Contrasting fueling options in East Washington. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
Washington state ranks fourth nationally for electric vehicle ownership, trailing behind much more populous states such as Texas, Florida and California.
And yet Scott Case, CEO of Recurrent, is unimpressed.
“Honestly, it’s shocking that Washington isn’t miles ahead [EV] Acceptance because everything is cheap for us,” said Case, whose startup helps consumers across the country buy used electric vehicles.
Thanks to its hydroelectric power plants, the state has one of the cheapest and most environmentally friendly sources of electricity in the country. At the same time, gas prices in Washington are among the highest in the nation. The region’s largely mild climate is a plus for electric vehicle performance: extreme cold can reduce an electric vehicle’s range, and high temperatures can reduce a battery’s lifespan over time.
“Washington is the best place in the country to own an electric vehicle,” Case said.
And now world leaders are considering introducing significant rebates for EV purchases, a policy that could push Washington’s EV rankings even closer to the top and broaden who can afford zero-emission vehicles. Gov. Jay Inslee included the rebates in his proposed supplementary state budget, which lawmakers will consider during a 60-day legislative session that began this month.
“Washington state’s rebates — if passed — would represent the most generous of the current government EV subsidy enactments,” said Corey Cantor, EV research firm BloombergNEF’s research firm, via email.
“The EV credit used is also high — and predictive given that few states have engaged with this policy to date,” Cantor added.
Washington’s proposed rebates are:
- $7,500 for new electric vehicles
- $5,000 for used vehicles
- $1,000 for zero-emission motorcycles and e-bikes
The rebate would go to households earning $250,000 or less for individual taxpayers or $500,000 for joint taxpayers. It would apply to cars priced under $55,000 or vans, SUVs, and trucks priced under $80,000. Households with incomes less than 60% of the state’s median income would receive an additional $5,000.
The supplemental budget provides $100 million in funding to cover the rebates.
Widespread adoption of electric vehicles is essential for Washington to meet its goal of largely eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. Transportation accounts for nearly half of the state’s carbon footprint, with most of those emissions coming from road vehicles.
“Right now, our state’s primary incentive to purchase zero-emission vehicles comes from a sales tax exemption, but that’s grossly inadequate for the task at hand,” Inslee said at a media event in December. “So we have to improve our game.”
According to the State Department of Licensing, 86,226 electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are registered in Washington. About three quarters are fully battery electric vehicles. The number of these cars on the state’s roads has increased by nearly 200% over the past five years.
When it comes to going electric, “we have the technology. It’s just putting the incentives in the right hands and building the infrastructure,” said Leah Missik, Washington’s transportation policy manager at Climate Solutions, an advocacy group.
Officials in Washington recently passed new rules requiring automakers to continue increasing sales of electric vehicles, trucks and buses.
The proposal included in the supplementary budget would lower the price of electric vehicles for drivers and potentially expand who can buy the vehicles. Right now, that profile is pretty narrow.
The city of Seattle is home to the most electric vehicles in Washington, but per capita data shows a higher concentration of vehicles in relatively affluent, tech-centric cities in the East. The Eastside is such a hub for electric vehicles that satirical news site The Needling just ran a headline: “Bellevue Hit-and-Run Limited to 800 Teslas.” Other top cities in the area include Redmond (Microsoft HQ), Mercer Island , Sammamish and Issaquah.
Bainbridge Island, a scenic community just a ferry ride from Seattle, also scored highly.
Olympia, the state capital, ranks high per capita as the data includes government fleets that have begun electrification. In November, Inslee signed an executive order requiring all of the state’s vehicle fleet to be electric by 2040.
And what kind of electric vehicles are drivers buying in Washington? Tesla, the world’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, is at the top in the state. The cheapest Tesla available — a base version of the Model 3 — is listed by the company at $46,490. No wonder electric vehicles have become concentrated in the region’s affluent communities.
The proposal to give even bigger rebates to low-income residents could help change that. In California, state rebates are credited with helping spur purchases by low- and middle-income consumers.
And more companies are starting to offer lower-priced cars and trucks and a wider range of options — more than double this year compared to last year. Among American automakers, consumers have been so enthusiastic about the Ford F-150 electric pickup that the company is continuing to expand production. General Motors is releasing electrified versions of many of its models, some of which can be seen at the recent CES technology show in Las Vegas. California-based Rivian is on the hook to produce up to 100,000 electric vans for Amazon while also selling high-end pickup trucks to consumers.
“2022 is going to be an interesting year to watch because in many cases electric vehicles are being bought faster than manufacturers can produce them,” BloombergNEF’s Cantor said.
“Thus, increased subsidies can help broaden the potential buyers of EVs,” he added, “although the actual number of EVs sold may be more of a supply-side issue, automakers can manage the chip shortage and other challenges faced by consumers compared to whether the demand for electric vehicles is there in the short term.”
Long-term demand may remain an issue. A recent global study by Deloitte found that 69% of Americans expect their next vehicle to be fossil-fuelled, while just 5% said it would be all-electric. However, a previous Consumer Reports study reported that 71% of drivers were at least interested in buying an electric vehicle.
Many startups and companies in the Pacific Northwest are counting on Drivers to make the change. Dozens of local companies are involved in EV manufacturing, while others support EV infrastructure. A short list includes:
- Bellevue, Washington’s PACCAR, which unveiled its massive Kenworth-branded EV trucks at CES.
- Arcimoto, a publicly traded company in Eugene, Oregon, sells three-wheel, two-seat electric vehicles that are street and highway legal. The market capitalization is around 240 million US dollars.
- Electric Era, a Seattle-based company that makes battery systems for electric vehicle charging stations. Its founders have roots at SpaceX and the company has raised $3 million.
- OpConnect, a Portland, Oregon company that provides electric vehicle charging infrastructure and payment software. According to the Pitchbook, they raised $720,000.
- FlexCharging, a Redmond, Washington company, develops software for off-peak charging of electric vehicles.
In addition to the uncertainty in the supply chain and discounts, other acceptance hurdles remain. In particular, there needs to be more EV infrastructure, including public charging stations and better charging solutions for people living in apartment buildings. Environmental groups advise that improvements and investments in public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure must go hand in hand with the growth of electric vehicles to meet the state’s carbon targets.
Case, who admittedly has a vested interest in the sector, predicts momentum will continue to build. He expects concerns about EV technology and infrastructure to fade and could even be replaced by another fear.
“Nobody,” he said, “wants to be the last to buy a combustion vehicle.”
