Electric Vehicles Story Archives - Page 3 of 4 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Electric Vehicles Can Send Power Back To The Grid, Lawmakers Learn

Widespread adoption of EVs in the coming years could change how electric utilities and transmission operators like PJM manage the grid.

A fleet of electric school buses, like the ones now manufactured in South Charleston, can put power back into the grid during the day.

That, said Lory Murphy Lee, manager of regulatory and legislative affairs for the PJM regional transmission operator, means they can contribute to grid stability.

“It’s no longer a one-way street for plug-in electric vehicles,” she said.

Lee, speaking to the joint Energy Committee of the West Virginia legislature, noted that electric vehicles draw a small amount of power from the grid currently.

But widespread adoption of EVs in the coming years could change how electric utilities and transmission operators like PJM manage the grid.

School districts could be winners, especially when their bus fleets are idle over the summer. That’s a peak time for electricity demand.

Three School Districts Selected For EPA Clean Bus Rebates

Boone County will receive the largest EPA rebate, nearly $1.2 million for three buses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the latest round of rebates for clean school buses.

Three West Virginia districts received them.

Boone County will receive the largest EPA rebate, nearly $1.2 million for three buses.

Wirt and Wyoming counties will receive $395,000 each for one bus. All of them will be electric.

The three districts are among nearly 400 nationwide that received more than $900 million in rebates for clean school buses under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The awards will support the purchase of nearly 2,500 buses, 95 percent of them electric.

Districts with large populations of low-income, rural or tribal students were given priority.

Additional awards will be announced in the coming weeks, according to EPA. Funding will also be available for a new round of rebates next year.

The program should provide a boost to Green Power, which began making electric school buses in South Charleston this year. The plant is supposed to produce 40 to 50 buses per month.

EPA Doubles Clean School Bus Rebate Program To Near $1 Billion

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is nearly doubling the original amount for the school bus rebates, announced in May, to $965 million.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expanding its rebate program for clean school buses.

The EPA is nearly doubling the original amount for the school bus rebates, announced in May, to $965 million.

The agency will also make another $1 billion available for school districts in Fiscal Year 2023.

The popular program received 2,000 applications from all 50 states, totaling $4 billion for 12,000 buses.

The agency said 90 percent of those applications were for zero-emissions electric buses like the ones manufactured by GreenPower in South Charleston.

The remaining 10 percent were for buses powered by propane or compressed natural gas.

Last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made the funding available to replace diesel school buses with cleaner ones over the next five years.

W.Va. Company Brings Green Power Industry To The Nation

DC America is a start-up electric charging station manufacturer out of Milton, West Virginia.

The company’s president, Nathan Bowen, said a local electric firm and general construction firm partnered to build American made charging stations for the country’s planned electric powered car and truck expansion.

“We’ll install the stations. But we’ll also sell and ship to others across the country,” Bowen said. “If they have local contractors, they can install them themselves. We’ve got licenses all across the United States.”

Bowen said the stations use technology that limits underground disturbance and single point connection cuts installation time from weeks to days.

“Typically, a large DC fast charging station might take six to 10 weeks to construct,” Bowen said. “We can do this in our manufacturing facility, bring it out to the site, and then have it rapidly deployed. Within a day or two, you’ve got a working charging station.”

Bowen says DC America’s sales force is lining up advance orders statewide, and nationally, for patent pending delivery in 2023 — orders that include the electric powered fleet charging market.

”They have large trucks,” Bowen said. “There’s a lot of demand in those industries to go towards electrification just because of the cost of electricity. It’s a lot cheaper than running diesel trucks and the cost of maintenance.”

Bowen said the multi-port units cost from $1 to $1.5 million depending on location and utility availability.

West Virginia is committed to having electric vehicle charging stations along all its interstates within five years.

Justice, State And Local Leaders Dedicate Green Power Bus Factory

The company will assemble 40 to 50 school buses a month in South Charleston. Some of them will be purchased by school districts in the state.

Gov. Jim Justice and state and local officials dedicated a plant in South Charleston that will make electric school buses.

A heavy rain Tuesday morning didn’t discourage the governor from taking one of the school buses, called the Beast, on a short test drive.

“They gave me the opportunity to drive this wonderful, wonderful bus,” he said. “And I wanted to take it for a spin and go around you all and go out there somewhere and turn back.”

Justice didn’t get to do that. But he did praise state and local leaders for bringing Green Power to West Virginia.

The company will assemble 40 to 50 school buses a month in South Charleston. Some of them will be purchased by school districts in the state.

Justice and other state leaders said companies like Green Power will help keep young people from moving away. And transport students to school safely, with zero emissions.

W.Va. Electric Vehicle Charging Station Plan Revealed

All 50 states will work under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding and deployment plan. West Virginia will receive $47.5 million over five years to complete two phases to build out charging stations and help set up related businesses and jobs.

Last Thursday, the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) submitted its preliminary plan of proposed locations of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to the federal government.

Phase 1 establishes federally required charging stations on what are being dubbed the nation’s Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs). Those include West Virginia Interstates 64,77,79, 70, 68 and 81. The plan is to build EV charging stations every 50 miles along the AFCs. Construction is expected to begin in spring of 2023 and be completed in two years. Phase one is designed to assist electric vehicle owners in interstate and regional travel.

As of June of 2022, West Virginia had 14 stations and 28 individual EV ports publicly accessible; these numbers exclude Tesla EV ports because the Tesla network is currently available only to Tesla owners. Overall, the average number of EV ports per station in the state is two. The minimum number of NEVI-program required ports per station along the AFCs is four.

To meet the station spacing requirements of NEVI, stations must have at least four 150KW chargers. Additionally, the stations need to be within one mile of an electric AFC and stations must be spaced no more than 50 miles. Based on these requirements, it is estimated that West Virginia will need at least 12 NEVI-compliant stations.

West Virginia’s Phase 2 comes after the requirements of NEVI’s Phase 1 are met. Phase 2 will focus on community-based charging, and expanding local access to electric vehicle charging. For the entire five-year program, disadvantaged communities and rural areas of the state will be prioritized for EV charging infrastructure. The Justice40 Initiative was created to deliver 40 percent of overall benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy, including sustainable transportation, to disadvantaged communities. Justice40 has a myriad of programs that support this initiative, one of which is the NEVI program. As prioritized both in NEVI guidelines and Justice40, the plan prioritizes charging infrastructure that serves lower-income and disadvantaged communities.

WVDOT has said it will commit at least 40 percent of NEVI program investments to disadvantaged communities. Education is a key component of EV deployment and state transportation leaders say West Virginia’s plan ensures equitable and community based decision-making processes to ensure that chargers are installed to meet the needs of communities that have historically been under-funded and under-invested.

A portion of the West Virginia NEVI program will focus on jobs, skills training, as well as business development investments to develop and train local workers in Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) construction and maintenance.

In 2020, West Virginia ranked number 44 of the 50 states for EV sales. In 2020, electric vehicles sales, including battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) accounted for less than 1 percent of all car sales in the state.

For stations funded as part of Phase 1, the typical standards will be:

• 150-350kW Max Power

• Access to 3 phase 480-volt power (typically 1000 amps, 660 kva)

• Site must include a minimum of four 150kw DCFC ports with Combined Charging System ports (three parking spaces for general use and one parking space with ADA-compliant access)

Additional standards for all stations will include:

• 45-minute charging time limit

• Idle fee after charging is complete/time limit is exceeded

• Safety lighting, restrooms, ADA accessibility

• Standard bollards and charger protection

• Open to the public and accessible 24/7 to both chargers and amenities

• Plug to Charge preferred (payment handles by vehicle when plugging in) but payments by phone/app/card will also be required

• Adequate signage to charger stations

• Spaces marked EV only

• Signs recommending charging to 80 percent

• Vendor required to make usage data per location available to WVDOT as needed

• Signage directing users to charging locations from the AFCs

• Real-time data sharing, including location, charger status, and fees available online.

For stations funded as part of Phase 2, the typical standards will be:

• J1772 Connector (industry standard)

• 6.6kW-19.2kW Max Power for Level II chargers

• 50kW-350kW Max Power for Level III chargers

• Same requirements for number of chargers, signage, markings, payment options, and data sharing as Phase 1

WVDOT says it will focus on meeting the NEVI program requirements and ask for exceptions when deviations are needed to meet unique site, geographic, cost, or other technical conditions

The program’s purpose is to expand access to electric vehicle charging by: • Accelerating equitable adoption of EVs, including for those who cannot reliably charge at home.

• Reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and help put the U.S. on a path to net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.

• Positioning U.S. industries to lead global transportation electrification efforts and help create family-sustaining union jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Additionally, the West Virginia legislature passed House Bill 4797 in June of 2022. It directs the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) to create the EV Infrastructure Development Plan for the State. The plan states:

“…shall take a holistic approach, considering the future charging infrastructure needs of school systems, public transportation, counties and municipalities, and other public and private users.”