CARSON CITY –Nevadans who drive electric vehicles enjoy free metered parking, are exempt from vehicle emissions testing, and will be allowed to use carpool lanes once the state’s Department of Transportation inaugurates that program.
These and three other state policies earned Nevada a “C” on a six-state report card, Policies to Promote Electric Vehicles in the Southwest: A State Government Report Card, released on Wednesday, May 15, by the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.
“Due to the state’s leadership, Nevada has made some progress toward more widespread adoption of electric vehicles,” said Will Toor, Director of Transportation at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP). “Policies are important tools for addressing barriers to EV ownership and reaping the benefits of cleaner air and much lower fuelcosts.”
“Because Nevada has some of the cleanest electricity generation in the region, therewould be greater air quality benefits in Nevada than most other states fromstrong state policies that support electric vehicles,“ said Mike Salisbury, Transportation Program Associate at SWEEP and author of the report.
Nevada has another important incentive for plug-in electric vehicle (EV) ownership that isn’t a state policy and thus wasn’t calculated in the report. Nevada Energy (NV Energy), the state’s majority utility, offers discounted electricity rates to residential customers in their Northern and Southern service territories who charge EVs during off-peak hours.
A showcase of what the southwestern states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have done to promote EV ownership, the report provides a snapshot of 23 policies—almost all on the books in at least one Southwestern state—and ranks them in a point system based upon how likely they are to influence consumer purchases of EVs.
Of the other states in the report card ranking, Arizona and Utah received “B-“ grades, Colorado an “A-“, and New Mexico a “C-.“ Wyoming, with no policies, received an “F.”
“The states that got higher grades addressed two key challenges,” said Salisbury. “They passed state tax credits to reduce the initial purchase cost of electric vehicles, and they supported a widespread network of public charging stations to extend the range of EVs.”
Toor said there is more that all southwestern states can do to improve their scores and that the innovative policies in place across the region provide examples ofwhat each state can do to actively support electric vehicles.
“In order to be an A+ state, you need to make a major commitment,” he said. “For instance, California has mandated that 15% of cars sold by 2025 be plug-in electric vehicles, and it has planned highway corridors lined with fast-charging stations.”
Nationalsecurity, air quality, and consumer cost-savings are the major benefits of EV deployment that are listed in the report. Electricity is produced using almost entirely domestic sources of energy, whereas about half the petroleum used for gas vehicles is imported. As power plants switch to cleaner sources of energy such as renewables and natural gas, emissions associated with electric vehicles will be reduced correspondingly. Finally, electric vehicles have low annual operating costs: They can travel the same distance as a gas vehicle at the cost equivalent in Nevada of $1.16 per gallon.
Major auto manufacturers currently offer 17 models of electric passenger vehicles, with eight more models expected to debut in 2014.
The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project is a public interest organization that advances energy efficiency in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
