EV adoption: New tax credits ‘will help to bridge a gap,’ ICF senior fellow says

ICF Climate Center Senior Fellow Stacy Noblet joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the EV charging unit shortage, the state of the EV market, EV adoption, the shortage in EV charging units nationwide, and the outlook for EV adoption.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: The electric vehicle market in the US is rapidly growing as the White House makes aim to have 500,000 public charging units by 2030. But the US faces a long road ahead with the current count of charging units at around 50,000. This according to the Department of Energy. So can the US catch up to power the EV boom?

Let's bring in ICF Climate Center senior fellow Stacey Noblet for our weekly Charging Forward segment brought to you by BMW. Stacey, good to have you on today. Let's start with that mismatch that we've been seeing. There's bold goals on both sides, really, but really at the top of the list here is just EV adoption. It feels like we're kind of getting momentum in that direction because of where energy prices have been. How big is the mismatch when it comes to the infrastructure that's available to power all those cars?

STACY NOBLET: No, it's a great question. And the industry is still learning. After 12 or so years, it's still a relatively nascent industry. And the electric vehicles that first came on the road 10 years ago look very different from what we have today-- a lot longer ranges, battery ranges, adoption, charging patterns where, again, we're still learning so much. And how that informs the exact number of charging stations needed on the road remains to be seen.

Today, there's a lot of focus on charging corridors, long distance trips, enabling consumers and fleets to be able to use electric vehicles similar to what they're used to with gasoline vehicles. But keep in mind that most people do charge at home, at the workplace.

And so that picture of charging infrastructure in terms of numbers and placement is really more of an ecosystem, being able to charge at home on the go and fleet depots and so on. So, again, we're still learning exactly what that means in terms of numbers. But certainly, some gaps to fill because there is definitely not a uniform charging infrastructure across the country at this point.

AKIKO FUJITA: Stacy, we were just showing some of the major cities that have the most charging, and no surprise, LA at the top of that list. But I wonder, when you think about where the biggest void is, where that exists, where the White House, these private companies need to move quickly to get adoption across the board.

And then secondly there, to what extent we are seeing real differences here in where the charging stations are in terms of the neighborhoods. We talk so much about climate equity. There's not a lot of charging stations that aren't outside of these major cities right now.

STACY NOBLET: No, that's absolutely right. And luckily, there's a much stronger focus these days on equitable access to electrified transportation because of the significant benefits-- public health, cost savings for the drivers and the fleet owners. And so you have government agencies at the federal level, state, local, as well as utilities, playing different roles in both seating and-- seating the market and filling those gaps.

In addition to the automakers, the charging providers, with that government infusion of funding, dollars that we've not seen for this industry to date. In addition to the community partners, understanding what needs to happen at the local level to fill those gaps. So, in the long-term, we do want everyone to be able to access these technologies, have access to charging stations.

Both new and pre-owned vehicles are helping with that. We're seeing new tax credits for the used vehicle market, which will help to bridge a gap. And all these players kind of figuring out where they can slot in to build out the network, both at the national level, those corridors that we're talking about with the federal government funding. But it's really the local communities that understand best what needs to happen at their jurisdictions to help make these options more accessible.

AKIKO FUJITA: To what extent is the power grid, the infrastructure there, well equipped to handle this big transition we're seeing to EVs? We've seen a number of extreme weather events, whether that's out west with the heat and fires that led to some rolling blackouts or the threat of rolling blackouts, the hurricanes that just played out over in Florida.

That's raised questions about whether, in fact, you know, EVs are still reliable in that. Can you walk us through how people should be thinking about that? And what's missing in the grid right now to support this kind of demand?

STACY NOBLET: Yeah, absolutely. And similar to the charging infrastructure bill, that it's a very holistic approach for the grid because there are subdivisions. Think about more affluent communities, for example, that there may be local distribution issues if everyone plugs in their EV at the same time.

Across the system, we're not concerned about issues today or even in the near-term because of how EV adoption is ramping up. Because that is paired with utility awareness of what's happening at the grid, starting to understand better the consumer charging patterns and offering things to customers, whether it's passenger vehicles or fleets, to help manage that charging. Because ultimately, electric vehicles are a mobile asset, a distributed asset, and they can actually help balance the grid in the long-term.

So many utilities are taking this opportunity to learn about how their customers are using electric vehicles, partner with their customers to pilot different solutions, and ultimately shift that charging to where the grid needs it the most. So if there is a solar peak, for example, to be able to shift the charging to actually absorb some of that excess or put back in the grid when we get into bidirectional charging, vehicle to grid, some of the technologies that are being tested and even implemented today.

So the awareness is heightened in terms of what needs to happen to solidify the grid and to make it more efficient system across the board. And utilities are in a good position to partner with stakeholders at the government level, private sector to better understand what that looks like.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, fascinating to see all the moving pieces necessary to make this transition. Stacy Noblet, good to have you on today, ICF Climate Center senior fellow.