POV: How two recent laws are opening the door to bring EVs to rural America

Electric vehicles, including those designed for heavy-duty industrial work, are finally starting to gain traction in the U.S. Each year, the number of EVs sold rises. Nevertheless, adaptation to EVs in smaller communities across the country has lagged behind their urban counterparts. But that could change due to recent legislation.

At the end of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law. The act’s multiple projects included offering $7.5 billion in funding streams to help pay for the deployment of EV charging stations. The act was encouraging but didn’t address some of the bigger vehicle electrification challenges facing rural consumers and businesses.

Take distances traveled daily, for instance. By their very nature, rural regions require residential and commercial travelers to traverse diverse, widespread landscapes. If these travelers relied on EVs, they’d need to charge their batteries more frequently than they would if their trips were more limited. In other words, so-called “charging deserts” are a direct challenge to the reliability of EVs. Drivers need reliable charging options along their routes to make investing in EVs affordable, efficient, and viable.

This is where the second piece of recent legislation comes into play. In August 2022, President Biden set the Inflation Reduction Act in motion. Unlike the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act focuses heavily on offering financial incentives for rural electric cooperatives to switch to clean energy sources. As a result, many cooperatives are seeing ways to overcome barriers to going green for the benefit of the communities they serve.

Why clean energy is coming to rural communities gradually

Aside from the geographical roadblocks that have made rural businesses and families hesitant to purchase EVs, rural communities have historically dealt with other obstacles to embracing all types of greener energies on a large scale. The first involves all the unknowns around usage needs. Currently, rural community members know what they pay, what they use, and what demands they can expect. Adding EVs into the mix changes all the parameters. How will pricing change for homes and businesses that need to plug their EVs in at night? What will that look like?

Another issue—and perhaps a larger one—boils down to infrastructure. There’s much discussion now about how to update electric grids in rural communities. Many grids aren’t running as effectively as they could because it’s hard to find the resources to make repairs and replacements.

Faced with those concerns, some electric cooperatives are unsure how to make everything work together. Before they take the plunge and electrify their main vehicles or industrial fleets, rural businesses need assurance that they’ll have adequate, dependable, competitively priced ways to “fuel up.”

What’s the answer to unraveling all these complexities and bringing not just EVs but renewable means of producing the electricity they rely upon to rural communities? Below are some thoughts on how to iron out the details:

Plans must be made for new grids to handle dynamic need fluctuations

Until EV sales and usage stabilize, the grid demands will be quite dynamic and unpredictable. Electric cooperatives must begin to anticipate the fluctuating nature and ensure that their grids can handle demand spikes without leading to major power outages.

Investing in AI software and systems can make this process easier and more streamlined. Predictive technology can be leveraged to identify likely electric usage trends and therefore ensure enough electricity is stored and available. AI solutions might also be able to leverage all the “behind the meter” electricity available, such as from businesses that are already producing some electricity internally through solar panels or wind farms.

Money can be sought from inflation reduction act grants

The Inflation Reduction Act offers billions of dollars in grant money for electric cooperatives serving rural constituents. The money can be used for renewable projects, which gives cooperatives the opportunity to get creative. The act also offers direct payments in lieu of tax credits to implement clean and green energy initiatives. These are huge funding streams and considerations to help cooperatives make bolder moves.

Thus far, electric cooperatives and rural communities haven’t always been comfortable with significant industry changes. With the Inflation Reduction Act, their barrier to green energy entry has been lowered. However, innovative thinking will be necessary to produce the infrastructure and reliability necessary to bring EVs—particularly heavy-duty trucks, semis, machinery, and delivery vans—to rural communities.

It’s not a matter of if clean energy and EVs will become part of everyday life. It’s a matter of when. The country as a whole and many individual states have pledged that the future will be green. Yet, breaking away from coal and other nonrenewable electric sources will take time. The good news is that with legislation like the two aforementioned acts, the transition can happen sooner and with less friction.

Chris Shaffner is a senior vice president at CoBank.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90874879/two-recent-laws-bringing-electric-vehicles-to-rural-america?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss