In the Matter of a Commission Inquiry into Electric Vehicle Charging and Infrastructure

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) believed that the state’s transportation industry had not significantly reduced its greenhouse-gas emissions, which was impacting the state’s ability to meet its greenhouse-gas-emission-reduction goals. The MPCA and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (the commission) believed that increasing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Minnesota would help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and positively impact the state’s ability to meet its emission-reduction goals and fight climate change. The commission released a document discussing the benefits associated with EV adoption. Among other things, the commission noted that (1) EVs could have positive public-health impacts by reducing pollutants emitted by fossil-fuel-burning vehicles, and (2) EVs could benefit electric ratepayers because increased electricity usage to support EV charging would drive down electricity rates by spreading the utilities’ fixed costs over more kilowatt-hours of usage sold. However, the commission also noted challenges to EV adoption, including (1) insufficient charging infrastructure to support EV use, including a lack of non-home chargers that made EV users nervous about taking long driving trips, as well as electrical-grid impacts from mass EV charging, particularly during peak demand hours, and (2) insufficient consumer awareness of EVs and EV benefits. The commission described these two challenges as related to each other, noting that greater visibility of EV chargers would remind consumers about EVs and help consumers realize that EVs were a reliable and convenient form of transportation. The commission also explained that utilities could design rates that would encourage EV charging during off-peak demand hours and potentially even match encouraged EV charging times with times of maximum wind-power generation, which would reduce the impact of EV charging on the electrical grid and eliminate the need to build new electric-generation or electric-distribution infrastructure. The commission suggested that rate design could also be used to encourage managers of public and private vehicle fleets to switch to EVs. The commission then considered whether utilities had a responsibility to promote EV usage by educating the public and developing charging infrastructure.