$21 million is latest federal windfall for electric cars in Vermont

Vermont is set to receive a windfall of federal funding for electric vehicle charging stations, which could help the state meet its ambitious goal of ramping up its fleet to 170,000 electric vehicles by 2030.

On Tuesday, federal officials announced that the state will receive $21.2 million in federal funding over five years that will support fast-charging stations along “alternative fuel corridors” that are proposed to stretch across the country.

The funding is part of the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, a $5 billion package under the federal infrastructure bill.

It’s hard to say how many charging stations that money will help create, said Patrick Murphy, sustainability and innovations project manager with Vermont’s Agency of Transportation.

The price of charging stations can vary, based on how quickly they charge and where they’re located, but they often cost between $100,000 and $200,000, he told lawmakers in the House Committee on Transportation on Wednesday. Prices are expected to go up because of supply chain problems and skyrocketing demand.

At 40%, transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. With a multistate plan to reduce transportation emissions likely off the table, the state’s Climate Action Plan proposes lowering those emissions through adoption of electric vehicles.

Vermont currently has 548 miles of pending and ready corridors for electric vehicles, according to the US Department of Transportation.

The state is already close to meeting a goal outlined by the Legislature and based on previous federal guidance: to set up charging stations within 50 miles of each other, and within 5 miles of exits on Interstates 91, 89 and 93.

State officials hope to build more redundancy into that network by installing more chargers at each site and less than 50 miles apart, Murphy said.

Vermont is also set to receive money from the American Rescue Plan Act for electric cars. $10 million would go toward “community charging,” where charging stations would be installed at multi-unit dwellings, workplaces and various locations around communities, Murphy said.

An additional $3 million from ARPA has been allocated to help install vehicle chargers at state parks and fishing and wildlife access areas.

No matter the proposed solution, officials say meeting the electric vehicle targets is going to be a big challenge. In 2021, 6,585 electric vehicles were registered in the state, and while that’s a large increase from 2020 — when Vermonters drove around 4,360 electric vehicles — big changes will still be needed to meet the targets.

The state would need roughly 43,000 electric cars on the road by 2025 to meet its first benchmark, Julie Moore, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, told lawmakers in January.

Statewide incentives are available to people in certain income brackets that drive down the purchase price. A person making $50,000 or less can get around $3,000 off a plug-in hybrid or $4,000 off an electric vehicle, Murphy said.

That program began in 2019, and may be the reason Vermont has had an increase in electric vehicle purchases. Around 40% of people purchasing electric cars have used incentives, Murphy said, and of those, 45% have been in a lower-income bracket — making $50,000 or less per year.

In terms of the availability of electric vehicle charging, Vermont is doing well — leading the nation with the number of stations per capita. But Murphy is looking to places like Norway, where people have access to more incentives when they buy electric cars.

“They’re already past 50% of their registered vehicles,” he said. “We’re in the beginning stages here in Vermont.”

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