State leaders are considering and implementing strategies to build the charging infrastructure necessary to meet the demand of an increasing number of electric vehicles headed for the roads.
Since the Biden administration spearheaded a series of incentives, legislators in recent years have enacted legislation to put their states in the best position to use billions in federal funding to help build out the charging system.
Their efforts have focused on providing funds to build EV infrastructure, expediting the permitting process, clearing regulatory hurdles and studying the issue, experts said.
Will Drier, a policy manager at the Electrification Coalition, a nonprofit focused on electrifying transportation, likened the federal government’s role to building the national backbone of the infrastructure network, while states aim to remove red tape and help build a network to make everyday EV use more convenient and accessible.
“What the federal government is doing: that is the framework, the base of what we’re all trying to accomplish here,” Drier said. “States have a really important role, and utilities within states too, to be providing complementary policies, programs and support.”
Reflecting EV infrastructure’s prominence as an issue in statehouses, it will be discussed at one of the featured sessions at the National Conference of State Legislatures’s annual legislative summit, which is being held Aug. 5-7 in Louisville, Ky. According to NCSL legislative tracking, 25 states this year introduced 96 bills related to EV charging, including 13 bills signed into law.
Those include a Colorado law to streamline the local government permitting process for EV charging systems; a Maryland law that establishes a study group to develop a framework for reliability and reporting standards for EV charging stations; and a South Dakota law that exempts EV charging stations from being hit with civil fines if they overcharge customers. The latter is designed to prevent, for example, car dealerships and gas stations that have charging infrastructure from being regulated like utilities.
Alexander Laska, deputy director for transportation and innovation at Third Way, a left-leaning think tank, said the Colorado bill is notable because it sets a permitting standard for localities, reflecting a desire for the state to eschew delays in building its system.
“This is really coming from a standpoint of, ‘How can we accelerate the buildout?’” Laska said.
Drier highlighted Michigan, which included $30 million for EV infrastructure in its recently passed budget. That funding is aimed at complementing federal funding by filling gaps in statewide EV infrastructure and aiding commercial fleet electric transitions by supporting the installation of chargers in fleet parking lots, according to the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
Ryan McKinnon, a spokesman for the Charge Ahead Partnership, said state legislatures are also the forum for a fight between the coalition’s members, which include convenience store and gas station owners, and large utilities that want to build, own and operate charging stations.
McKinnon said utilities have an unfair advantage because they can use ratepayer funds to build charging stations. He said gas stations and convenience stores are better positioned near highway exits to offer charging, particularly fast charging.
“The conflict that is taking place in several states is that there are a lot of gas stations and convenience stores that are really well-situated to offer this service,” McKinnon said. “So what the legislative action really boils down to is basically lawmakers telling the power companies that they need to stay in their lane and to focus on generating and distributing electricity and allow the private marketplace to operate the charging stations.”
McKinnon said only five states — Florida, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia — have passed bills in recent years barring utilities from using ratepayer funds for EV charging projects. He said it likely will take a few sessions for more states to join them, given that utilities are typically major lobbying forces in state capitals.
States are also preparing to spend their cut of $5 billion from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program, which will provide funding to all 50 states to deploy EV charging infrastructure along major corridors.
Under the program, states contract with private companies to build a charging network within their borders. Each charging location will have at least four fast chargers; the locations will be no more than 50 miles apart along state-recommended highways; and the locations will be no more than one mile from a freeway exit or highway roadway. A second phase of the program focuses on more community-based infrastructure.
Demand for charging infrastructure is expected to surge thanks in part to federal and state government incentives to buy EV.
In a June 2023 study, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory projected that the U.S. will need 1.2 million public chargers by 2030 to meet charging demand. That includes 182,000 fast chargers, which can fully charge an EV from empty in as little as 20 minutes. The Biden administration has set a goal of building a national network of 500,000 chargers.
However, the pace of the federal program’s rollout has caused concern. The program-funded fast chargers are in only seven states. Rhode Island recently became the first state to complete its entire phase one plan, which consisted of four fast charging stations.
Laska said states are developing their programs at different rates because they each face unique challenges. He said states are also being cautious to ensure that their proposals meet all federal requirements, a process that can take roughly 18 months. But he expects more chargers to come on line in the near future.
“Now we are in a period where we are going to start seeing some acceleration there as the first year of funds gets spent,” Laska said.
This is part of a series of stories previewing the 2024 NCSL Legislative Summit:
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