Importance of EV Community Readiness

As electric vehicles grow, it is integral for communities to instill readiness planning to be prepared for industry shifts and changes within their jurisdiction. EV readiness topics can include anything from building codes, permitting, resiliency, charging station standardization, environmental justice/equity, and forecasting & goals.  

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DFWCC works with local governments to try to help guide and prepare entities for the growing electrification trends. From a regional perspective, consistent and streamlined local government efforts is integral in driving North Texas as a leader in EV readiness.   

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For more information and resources on EV community readiness, visit the DOE Alternative Fuel Data Center’s page here: https://afdc.energy.gov/pev-readiness.html
 

EV-READY BUILDING CODES & STANDARDS 

Across the United States, cities are planning for EVs by integrating charging infrastructure ready requirements within their building codes and parking requirements. In 2021, The International Code Council (ICC) issued framework to support the implementation of electric vehicles charging, including model code language and building code amendments for multi-family and commercial properties.

DFW Clean Cities and NCTCOG are working to help streamline EV-ready codes across North Texas by working to create a consistent regional EV-code recommendation for local governments.

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EV-Ready Codes can be differentiated by three categories:

• EV-Capable: A dedicated parking space with electrical panel capacity and space for a branch circuit dedicated to the EV parking space that is not less than 40-ampere and 208/240-volt and equipped with raceways, both underground and surface mounted, to enable the future installation of electric vehicle supply equipment. For two adjacent EV-Capable spaces, a single branch circuit is permitted.

• EV- Ready: A designated parking space which is provided with a dedicated branch circuit that is not less than 40-ampere and 208/240-volt assigned for electric vehicle supply equipment terminating in a receptacle or junction box located in close proximity to the proposed location of the EV parking space. For two adjacent EV-Ready spaces, a single branch circuit is permitted.”

• EV-Installed: Installation of a minimum number of Level 2 EV charging stations.

 

Resources:

• International Code Council Electric Vehicles and Building Codes: A Strategy for Greenhouse Gas Reductions Report: https://www.iccsafe.org/wp-content/uploads/21-20604_COMM_EV_Strategy_RPT_v5.pdf

• Pacific Northwest National Lab, Building Energy Codes Page:  https://www.pnnl.gov/building-energy-codes

 

SETTING LONG-RANGE GOALS

Use tools and forecasts to anticipate how many charging stations will be needed to support growing EVs and help guide and better plan for investments and power needs.

Local Example:  The City of Dallas Comprehensive Environmental Climate Action Plan (CECAP) has an EV

Charging goal of 1500 publicly accessible EV charging plugs by 2030. To see more of the CECAP plan, visit here: https://www.dallasclimateaction.com/
 

INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS

To help guide placement, quantity, and types of EV charging infrastructure investments needed into the future, there are various tools and resources available that can be used to.

 

Existing EV and Infrastructure data:

DOE Alternative Fuel Station Locator Tool: https://afdc.energy.gov/stations/#/find/nearest

Use to find how many and what type of EV stations are within your jurisdiction to help identify existing gaps in charging. Currently EVs are less than 1% of all vehicles in North Texas and projections forecast EVs could be over 30% of all vehicles by 2040- this significant industry shift could require more than 75 times the amount of existing infrastructure to accommodate the vehicle electrification shift.

DFW Clean Cities EV registration Tools: https://www.dfwcleancities.org/evnt

Use to find out how many EVs are registered within your jurisdiction. This can help you use different infrastructure needs tools to see how many stations are needed in that specific area to serve the amount of EVs currently residing. However- please note that low EV registration does not mean lesser stations are needed- many times lack of available infrastructure may be the causation of lesser EVs- So concentrate on more of filling geographic gaps than current EV registration.

 

EV Infrastructure Tools:

National Renewable Energy Lab’s National Plug in Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Analysis:  https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2017/09/f36/NationalPlugInElectricVehicleInfrastructureAnalysis_Sept2017.pdf

This report addresses the fundamental question of how much plug-in electric vehicle charging infrastructure is needed to support electric vehicles in the United states. Report states the need of 36 level 2 non residential charging plugs and 1.5 DC Fast Charging (DCFC) non residential charging plugs per 1000 EVs- which can be used in calculating the amount of needed EV charging plugs to support current or projected electric vehicles.
 

EVI Pro Lite: https://afdc.energy.gov/evi-pro-lite

EVI-Pro Lite is a Department of Energy tool for projecting consumer demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure separated out by states or urbanized areas. Quick and very user friendly tool to get a general idea of infrastructure needs and can adjust values including percent drivers with access to home charging and percent plug in versus full battery electric need.
 

E-Drive tool: https://www.mjbradley.com/content/E-DRIVE

The E-DRIVE tool is an online tool to rank the best locations for new DCFC infrastructure using data sources on existing DCFCs from the Alternative Fuels Data Centers, traffic data, ACS demographic data. It is free and available to use here: https://www.mjbradley.com/content/E-DRIVE. As a disclaimer, NCTCOG/DFWCC does not directly endorse this tool, but is sharing it as a resource that can be used customize metrics for scoping areas of highest suitability for DCFC. Entities with GIS support are encouraged to apply additional filters, like transit access, that aren't included in the tool.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE / EQUITY

Work to ensure equitable charging infrastructure investments to help reduce accessibility gaps for environmental justice populations, including low income and minority residents.  Entities can help build out a complete EV charging network accessible both locally and inter-regionally.

To find out more about North Texas Environmental Justice, see the NCTCOG Environmental Justice page here: https://www.nctcog.org/trans/quality/ej