NASEO releases mini guide on EV infrastructure to help state officials with planning, implementation

A new mini guide from the National Council on Electricity Policy will help state officials make decisions on how to plan for and implement an electric vehicle infrastructure, the council said.

The Mini Guide on Transportation Electrification: State-Level Roles and Collaboration among Public Utility Commissions, State Energy Offices, and Departments of Transportation, prepared by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Center for Partnerships & Innovation, the National Association of State Energy Officials, and the America Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, provides state-level officials with insight into lessons learned from recent successes by coordinated efforts in EV infrastructure planning and implementation. The guide calls for increased coordination between state energy offices, state departments of transportation, and public utility commission officials to achieve state energy policies, upgrade transportation corridors, identify equitable charging station placement, and design rates for vehicle charging across the states.

“This guide will be a great resource for state agencies to use as they collaborate on implementing the transportation electrification programs and various IIJA EV-related infrastructure programs,” said NASEO Executive Director David Terry.

The guide includes condensed excerpts from interviews with officials from state energy offices, departments of transportation, and public utility commissions in Florida, Michigan, and Utah. The report identified key themes for success – identifying specific roles for each agency; formal and informal collaborations; and collaborative engagement of public and private sector stakeholders. The council said that working collaboratively across agencies with varying stakeholders will help states anticipate the opportunities and challenges of developing the EV infrastructure.

“The publication of this mini guide is ideally timed for supporting the many states newly navigating the $7.5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program that is supplemental to existing state and utility transportation electrification programs,” said NARUC Executive Director Greg White. “NARUC’s board of directors passed a policy resolution on November 15, 2022, that explicitly seeks to encourage state and federal agencies to collaborate with public utility commissions, and we see this publication as a useful starting point.”