Electric Vehicles: Key Trends, Issues, and Considerations for State Regulators

Increasing consumer adoption of electric vehicles is providing utilities with an opportunity to increase electricity sales while providing customers with the possibility of lowering emissions and overall vehicle ownership costs compared to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Electric utilities are at different stages of exploring their role in both building EV charging infrastructure and managing grid impacts, including through rate
design and managed charging. As a result,state commissions are being asked to make decisions in this unfamiliar industry, sometimes without direct
legislative guidance. This issue brief provides data about the trends in EV adoption, a synopsis of the types of decisions commissions are facing, and examples of recent state regulatory approaches to EV questions.