Publications

Impact of Electric Vehicle Charging Station Reliability, Resilience, and Location on Electric Vehicle Adoption

8/1/2024

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 directed $7.5 billion towards public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. To ensure that this funding is utilized effectively, public EV chargers must be reliable. Following surveys that demonstrate buyers concern of public EV charging station reliability, this report examines the relationships between EV station reliability, electric grid reliability, and EV adoption, synthesizing the impacts of each to determine what works and what does not work when it comes to EV charger development.

Authors: Bonnie Powell, Caley Johnson

Electric Vehicle Standards – Grid Service Capabilities: Evaluation of IEEE 2030.13, SAE J3072, ISO 15118-2, ISO 15118-20, OCPP, IEC 61850-7-420, IEEE 2030.5, and OpenADR

7/14/2024

This report assesses various vehicle-grid-integration standards and evaluates each standard on its support for electric vehicles (EVs) to provide for or participate in distributed energy resource grid services. The report highlights challenges associated with the deployment of standards and offers context for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies and distributed energy resource (DER) strategies for EVs.

Authors: Francis K. Tuffner

Advancing NEVI: Recommendations from State NEVI Funding Applicants

7/1/2024

This report from the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) offers guidance to future applicants to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding program. NASEO uses information gleaned from candid, in-depth interviews of first-round NEVI awardees to offer seven key recommendations for future NEVI program leads. These recommendations focus on various aspects of the NEVI award process, including how to enhance proposal quality, streamline application reviews, and accelerate the deployment of NEVI-funded stations. The recommendations also come paired with action items to help applicants get their proposals off the ground.

Powering Progress: Advancing Transportation Electrification in Rural Southeastern Communities

7/1/2024

This report follows up on a 2022 Electrification Coalition report, Electric Vehicles (EVs) in Rural Communities, in addressing common roadblocks to transportation electrification in the rural, Southeast U.S. by providing case study examples of how communities have overcome these challenges. As rural communities are particularly susceptible to the effects of oil-dominated transportation systems, examples of successful electrification pathways are critical to wide-reaching EV deployment.

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Trends from the Alternative Fueling Station Locator: Fourth Quarter 2023

7/1/2024

Electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure continues to rapidly change and grow. Using data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fueling Station Locator, this report provides a snapshot of the state of EV charging infrastructure in the United States in the fourth calendar quarter of 2023 by charging level, network, and location. Additionally, this report measures the current state of charging infrastructure compared with a federal infrastructure requirement scenario. This information is intended to help transportation planners, policymakers, researchers, infrastructure developers, and others understand the rapidly changing landscape of EV charging infrastructure. This is the sixteenth report in a series.

Authors: Brown, A.; Cappellucci, J.; Heinrich, A.; Cost, E.

Customer-Focused Key Performance Indicators for Electric Vehicle Charging

6/18/2024

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a rapidly growing portion of the light-duty vehicle market, but their sustained success is closely linked to the reliability and ease-of-use of public EV chargers. To mitigate issues such as long wait times, difficulties starting charging sessions, and slow charging speeds, this report recommends two sets of numerically defined key performance indicators (KPIs) based on customer pain points that will help streamline the switch to EVs. These KPIs target the following: charger access, starting and completing a charge, and charger-related safety and comfort.

Authors: Casey Quinn; Sarah Cardinali; Jason Clifford; Kaleb Houck; Kristi Moriarty

Battery Energy Storage for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

6/1/2024

This help sheet from the Department of Energy Joint Office of Energy and Transportation provides information on how battery energy storage systems can benefit electric vehicle (EV) fast charging infrastructure across the U.S. Specifically, the help sheet provides an overview of battery-buffered fast charging, as well its benefits, risks, and relevant use cases. The help sheet also provides guidance on how to begin implementing battery-buffered fast charging.

Best Practices for EV Carsharing Programs

6/1/2024

Carsharing programs are common throughout the U.S., but few so far have focused on electric vehicles (EVs). Over the past six years, Forth Mobility has developed and trialed several EV carshare programs to identify and better understand the best practices and roadblocks to implementing these programs. This paper shares lessons learned by analyzing the following subject areas: revenue planning; site host, technology platform, and vehicle type selection; educational outreach; marketing strategies; and community organization partnerships.

Authors: Connor Herman

Solar Power + Electric Vehicle Charging: Capturing Synergies in Minnesota

6/1/2024

A suite of aggressive legislation, including a series of solar development commitments, has contributed to Minnesota reducing the carbon intensity of its power sector by 29% over 2013 levels. However, the impact of each sector has not dropped equally. In 2018, the transportation sector overtook power generation as the leading pollution producer statewide. The same focus on solar energy—combined with electric vehicle (EV) use—offers a vital opportunity for Minnesota to decrease transportation pollution. The analysis in this report examines the underdeveloped synthesis between solar production and EV charging, presenting seven key findings paired with relevant recommendations to transform the market and decrease transportation-based pollution.

Authors: Brian Ross; Katelyn Bocklund; Matthew Prorok; Dane McFarlane; Abby Finis

Navigating Options for Transportation Electrification and Solar Charging: Steps and Lessons Learned in Montana Communities

6/1/2024

Drawing on analysis and outreach in three Montana communities (Missoula, Bozeman, and Whitefish), this report provides guidance and best practices for other towns and cities across the country on how to effectively implement electric vehicle (EV) transportation options into their communities. The report incorporates logistical considerations—vehicle types, chargers, electricity generation—and useful strategies—effective stakeholder engagement, coordinating EV charging and renewable energy generation, and more—to cover the technological, economic, and environmental aspects of the transition to EVs.

Authors: Andrew Valainis; Kyla Maki; Chase Jones; Natalie Meyer; Amy Cilimburg

Grid-Constrained Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Sites: Battery-Buffered Options

6/1/2024

America’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network is growing quickly, but many rural regions across the country experience electrical grid restraints that complicate the EV charger build-out. Government agencies must still devise strategies for deploying chargers in these locations where electrical grid capacity is more limited. This technical assistance case study provides guidance on battery-buffered options for EV charging sites with limited grid capacity, including infrastructure solutions, project economics, energy specification methods, technical considerations, and other relevant strategies.

Physical Safety and Security at Electric Vehicle Charging Sites

6/1/2024

As electric vehicle (EV) demand grows, so does the need for more robust EV charger safety and security. EV charger host sites must work to uplift driver and passenger confidence by incorporating design elements that promote greater safety and security. This help sheet outlines various best practices for public EV chargers. While the help sheet indicates the higher monetary costs attributed to greater safety and security measures, it also clarifies the greater repeat customers rates that result from these improvements.

SiLVERS: St. Louis Vehicle Electrification Rides for Seniors Final Report

5/1/2024

Program-specific electric vehicle (EV) use cases can be particularly helpful towards nationwide EV adoption, as they prove EVs can perform as well, if not better, than their internal combustion counterparts. This case study highlights the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from a 3-and-a-half-year pilot program that employed EVs to deliver and transport senior citizens around the St. Louis area. The study demonstrates how electrifying social services not only maintains performance, but simultaneously reduces pollution and saves on operating costs, the latter being a particularly significant factor for programs receiving little funding.

Authors: Connor Herman

Hot Weather Impacts on Battery-Electric Transit Buses

5/1/2024

This help sheet provides information about the impact of hot weather on battery electric buses (BEB) that transit fleets should consider when integrating BEBs into their fleets and a checklist of relative precautions that transit agencies can take during the deployment planning process to ensure optimal performance of BEBs in hot weather.

Powering Seattle Fleets: A Charging Infrastructure Strategy for Battery-Electric Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

5/1/2024

Within the Puget Sound region, transit agencies are positioned to lead in a surge of electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs). Seattle City Light (SCL), the municipal electric utility of Seattle, is responsible for both ensuring sufficient infrastructure and grid capacity to meet the future energy requirements of electrification of these vehicles. This report serves to inform development of the charging infrastructure strategy for the utility through analysis of projected charging infrastructure development and local vehicle data. The analysis resulted in seven broad recommendations for the utility, addressing en-route charging, depot charging, internal operations, and communications with fleets.

Authors: Steimer, H; Allcock, C; Minjares, R; Brito, J; Buysse, C