Currently in the United States, the heavy majority of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales have been in highly conducive, selected, metropolitan areas; opposed to more broad distribution across the country. The U.S. Department of Energy’s EV Everywhere Grand Challenge is looking carefully at the barriers and opportunities that exist to enable small and midsize communities to partake in the PEV market and benefit from the economic and environmental advantages of PEVs. In order to gain insight into these challenges and barriers, DOE selected a success story (i.e., Drive Electric Vermont) as the subject of this case study, as the state of Vermont is tied with Detroit, Michigan in having the highest percentage of 2014 (most recent complete data) PEV registrations for cold weather U.S. cities and has seen more than a six-fold increase in charging stations over the last three years. The overall objective of this case study was to use the lessons learned from Drive Electric Vermont to determine what activities are most effective at encouraging acquisitions of PEVs and deployment of charging infrastructure in small to midsize communities, prioritizing and sequencing their implementation, identifying robust means for extrapolation, and applying this understanding to other small to midsize communities across the nation. The Drive Electric Vermont Program was formed in 2012 with a goal of increasing the use of electrified transportation in Vermont through policy development, education and outreach, and infrastructure development. The Drive Electric Vermont Program can be broadly broken into four components: (1) strategic planning/leadership, (2) stakeholder/partnership development, (3) education and outreach, and (4) incentives. The early phases of the program focused heavily on strategic planning, and stakeholder and partnership development, followed by a transition to education and outreach activities, charging infrastructure development, and grant and incentive programs that support charging infrastructure deployment and PEV purchases. Future plans include an additional round of consumer/dealer PEV incentives, continuation of the marketing campaign, and utilization of consumer surveys to develop new campaign themes and to optimize information distribution channels. In Vermont, the number of PEVs grew from 88 in July 2012 to 1,113 in January 2016, with a high percentage of the PEVs being plug-in hybrids (i.e., 865) versus all electric vehicles (i.e., 248). The most popular PEVs are Toyota’s Prius Plug-in and Ford’s C-Max Energi, which make up a combined 48% of the total PEV ownership in the state. The PEVs are predominantly clustered in four counties: Lamoille, Caledonia, Washington, and Chittenden. There is no evident correlation between community size and PEV penetration; however, over 70% of PEV owners are in communities of 1,000 to 10,000 people. On the other hand, there is a close correlation between where PEVs are registered and where they publically charge. The number of PEV charging stations in Vermont grew from 17 in January 2013 to 111 in January 2016, at a variety of charging venues, including retail, parking (short term and long term), workplace, dealerships, hotels, education, leisure, and hospitals. The vast majority of the charging venues contain Level 2 electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) solely or combined with Level 1 EVSE or direct current fast charging. The average power transferred per charging event for communities across Vermont ranged from 4.8 to 13.8 kWh for direct current fast charging and 1.0 to 11.9 kWh for and Level 2 EVSE. Over half the charging locations offer free charging. For those that do require payment, different pricing models are employed, including monthly memberships, hourly payment (where there is often a higher fee for the first hour followed by a lower hourly fee for the remaining hours), and energy use based on kWh drawn from the EVSE. There is no correlation between pricing models and community size and region, the strongest correlation is by network provider. Charging events across Vermont generally correlate with east-west bands of chargers running from Burlington to Montpelier and in the area of Rutland. A number of critical factors are important to the success of the Drive Electric Vermont Program, including the following: * High-Level State Buy-in: Policymaker support raises visibility, awareness, and helps gain buy-in. * Central Hub and Point of Contact: Stakeholder coordination, one-stop technical support, and communications consistency are essential. Early and Broad Stakeholder Involvement: Support has to come from multiple sources and partnerships that offer different resources and constituencies, and provide expanded reach. * Tracking PEV Registrations: It is essential to track PEV adoption to assess progress to inform project focus and local decision making. * Car Dealerships: It is important to work with auto dealers to ensure they are aware of PEV options and charging infrastructure, and to partner extensively to support their sales, including development of innovative incentive programs. * Utilities: A significant amount of infrastructure is stimulated by grants and utilities buying and coordinating placement of EVSE. * Incentives and Grants: Incentives and grants have played a significant role in the success of PEVs and EVSE in Vermont and can emanate from a variety of public and private sources. * Outreach and Education: A good strategy focuses on the consumer journey of awareness, purchasing, and advocacy, including raising public awareness, getting early adopters on board with new PEV models, and transitioning to early majority consumers. * Vermont Clean Cities: The Clean Cities Coalition in Vermont serves as force multiplier for technical assistance, education and outreach, and incentives. * Vermont Culture and Climate Factors: The unique culture is receptive to PEVs, while contrasting with the challenging climate. The Drive Electric Vermont Program has proven successful in expanding the acceptance and utilization of PEVs in a rural, cold weather environment. PEVs are becoming more mainstream, with fewer barriers to PEV adoption. The timeline to develop a PEV program (similar to Drive Electric Vermont) in other states could be expected to proceed at a similar or faster pace due to greater current knowledge, ability to leverage a broader range of existing resources, and general, much broader PEV availability and consumer awareness than 3 to 4 years ago. (Author/publisher)
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