In a recent letter sent to the White House on March 16, 2021, the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) addressed President Joe Biden, thanking the Administration for its early commitment to crystal-clear advocacy for transportation electrification in the United States. In an explanation following their pledge of support for the Administration’s promotion of electric vehicle (EV) deployment to reach net-zero emissions goals by 2050, ZETA also outlined their recommended roadmap to accelerate the deployment of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).[1]
ZETA summarizes its recommendations, underscores specific needs and changes, including:
Making the 30D tax credit related to light-duty electric vehicle consumer incentives more inclusive.
Establishing a new 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for medium-and heavy-duty vehicles to incentivize commercial electrification.
Highlighting the specific need for reliable charging at multi-unit dwellings, workplaces, and on-street/other municipal locations in response to Biden’s commitment to installing 500,000 EV charging stations nationwide.
Emphasizing the importance of various rebate and incentive programs, tax incentives, and legislation necessary to provide resources to state, local, and tribal entities to install EV infrastructure, drive residential and commercial charging deployments, and support ZEV adoption with a dedicated focus on disadvantaged/underserved communities.
Creating new jobs through increased domestic manufacturing.
Accelerating performance and emissions standards.
Establishing a solid framework for federal leadership on climate-related issues.
(ZETA’s full roadmap to 2030 can be found here.[1])
Fast-forward about two weeks to now, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has introduced the Securing America’s Clean Fuels Infrastructure Act. This bill aims to expand the existing tax credit (Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Investment Tax Credit (30C)) for EV charging infrastructure, explaining that it “isn’t adequate for encouraging greater private investments in clean vehicle refueling infrastructure like electric charging stations and hydrogen refueling stations.”[2]
Co-sponsored by Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), this bill would “expand the 30C tax credit to clearly establish that it can be applied to individual units such as chargers rather than per recharging location,” broaden the “30C ITC maximum for business activists from $30,000 to $200,000 per item,” lengthening it another eight years and applying it to any property that enters service by the end of 2029.[2]
Although it is great to see most United States top automakers now aggressively working toward electrifying their fleets, there still exists a need to finance the transition. In a statement regarding the new legislation, Carper explained, “we need millions more electric and fuel cell vehicles on our roads in the next decade. By bringing down investment costs, our bill will ensure our nation starts building the necessary charging and clean vehicle refueling stations today,” and that “Americans must have far greater access in their communities to electric charging and fuel cell stations.”[2]
Summing it up perfectly, Carper stated, “We can’t have clean vehicles without clean vehicle fueling infrastructure—we must invest in both.”[2]
The Exponential Roadmap Initiative, an organization of innovators, scientists, companies, and NGOs working toward meeting specific emissions goals by 2030, thoroughly discussed the importance of electrification in their 2019-2020 report detailing 36 solutions to halve emissions within the decade. The organization set the scene for transportation transformation over the next ten years, explaining that EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) can reach 100% of new sales by 2030 if growth continues at 32%-50% annually, making it the “biggest immediate opportunity to reduce emissions in the transport sector dramatically.”[3]
Although EVs outperform conventional cars in terms of performance, efficiency, public health, and cost of ownership, the initiative’s report states, “the growth of electric vehicles is likely to accelerate at a time when they are increasingly competitive in terms of purchasing price,” just as Carper explained in his statement. The roadmap also discusses related opportunities such as smart charging and vehicle-to-grid technologies to enhance grid utilization and allow for greater renewable energy integration.[3]
Between ZETA and the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, just two of numerous climate coalitions, one can easily see the diverse portfolio of powerful organizations and entities (see below) pushing for the electrification of our transportation, calling attention to the significance it plays in fighting climate change, avoiding future climate disasters, improving public health, creating jobs, saving money…the benefits go on. As a clean energy company, Livingston Energy Group supports these initiatives and is proud to be a working partner with many companies and organizations sharing similar missions to ours.
References
[1]
Britton, J. (2021, March 16). Clean Transportation Coalition Sends Letter to White House Calling for Robust Electric Vehicle (EV) Incentives. Retrieved from ZETA Zero Emission Transportation Association : https://www.zeta2030.org/news/clean-transportation-coalition-sends-letter-to-white-house-calling-for-robust-electric-vehicle-ev-incentives/
[2]
Budryk, Z. (2021, March 25). Senators introduce bipartisan bill to expand electric vehicle charging tax credit. Retrieved from The Hill: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/544895-senators-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-expand-electric-vehicle?rl=1
[3]
J. Falk, O. Gaffney, A. K. Bhowmik, P. Bergmark, V. Galaz, N. Gaskell, S. Henningsson, M.
Höjer, L. Jacobson, K. Jónás, T. Kåberger, D. Klingenfeld, J. Lenhart, B. Loken, D. Lundén, J. Malmodin, T. Malmqvist, V. Olausson, I. Otto, A. Pearce, E. Pihl, T. Shalit, Exponential Roadmap 1.5.1. Future Earth. Sweden. (January 2020.)
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