Full Title: Accelerating Electric Vehicle Adoption
Author(s): Kellen Schefter and Becky Knox
Publisher(s): Edison Electric Institute
Publication Date: February 1, 2018
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Electric vehicles (EVs) make sense for customers and for the nation, but the transition to EVs is in its
early stages and requires supportive policies to overcome barriers to adoption.
– EVs provide environmental, customer, energy grid, and national security benefits. This is due, in
part, to an energy mix that is domestically produced and increasingly clean.
– Transportation electrification has made notable progress, not only in the passenger vehicle
market, but also in a wide variety of commercial applications and non-road uses. While the longterm
trends point toward increased electrification, policy drivers and industry action in the nearterm
will determine the nature and speed of widespread adoption.
Electric companies play an integral role in accelerating transportation electrification in a manner that
provides customer value and efficient integration into the energy grid.
– Customer value: Electric companies are well-suited to expand electrification across multiple
transportation modes and to expand access to EVs for the benefit of customers and
communities. Electric companies can help provide a foundational system of charging
infrastructure that supports the needs of customers, while also supporting a reliable, consistent,
and positive customer experience.
– Grid integration: Electric companies are responsible for integrating transportation load in a
manner that benefits the energy grid and the customers who rely upon it. Electric companies are
well-suited to help manage the transition to electric transportation in an efficient and costeffective
manner.
– Accelerating the transition: Electric companies can help accelerate the transition to electric
transportation and the resulting benefits for customers and society. Electric companies’ existing
relationships with customers allow them to grow familiarity and interest in electric transportation.
Electric companies also can deploy capital to spur the growth of charging infrastructure that is
critical to enabling widespread transportation electrification.
Given the value of EVs and the integral role that electric companies play, policies that enable electric
company involvement and investment in the EV market will result in value to customers, greater access
to EVs for more customers, more efficient use of the energy grid, and an accelerated transition to an
electric transportation future.