A proposed innovation hub on Sacramento State property is poised to help reshape California’s push towards its climate goals by providing startup technology companies in the mobility sector with the tools they need to get from prototype to small-scale production.
“The Hub” will house the California Mobility Center, a roughly 200,000-square-foot research, development, innovation and workforce development space. It will be located on 25 acres of university land a half-mile south of campus, at 3100 Ramona Ave.
Additionally, the California Department of Justice is looking to consolidate several statewide programs related to research, science, law enforcement and training on the site with a focus on creating the nation’s leading criminalistics institute.
It would also bring a large-scale test track for autonomous and electric vehicles and lead to the creation of university programs geared toward these emerging technologies, giving students experiences difficult to obtain elsewhere.
The project, which will be built in two phases and cost roughly $620 million, was created in partnership with the mobility center, Sac State, SMUD, UC Davis and the Greater Sacramento Economic Council.
What is the California Mobility Center?
According to the master plan, the mobility center will provide future mobility innovators and industry leaders with access to programs and resources that accelerate the pace of commercialization.
The Environmental Council of Sacramento — a nonprofit corporation with a mission of achieving regional sustainability, livable communities, environmental justice and a healthy environment for Sacramento residents — held a talk Wednesday evening via Zoom with the center’s CEO, Orville Thomas, to discuss how the center will help the region achieve climate goals while also boosting the local economy.
Roughly 30 people from state and local organizations including House Sacramento, Habitat 2020, Sierra Club, SMUD and Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, among others, were in attendance.
Jon Ellison, co-chair of the environmental council’s organizational development committee, asked Thomas how the two organizations could help each other achieve their respective missions as advocates for a “sustainable universe.”
Thomas argued that the center — a public-private collaborative with the goal of accelerating innovation and commercialization of clean mobility technologies — could help achieve the council’s mission by bringing in more companies dedicated to sustainability and environmental justice to the region.
“We want to draw more companies that hire more people that are really revolving around the circular economy, clean energy, clean power and clean transportation,” he emphasized. “We want to make zero emission one of the core tenants of economic development for Sacramento.”
In return, Thomas said the center would ask for community letters of support from the council and local organizations with similar missions and goals, if and when the center submits a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation.
“Just yesterday, we submitted a grant to the National Science Foundation for a 2024 Regional [Innovation] Engines Grant that would be up to $160 million over 10 years,” he highlighted. “Not all those dollars would come to the facility, but a large portion of it would, to help us get the center built.”
The center needs $150 million in funding to start building the facility, which Thomas said has proven difficult due to California’s budget deficit.
Community impact
When speaking about the impact this will have on Sacramento’s disadvantaged communities, Thomas noted that the Ramona site is recognized at the federal level as a Justice 40 disadvantaged community — a government initiative to deliver at least 40% of the overall benefits from certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities — in addition to being recognized by the state as a disadvantaged community.
“The air quality is dangerously high and the educational attainment is too low,” Thomas emphasized. “Even before a shovel hits the dirt, the [mobility center] has focused on providing training opportunities for our [disadvantaged] areas via partnerships with [community-based organizations] to do classes like ‘introduction to green manufacturing,’ ‘zero-emission forklift training and operations certifications,’ and the ‘EVSE Maintenance.’”
Additionally, the center is working with the United Auto Worker’s nonprofit, Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy, on a course for EV battery manufacturing. The nonprofit will use a federal grant to provide training to over 300 people and plans to have partnerships with community-based organizations to “ensure a pipeline of people come from communities that are considered disadvantaged.”
Furthermore, Thomas argued the project would bring in thousands of high-paying jobs to the region either through employment at the center or at the many technology businesses he believes will move to Sacramento because of it.
“Over the next year and a half, we forecast that we will train at least 314 people to be ready to work in the battery manufacturing industry,” he stated. “We have an agreement with Sparkz, who’s building their manufacturing facility in Metro Air Park, that at least 114 people out of that pool will be hired to work at Sparkz.”
Additionally, he noted that the center is meeting with Sac State’s engineering department to learn what students are interested in and what familiarity they have with clean energy and transportation technologies.
This will allow students to submit research proposals that they previously would not have been able to due to a lack of access to a facility like this.
“It allows students a physical space and access to the materials, technology and machinery needed to turn their ideas into the next generation of technology,” Thomas remarked.
Anushka Kalyan, 17, is a Granite Bay High School senior who attended the environmental council meeting with Thomas. She joined the environmental council two years ago because she was motivated to “take action against the climate crisis” she saw impacting people around her.
“Due to extreme heat that was getting worse every summer as well as the fires that we were a few hours away from, I saw the health and vibrancy of my community deteriorating,” she stressed.
Kalyan serves as the environmental justice co-lead for the council and works towards educating other environmental council committees and local nonprofits on environmental justice issues. She noted that the mobility center excites her because it’s working to create a systemic solution to sustainability in the region.
“With the [California Mobility Center], I hope our region can create strong development and create equity, especially with a standardized, system approach that lends a hand to clients in various stages of social impact,” Kalyan said. “As a youth in the climate space, I truly feel empowered by so many different groups bringing out innovative climate solutions in our community.”
It's unclear when the project will break ground — Thomas said that's dependent on how soon the organization reaches its fundraising goal.
“My hope is to have a groundbreaking by the end of the year,” Thomas said. “The construction would be around 2.5 years.”
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