content type

Interview

primary goal

Educational

summary

In this episode of Transition to Zero, Jared Schnader speaks with Clinton Bench, Director of Fleet and Transit at UCLA, about how the university is turning its campus into a real-world proving ground for transportation innovation. Clinton shares the scale and complexity of UCLA's fleet operations, which include more than a thousand vehicles serving everything from campus transit and passenger movement to specialized logistics like hazardous materials delivery, catering, and trash collection. He also explains how UCLA functions almost like a small city, with tens of thousands of people on campus each day and a transit system that has to serve students, employees, patients, and visitors across a dense, landlocked environment in West Los Angeles.

A major theme of the conversation is UCLA's role as an "innovation laboratory" for electrification and new mobility technology. Clinton discusses how the university has been able to test battery-electric vehicles, share lessons with other universities and transit agencies, and support research partnerships across engineering, urban planning, and public policy. He also highlights progress in accessibility through a fully electrified demand-responsive paratransit system, which has dramatically expanded service for students with disabilities and helped make UCLA more accessible than it was just a few years ago. The discussion makes clear that innovation at UCLA is not just about technology for technology's sake—it's about improving service, inclusion, and operational efficiency at the same time.

The conversation then turns to one of the episode's most exciting topics: UCLA's electrified road charging and mobility hub project, developed with CalStart and Electrion. Clinton explains how the project combines full transit bus electrification, a new mobility hub near the Westwood station, and wireless charging infrastructure that could reduce vehicle battery size, lower capital costs, and create new opportunities for shared charging revenue. He also walks through the practical side of implementation, including authentication, billing, and the use of fleet management systems to track usage and recover costs from internal and external users.

Finally, Clinton describes how the mobility hub will support major regional changes, including the opening of the D Line extension and UCLA's role as the Olympic Village for the 2028 Games, where mobility, shuttles, and access planning will all be critical. keywords

UCLA, campus transportation, electric vehicles, inductive charging, mobility hub, transit innovation, sustainable transit, UCLA Olympics, regional transit, electric fleet

key topics

UCLA campus transportation fleet Electrification of transit vehicles Dynamic inductive charging technology Mobility hub development at UCLA Regional transit improvements and Olympics prep

guest name

Clinton Bench

Titles

UCLA's Electric Fleet and Mobility Innovations Transforming Campus Transit: UCLA's Sustainable Future

sound bites

"Welcome to Transition to Zero, focusing on advanced transportation." "Wireless charging reduces battery size and costs." "Inductive charging can generate revenue and recoup costs."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to UCLA's Fleet Operations 02:27 UCLA's Role as a Living Laboratory for Innovation 05:08 Advancements in Paratransit Services 07:42 Exploring Electrified Roads and Dynamic Charging 10:30 The Mobility Hub and Its Impact on UCLA 12:47 Preparing for the 2028 Olympics at UCLA

resources

Electrion - Dynamic Inductive Charging Technology - https://electrion.com UCLA Transportation Department - https://transportation.ucla.edu LA 2028 Olympics Official Site - https://la28.org

guest links

LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/clintonbench Twitter - https://twitter.com/clintonbench

Transition to Zero

Episodes 20

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