Project 2:
Identify and Analyze Policies that Impact the Acceleration of Electric Vehicle Adoption

Objective

This project will examine state and national regulatory policies to determine the impact of such policies and regulations on the long term adoption of electric vehicles. The work will include discussion with Florida utility companies and with existing electric vehicle stakeholder groups. New policies and or regulations will be developed and suggested to the appropriate authorities.

Brief Description

The project's efforts have been to review existing state and national policies and to form a partnership with Drive Electric Florida, a non-profit consortium of approximately 20 organizations (electric utilities, local government, universities, and others). Drive Electric Florida has the objective of advancing the energy, economic, and environmental security of the state of Florida by promoting the growth of electric vehicle ownership and accompanying infrastructure. The group has continued to hold education and policy committee meetings on a regular basis and took the opportunity during National Drive Electric Week (September 13-20, 2015) to host a high profile event in Tallahassee, FL. This research will support the goals of the Electric Vehicle Transportation Center.

Research Results

The results from the past year's efforts have been to review existing state and national policies, to examine, with regard to policy, the implications of the federal gas tax and its growing deficit and to form a partnership with Drive Electric Florida.  Examination of existing national policies have shown two major issues -- the U.S. Department of Energy's Grand Challenge and the federal gas tax deficit.

The DOE Grand Challenge was initiated in 2012 and set an EV plan with targeted technical goals for battery costs, reducing vehicles weight and reducing the cost of drive systems.  It also set goals for public information and education.

The federal gas tax issue is the fact that the gas tax has not been increased since 1993 and the deficit is highway funding is rapidly growing. The two major reasons for the increasing revenue shortfalls are improved automobile mileage efficiency and increased highway construction costs. At present, EVs are not an important factor. The trust fund actions are: (1) increase gas tax, (2) transfer general revenue funds, and (3) cut program costs. EVTC Project 1 has a more complete discussion of the gas tax issue.

At the state level, a variety of concepts have been proposed and adapted with notable policies and/or incentives being implemented in the western states of California, Oregon, and Washington and in the southern state of Georgia. These four states lead in EV utilization efforts.

In Florida, Drive Electric Florida is a non-profit consortium of approximately 20 organizations (electric utilities, local government, universities, other) that has the objective of advancing the energy, economic, and environmental security of the state of Florida by promoting the growth of electric vehicle ownership and accompanying infrastructure. It also supports and accelerates the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in Florida by engaging and educating the public, businesses, and policy-makers; facilitating collaboration; and supporting EV-friendly policy and programs. The group is less than two years old and has a website at www.driveelectricflorida.org. The website has resources under the four headings of Plug-in Vehicle Resources, Workplace Charging Resources, Multi-Dwelling Unit Resources, and Incentives and Policy.

The US Department of Energy and US Department of Transportation are jointly hosting regional workshops to assist state and local transportation agencies interested in promoting the use of alternative vehicle and fuel technologies, in particular Electric Vehicles and EVSE corridor development. The EVTC participated in the workshop that was held in Portland Oregon in July 2015. The summary report provided by the agencies is available on the EVTC website, as is a link to the website established for the project that will serve as a hub for key tools, resources, and presentations.

Drive Electric Florida has continued to hold education and policy committee meetings on a regular basis to consider initiatives to increase awareness of EVs as well as incentives for EV adoption. DEF took the opportunity during National Drive Electric Week (September 12-20, 2015) to host a high profile event in Tallahassee that engaged state legislators and their staff members, as well as state agency representatives, in first hand experiences with a wide variety of electric vehicles. The Florida Senate Transportation Committee Chairman was a key participant and was featured in a video produced during the event, which is available on the EVTC website. The Chairman had also been briefed the previous week by a broad cross section of DEF members on the organization's recommendations for policy options for legislative consideration.

Impacts/Benefits

EVTC has served as the convening organization in Florida for the vetting of policies for the greater deployment of EVs and EVSE. The partnerships that have resulted from support of the DEF have aided the programmatic activities of the EVTC. For example, all of Florida's investor owned utilities and the largest municipal utilities are in contact with the EVTC staff on a regular basis sharing their expertise and insight into steps needed to further develop EV charging infrastructure in Florida and elsewhere.

Participation in the US DOT and DOE EVSE Infrastructure Development workshop series has provided EVTC staff with access to leaders in industry and government who are critical decision-makers in the EVSE planning sector. Continued participation will serve to inform this project as well as other EVTC projects dealing with EVs and Transportation Planning.

Reports

Kettles, C. (2018). Policies that Impact the Acceleration of Electric Vehicle Adoption (FSEC Rep. No. FSEC-CR-2087-18). Cocoa, FL: Florida Solar Energy Center.