Preparing for an Electric Vehicle Future: How Utilities Can Succeed

With a forecast of 9.6 million electric vehicle (EV) charging ports required by 2030, utilities need to take a proactive approach to preparing for these new loads. By doing so, utilities will maximize benefits and minimize risk leading to improved customer engagement, growing revenue, reduced system impacts, and more. Combining results from an industry survey with personal insights of utility industry experts, the paper delivers recommendations and best practices for improving how utilities should support, plan and deploy EV charging infrastructure. With similar time horizons for realizing large EV deployments and utility infrastructure deployments, the message is clear: all utilities should be preparing today for significant EV penetration. This report was written by members of the Distribution Planning Subcommittee from SEPA’s Electric Vehicle Working Group. It finds that EV adoption presents an opportunity for utilities to increase customer engagement and be seen as a champion of positive change.