Utility Investments in Electric Vehicle Charging
Utility Investments in Electric Vehicle Charging
The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) will not happen if people cannot reliably and conveniently charge their vehicles at affordable costs.
The Clean Transportation for All (CTFA) campaign is at the forefront of advocating for EV-related utility policies that accelerate the EV transition and deliver on the promises of the clean energy economy: lower overall energy bills, more jobs, and cleaner air and water.
Since 2014, CTFA and the Environmental Law Program (ELP) have been at the center of state efforts to build out adequate charging infrastructure. Litigating with allies in Massachusetts and California, we established the foundational principles for electric utilities’ role in building the EV charging infrastructure that we will need.
Over the past decade, our litigation has secured approval from state utility regulators for over $5 billion in utility investments in EV charging and related programs, with one third of that dedicated to equitable investments in communities that are overburdened by pollution or underserved by clean transportation options.
The interactive map below shows the utility investments in EV charging infrastructure, education and outreach efforts, and clean transportation equity programs that we have secured through litigation before state utility commissions from 2014-2023.
State Utility Electric Vehicle Policies
CTFA and ELP also advocate before state utility commissions and other decision makers for changes in utility policies that are needed to support transportation electrification, including:
- Incentives and other means of managing EV charging loads so they do not strain the grid
- EV-specific rates that recognize and compensate EVs for the roles they can play as Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) that support the grid, such as energy storage and vehicle-to-grid power flow, and that resolve potential obstacles, such as mitigation of “demand charges” that can discourage certain EV speed charging
- Reforms that accelerate the interconnection of charging infrastructure
Of particular importance are policies that manage EV charging loads so that EV charging does not occur at times of peak demand on the grid, further straining the grid. Instead, EV demand for electricity can be “dispatchable” – scheduled for times when the grid is under-utilized or when there is an abundance of renewable energy to be absorbed.
Managing EV charging can not only help avoid straining the grid and charging on dirty power, but as reflected in the figure below, doing so can help place downward pressure on customer’s bills, which can more than pay for utility investments in the charging infrastructure itself. This is because the cost of the grid is spread out over higher levels of electricity sales from EV charging in a manner that minimizes new grid investments.
Analysis by Synapse Energy Economics shows that from 2011-2020, utility revenues from EVs outweighed the costs imposed by EVs across the U.S. (7)