of public bus fleets in the U.S. could create at least 20,000 good American manufacturing jobs, and the Los Angeles region is exceptionally well-positioned to thrive as the electric bus and truck markets continue to grow. This burgeoning clean fleet economy creates a wide range of family-supporting careers, including manufacturing electric buses and trucks and building the charging infrastructure needed to fuel them.
Electric Truck & Bus Manufacturing
Employees at BYD’s warehouse on it’s manufacturing campus in Lancaster, CA. Image courtesy of BYD.
Electric trucks and buses are bringing thousands of new quality manufacturing jobs with family-sustaining wages to the LA region.
Currently, ten electric truck and bus manufacturers have large operations in LA County. Local transit agencies have applied intentional job creation and equity policies to bring manufacturers into the region, creating over one thousand new jobs in the county.
Zero Emissions Infrastructure
Foothill Transit’s electric buses recharge at overhead fast chargers along Route 291, the agency’s fully electrified bus route.
Already home to several thousand electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, LA County will experience unprecedented EV infrastructure growth in the next decade. LA’s leaders are planning to build hundreds of thousands more charging stations throughout the region before 2028.
The charging infrastructural needs, as well as the solar energy production and solar complimentary technologies such as battery storage and microgrids, will create new career pathways for skilled local electrical workers to join the clean energy economy.
Advocating for Equitable Clean Energy Careers
California IBEW members provide public comments in support of the clean energy economy at a California Air Resources Board meeting. Image courtesy of IBEW 11
Our coalition is working to ensure that transportation electrification creates quality career pathways and family-sustaining wages. With the right job-training and hiring efforts, truck and bus electrification can be a catalyst for boosting economic opportunity in underserved communities and helping overcome racial inequities in wealth and employment.
We’re working with local policymakers to guide the development of the rapidly-expanding electric transportation industry in a thoughtful way that nurtures this emerging local market by driving local and targeted hiring, job training, and apprenticeship programs in our communities.
We also advocate for policies and programs that prioritize underserved communities by creating career opportunities for veterans, previously incarcerated individuals and workers from LA’s disadvantaged communities.
Ready to support the electric fleet economy?