CASPER, Wyo. — While only a small fraction of Wyoming residents drive electric vehicles, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) sees the build out of electric vehicle infrastructure as important to Wyoming’s second largest industry — tourism.
Wyoming saw about 8.1 million visitors who spent approximately $4 billion in 2021, generating about $243 million in tax revenue for the state that year, according to a preliminary report released in February 2022 prepared by Dean Runyan Associates for the Wyoming Office of Tourism.
On Tuesday, WYDOT held a public meeting in Cheyenne to discuss its draft “Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Strategy” that aims to guide development on not only electric vehicle infrastructure but also the build out of infrastructure to support other alternative fuel transportation options such as hydrogen vehicles. (WYDOT is hosting a series of public meetings to discuss the ZEV Strategy, including one scheduled to be held in Casper from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission Hearing Room at 2211 King Blvd.)
With WYDOT set to receive $23.96 million over the next five years specifically to help build out EV infrastructure, and with billions in other grant funding available nationwide to support the development of alternative transportation infrastructure, WYDOT Director Luke Reiner discussed the agency’s planning at Monday’s meeting.
“Here’s what we know,” Reiner said. “The world is changing and alternate powered vehicles of some sort are already here in this nation.”
Reiner said that WYDOT supports people’s ability to choose what they drive and said that the ZEV Strategy is not designed to push people who prefer diesel- or gasoline-powered vehicles to switch to EVs, but is rather an effort to ensure that the state helps facilitate infrastructure that support the ability of people choosing alternative vehicles to also get around the state.
“It is really important to us because we want people coming to Wyoming,” Reiner said, noting that tourism is the state’s second largest industry.
Reiner emphasized that WYDOT’s ZEV Strategy is not just about electric automobiles, but also about supporting things like hydrogen-powered vehicles and electric aircraft. WYDOT’s Jesse Kirchmeier, who has been leading development of the agency’s new ZEV Strategy, said Monday that hydrogen shows promise as a fuel source for heavy-duty trucks. The U.S. Department of Energy released a study in March that found that by 2030, “nearly half of medium- and heavy-duty trucks will be cheaper to buy, operate, and maintain as zero emissions vehicles than traditional diesel-powered combustion engine vehicles.”
While WYDOT’s draft strategy aims to support transportation options like hydrogen vehicles, the more near-term development on the horizon is how to utilize the $23.96 million in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) federal funding the agency will receive out of the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
That NEVI funding must first go toward building out electric vehicle infrastructure along Interstate 80, I-25 and I-90, with federal requirements that charging stations be built every 50 miles along those corridors before the NEVI funding can be directed toward other travel routes.
However, the NEVI funding is not the only chunk of money available to support EV infrastructure in the state. The state also has about $1.2 million in VW settlement funds allocated toward EV infrastructure, and Reiner said that the proposed strategy is to use that funding to support the build out of EV charging stations along some of the following routes:
- Casper to Shoshoni to Jackson/Cody
- Rock Springs to Jackson
- Buffalo to Cody
- Evanston to Jackson
- Cheyenne to Torrington to Newcastle to Sundance
- Sheridan to Powell to Cody
The state is not planning to directly invest in EV infrastructure using the NEVI funds, the VW settlement funds or any of the other grant funding programs that offer billions nationwide, according to Reiner and Kirchmeier. Rather, WYDOT (and other state agencies it is coordinating with) aims to act as a conduit to match up private businesses and communities with grant funding opportunities that are available.
“The state is not going to install, own or operate any of these fast chargers,” Reiner said, referring to chargers that WYDOT’s draft plan refers to as Level 3 chargers that are capable of charging EVs within times roughly comparable to filling a traditional gas or diesel tank.
Reiner said that the fast charging stations are important to drawing electric tourists to the state and that connecting industry with grant funding is one of the ways WYDOT aims to support that. He added that WYDOT also wants to see the Wyoming Legislature take on electrification of Wyoming roads as an interim topic to discuss questions like establishing alternate transportation taxes equivalent to fuel taxes imposed on gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.
While the NEVI funding will go toward fast charging stations, Reiner noted that the VW settlement funding that is being administered by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality will likely be used primarily to support grants that support Level 2 chargers, chargers that the draft plan says are suited to multifamily dwellings, hotels or businesses. The VW settlement funds may still support some Level 3 charging projects and will likely be available as grants with a 50–50 match required from the receiving entity. The final details on those grants are expected to be released in the summer.
The NEVI grants reimburse up to 80% of EV infrastructure installation as well as operation and maintenance for up to five years. Kirchmeier said that one of the questions WYDOT is thinking about is how to balance providing matches that help businesses and communities pay for operational costs with using the funding to maximize the number of charging stations to be built in the state. The more that the grant funding is used to support operational expenses, the fewer the overall number of charging stations that can be supported.
Kirchmeier noted that WYDOT is planning to seek some exceptions to federal rules requiring stations to be built every 50 miles, since there are remote stretches of interstate where that could prove difficult in Wyoming. As an example, he listed the stretch of I-90 between Buffalo and Gillette, where a new exit would have the be constructed in order to meet the requirement. Other areas where WYDOT may seek exceptions include I-80 between Laramie and Rawlins and I-25 between Casper and Buffalo.
Kirchmeier noted that smaller communities may have difficulty economically supporting an EV charging station over the long haul. He provided some rough math indicating that a Level 3 charging station would need to see about 7–9 customers per day to be financially viable.
If businesses investing in charging stations were to be reimbursed $500,000 out of the available NEVI funding, Kirchmeier said that about 44 total charging stations could be supported. He added that one piece of “good news” is that the utility infrastructure along the three interstate corridors is adequate to support the construction of EV charging stations without any major electrical upgrades needed.
WYDOT is required to submit planning for use of NEVI funding to the federal government by August 1. If the state’s planning is approved, requests for proposals (RFPs) from businesses and communities interested in developing EV infrastructure with support from the grant funding would be issued in September.
Whether those RFPs seek proposals from one entity for all of a particular interstate corridor or whether the multiple entities are allowed to bid to build out a smaller number of stations depends in part on whether the federal government approves Wyoming’s request for exceptions to the 50-mile NEVI rules. Kirchmeier said that if Wyoming is given some exception to those rules, that may allow the state to direct NEVI funding to help build out EV infrastructure to national parks.
If the exceptions are not granted, that means Wyoming would need to see I-80, I-25 and I-90 EV infrastructure fully built out before the NEVI funding could help support efforts aimed at getting tourists to the gates of Yellowstone. Therefore, Kirchmeier said that the RFPs might seek out one entity (or a group of entities working together) to build out EV infrastructure along an entire interstate corridor in order to ensure that happens more quickly as opposed to risking that a full corridor might not be built out under a more piecemeal approach.
While EV adoption is low in Wyoming (there were only 456 electric cars and light trucks registered across the state as of March 2022, according to WYDOT) and some may question why WYDOT is putting energy into EV infrastructure planning, Kirchmeier noted that the NEVI funding must go toward EV infrastructure and cannot be spent on things like road construction or repair. Furthermore, unused NEVI funding would be redirected to other states if Wyoming doesn’t use it.
Kirchmeier said that with the funding available, WYDOT’s planning aims to help ensure that it supports tourism in the state and also to help create jobs associated with the construction of the EV charging stations. He noted also that decisions about which businesses or communities receive NEVI funding through the upcoming RFP process will not be made by WYDOT alone but rather a working group that includes representatives from multiple state agencies.
WYDOT is also planning to hold an industry conference as the planning progresses to bring together various parties interested in investing in the state.
A citizen attending the meeting in Cheyenne on Monday said that he has been driving an EV in Wyoming for years and is glad to see the agency planning around use of the funding to build out EV infrastructure. He said that one way he thinks of driving an EV is as subsidizing the state’s coal industry since charging his car in Wyoming relies on the state’s power grid.
“It is going to make Wyoming much more accessible,” the man said.
Source: Oil city news
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