PUEBLO OF NAMBÉ – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday applauded a first-of-its-kind partnership between the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and a sovereign pueblo, as the California-based clean energy company has repurposed a defunct casino at Nambé into its first sales, service and delivery center in New Mexico.

The Lujan Grisham administration’s ongoing efforts to decarbonize its transportation infrastructure and expand the accessibility of electric vehicles include:

• Joining New Mexico to the regional and bipartisan REV West initiative, in which eight Western governors collaborate to develop procedures to enhance the adoption of electric vehicles, coordinate on the locations of charging stations and create voluntary minimum standards, all aimed at the creation of an Intermountain West Electric Vehicle Corridor; and
• Committing millions in state funding secured through the Volkwagen Settlement to dozens of projects throughout New Mexico that involve electric vehicles, resulting in emissions reductions and improved electric vehicle infrastructure; and
• Purchasing the first electric vehicles for the state’s Motor Pool and installing 30 publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations at state government campuses across Santa Fe; and
• Launching a rulemaking process for clean car standards that will, by 2022, result in the state’s adoption of stricter emissions rules for new vehicles that will align with the Biden Administration’s commitment to curb transportation-sector pollution and move the United States toward zero-emission vehicles as a means of combating the life-threatening effects of climate change.

“Automakers the world over acknowledge that low-emission and zero-emission vehicles are the future – New Mexico is on board, and has been on board, and the rest of the country is going to get on board, too,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “I welcome any and all good ideas from Tesla and the Pueblo of Nambé about how we can do even more.”

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