Utilities hold the key to the electric vehicle market

In an effort to reaccelerate the market for electric vehicles, manufacturers have cut prices. But price is not the only barrier that’s preventing millions of households from embracing electric vehicles. Drivers are concerned about the fragile infrastructure underlying EVs, a challenge that can best be resolved not by auto manufacturers but by electric utilities.

Reliability, resilience and simple accessibility are the primary problems plaguing the charging infrastructure upon which EVs depend. For all too many drivers, the initial thrill of owning an electric vehicle turns to frustration when they discover the challenge of recharging on the road. It’s not merely a matter of finding a charging station; it’s finding one that works. Frequently, chargers are damaged and can’t connect properly to vehicles. Some are unable to process payments, and others simply have no power.

The fragmented hodgepodge of vendor-operated charging stations that are supposed to support the shift to electric driving are exacerbating, rather than allaying “range anxiety,” a major reason many Americans are hesitant to buy electric vehicles. One of every five EV drivers complains of being unable to power up when visiting a charging station and two of every five say they are dissatisfied with charging infrastructure. These are issues that the nation’s electric utilities are well positioned to address.

To make the transition to electric vehicles a success, charging stations should be considered an essential service, just like the lines that power our homes. Electric utility companies are dedicated to ensuring that electrons always flow through those lines and that their entire systems, from generation to high-voltage transmission to low-voltage distribution lines, are in good working order. Utilities monitor their assets closely, so if the power goes out, they are aware and work to restore service as rapidly as possible. This is the kind of responsiveness we need for the proper maintenance of charging stations, particularly now when there is still an insufficient number of chargers on the roads.

Electric utilities have served the nation for over a century, and in recent years have become increasingly attentive to their customers’ needs. This experience should be deployed by helping charging station vendors who are struggling to provide good service. Vendors have yet to fully master the harnessing of data from charger monitoring to provide timely communication with customers about problems, and to minimize the time it takes to address those issues. Quite simply, charging companies have been focused on putting steel and concrete in the ground rather than optimizing their services. This is hindering improvements in operations and maintenance needed to support a 200,000 station — and growing — public charging network in the U.S.

Most utilities are already engaged in basic EV-related activities, such as education regarding when and where to charge, and are offering incentives to install charging infrastructure. But they can do much more.

Utilities provide the electrons that charging companies resell and could, as part of their power contract terms and conditions, put in place performance metrics for reliability, safety and technology futureproofing to incentivize charging infrastructure companies to better address customer issues.

Utilities could increase collaboration with EV charging companies, cities and fleets, particularly in sharing data to provide greater transparency of such things as electricity capacity maps, current and projected charging demand, and charger performance. This would enable key stakeholders to plan and build an optimal EV ecosystem, one that can quickly respond, grow and adapt to the changing pressures placed upon it.

Finally, utilities can make a case for operating or even owning charging infrastructure in their territories, whether by supporting low-utilized charging assets that have fallen into disrepair or simply filling in gaps in lower-income and rural areas that the private sector has ignored.

The win-win opportunity for utilities is clear. They can increase revenues through greater EV adoption, and make prudent infrastructure investments that will increase the value of their assets on which they are permitted to earn a regulated rate of return as they help build a reliable, accessible and trusted EV charging network on behalf of their customers.

Inevitably, electric utilities will become more actively engaged in the business of charging vehicles. As more EVs are on the road, power demands will increase dramatically. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), for instance, is planning to have its entire fleet of buses, currently 5,900, electrified by 2040. Charging a fleet that size would require an electricity load equivalent to powering Midtown Manhattan. To accommodate such demand, New York’s electric utilities, including Con Edison and the publicly-owned New York Power Authority and Long Island Power Authority, will need to work closely with the MTA to significantly boost electricity-generating capacity.

Moreover, as electric vehicles become increasingly prevalent, their batteries will become attractive resources for strengthening the electrical grid. Utilities will call on vehicle owners to connect their EVs in order to collectively provide power that can help balance the grid or provide emergency power. Some of the more progressive utilities, such as NV Energy, Rocky Mountain Power, Austin Energy and the utilities serving New York state, are already planning for these eventualities and are demanding they play a stronger role in the build-out of the EV ecosystem.

Our nation’s electric utilities have an essential role to play in the future of driving. Just as they keep the lights on in our homes and business, they can also keep Americans on the road to smooth the transition to fossil-fuel-free driving.

Read the article on Utility Dive.