Policy Actions For Reducing Emissions For Medium- And Heavy-Duty Vehicles In Utah

This document presents several options for policies aimed at reducing harmful emissions from medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) vehicles in Utah, primarily focused on increasing vehicle electrification. Addressing pollution from MHD vehicles will be crucial to improving air quality in the state, especially as the state moves forward with the construction of the Inland Port. The key policy actions laid out in this document focus on leveraging federal funding to create incentives for MHD electric vehicles (EVs), introducing policy options to ensure more MHD EVs are available for sale in Utah, and examining ways the Inland Port can reduce its emissions.…

The Transition to a High-DER Electricity System

Distributed energy resources (DERs)—generation, storage, electric vehicles, and responsive load connected to the distribution system—have the potential to bring a range of benefits to the U.S. electricity system and the customers it serves: demand flexibility, lower greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions, customer choice, competition, rapid innovation, cybersecurity, and enhanced reliability and resilience. Enabling DERs to provide these benefits will require ongoing and significant changes in multiple areas—DER interconnection, distribution and transmission planning, data access and communication, distribution system operations, utility regulation, tariffs, electricity markets— that better integrate DERs into electricity systems (referred to as “DER integration”).

This report proposes …

Schneider Electric Leads the Charge on the Democratization of Energy

Increasing the grid interactivity of facilities is becoming a key enabler for decarbonization as more renewables are onboarded, both at the grid scale and on site, and uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) becomes more widespread (see Verdantix Market Overview: Technologies For Grid-Interactive Buildings). Microgrids form a vital part of the gridinteractive ecosystem, enabling the site-level management of distributed energy resources (DERs) and communication with the grid to optimize energy flows for cost-cutting, decarbonization and energy resiliency. This report analyses Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure offerings and services for microgrid control and management and examines how the firm can support customers adapting to …

Electric Vehicle Sales and the Charging Infrastructure Required Through 2030

Customers continue to purchase EVs in record numbers, and electric companies are working with stakeholders to make the transition to EVs a seamless one for all drivers. Automakers are continuing to respond to customer demand by developing more EV models, including both plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), that are increasingly cost-competitive with their internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is critical to the continued acceleration of EVs. IIJA is the largest investment in infrastructure since the New Deal, and it contains several provisions for electric transportation including up to …

Yes, We Still Need the Electric Vehicle Tax Credit

With consumer interest in electric vehicles (EVs) growing, some have started to question whether we still need policy support to drive demand for these vehicles. The short answer is: yes, absolutely. A consumer tax credit for EVs is still essential for several reasons, and Congress should include an expansion of this credit and other improvements in any clean energy package that moves this year. An improved and expanded credit would make EVs more affordable for lower income Americans, help ensure American workers and manufacturers lead the global transition to EVs, and allow more consumers to reap the economic and air …

Driving Equity: Policy Solutions to Accelerate Electric Vehicle Adoption in Lower-Income Communities

Under Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-79-20, California has adopted a statewide goal of ending the sale of internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2035, in favor of zero-emission vehicles like electric vehicles. But even as battery costs fall and analysts predict long-term price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles, too many electric vehicles remain unaffordable for lower-income Californians to purchase. Furthermore, charging can be inaccessible for some of these residents, undermining the prospects for success.

Without a rapid and ambitious transition to zero-emission vehicles, California will struggle to achieve its broader climate goals. Transportation represents half of California’s statewide …

Transmission Reform Strategy from a Customer Perspective: Optimizing Net Benefits and Procedural Vehicles

Cost-efficient electric transmission planning, development and operations are vital for grid reliability and economic development. Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) have access to ample capital and spend about $20-25 billion per year on transmission in the United States. However, billions of dollars are misallocated annually, which erodes net benefits to consumers and suppresses the development of cleaner and lower-cost energy generation. The problem rests squarely on a regulatory system that is outdated and structurally flawed.

Nevertheless, a rare opportunity to remedy regulatory flaws has emerged. After years of experience and building records on the shortcomings of its transmission policies, FERC recently opened …

Getting North Carolina Ready for Electric Vehicle Charging

Electrification of transportation is exciting and challenging. Market forces are already pushing us in the direction of electric vehicles, but our electric “refueling” infrastructure is lagging. Investments are being made and more are coming in the form of grants, incentives, and substantial federal investments. Our challenge here in North Carolina is to prepare now for this influx of funding, to ensure we are ready for it, and that we use it effectively and efficiently. This guidance document helps the reader understand how to get ready and where to find detailed guides for different aspects of building the new EV charging …

Electric Mobility for All: A Feasibility Study of Electric Transportation Options for Low- to Moderate-Income Residents in Connecticut

Motivated largely by concerns over global greenhouse gas emissions, the transportation sector is focusing increasingly on a transition to zero-emissions vehicles. For this transition to be successful, not only from a climate but also from an equity perspective, specific consideration of low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities is critical.

Residents in these communities often are affected disproportionately by poor air quality, health issues, and lack of quality access to transportation, and therefore stand to benefit the most from reductions in tailpipe emissions. However, these residents are also less likely to benefit from personal EVs because of the current cost premium of …

Development of Guidance for Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure Deployment

The Alliance for Transportation Electrification (“ATE” or the “Alliance”) is pleased to offer these comments in response to the Request for Information posted by the Federal Highway Administration on November 29, 2021 (Federal Register, Vol. 86, No. 226, Page 67783) opening Docket No. FHWA-2021-0022. This proceeding results from passage by Congress of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), or Public Law 117-58 on November 15, 2021, and in particular, the National Electric Vehicle Formula Program (EV Charging Program), providing funding to States to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, …