Grid challenges are being solved to support America’s EV dominance, say lawmakers, witnesses

Electric vehicles (EVs) will help position the U.S. auto industry and the nation for economic opportunities and global competitiveness if America’s EV sector is supported by a 21st century grid, said witnesses and lawmakers during the July 31 U.S. Senate Budget Committee Hearing, “Charging Ahead: The Future of Electric Vehicles.”

“The grid will need to handle increased demand from electric vehicles, heating and cooling, manufacturing, hydrogen electrolyzing, and energy-gobbling data centers,” said Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). “To meet this demand with clean power requires new and upgraded transmission to deliver that power to consumers. That means smart reforms to our cumbersome and antiquated permitting process.”

Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) did agree on that point, saying the nation struggles to permit federal projects.

“From wind turbines, to transmission lines, to pipelines, to hard rock mines, left-wing environmentalists are holding up the permitting reform needed for the very EV expansion they claim to value,” the senator said. “Legislators must do better.”

But the market transformation is already under way, testified Britta Gross, director of transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), who said there are more than 5.2 million EVs on the road in the United States, with over $5 billion in EV infrastructure being installed or proposed by utilities in recent years.

Jesse Jenkins, an expert on energy systems engineering and climate policy, testified that the U.S. is now in the early stages of “a momentous transition” in the automotive sector, with improvements during the last decade being made in lithium-ion battery technology and electric motors, both of which have made long-range, highly capable, and increasingly affordable EVs a reality.

“Electrifying transportation is… critical to meeting national climate objectives,” Jenkins said. “Switching to electric vehicles and cleaning up our grid is the critical ‘one-two punch’ that will decarbonize transportation.”

To meet U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets by 2030, EV sales should make up about 50 percent of the light-duty vehicle market by that date, up about five-fold from today, said Jenkins, an assistant professor at Princeton University who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment.

All of these EVs and chargers mean more demand for electricity, raising the question of whether the U.S. grid is prepared to handle millions of new EVs, he said, as well as the increasing demand from data centers and AI.

“To ensure that EVs deliver the greatest emissions reductions, the U.S. needs to add substantial new clean electricity generating capacity,” said Jenkins. “Sustaining existing federal policies to support renewable electricity deployment and retain — and uprate — nuclear power plants are thus paramount, as are efforts to reform permitting and accelerate the construction of U.S. high voltage transmission networks.”

Jenkins added that it’s also critical for Congress to continue providing incentives for EV owners to participate in managed charging programs or “smart charging” programs that smooth out the aggregate demand EV chargers put on the grid at any one time.

“By charging during periods when distribution networks have ample spare capacity and electricity prices are lower,” he said, “EV owners should also enjoy significantly lower costs to fuel their vehicles.”

However, several Republican committee members voiced disdain for government incentives, with some calling for them to be removed.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), for example, said government subsidies for automakers and consumers should be ended if there’s decent consumer demand. “End them,” he said. “Stop incentivizing and let the market dictate demand. The government can’t afford it.”

EPRI’s Gross said there has to be a clear understanding of the marketplace, which she said requires ongoing multi-faceted expertise and the ability to support a rapidly changing landscape while keeping rates low, the grid reliable and resilient, and supporting individual and fleet customers.

“The electrification of the transportation sector is challenging from a grid perspective, given both the size of this load, the shorter lead-times, and the fact that cars, buses, and trucks are mobile, which means this load can appear just about anywhere on the grid,” she said, adding that the 5.2 million EVs on America’s roadways have added roughly 18TWh (terawatt-hours) of energy demand that’s largely been unnoticed.

And while fully electrifying the on-road transportation sector will require an estimated 1600 TWhs of energy, Gross said the utility industry is more than capable and already has successfully adapted to this size of load growth at least twice before — once from 1965-1985 and again from 1985-2005.

“That is, in these 20-year periods, the grid has served new load that is approximately equal in size to fully electrifying the transportation sector,” Gross said. “The key is early planning and engagement with the utility industry, as well as industry collaboration across the vehicle manufacturers, fleet operators, and charging property developers.

“If the appropriate investments are enabled, the grid can support this transition,” she added.

Sen. Whitehouse also said that domestic supply chain investments must accelerate, and suggested that smart investments could help the U.S. “take back our economic dominance in clean energy products.”

“We must also find a way to reconcile the surging EV market with a Highway Trust Fund that provides 80 percent of federal highway spending with a majority of its revenue from federal gas taxes,” he said. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which most recently replenished the fund, sunsets in just two years. The clock is ticking on highway infrastructure funding.”

On the flip side, Sen. Grassley said that there are too “many holes in the rapid EV transition fantasy.”

“They include a lack of critical minerals needed to produce EVs, lack of transmission infrastructure needed to support their increased electricity demands, and our current reliance on nefarious countries in the EV supply chain,” he said.

Jenkins said the available technology that exists to coordinate EV charging can help to avoid stressing the grid infrastructure.

“All that is missing are appropriate regulatory reforms to retail rate design, demand response aggregation, and distribution utility remuneration,” he said. “While these reforms are the domain of state utility regulators, Congress could consider measures to incentivize states to undertake these reforms, expand knowledge on best practices across the country, and establish appropriate technical standards for smart charging.”

“The writing is on the wall,” said Whitehouse. “Around the world, the future of personal transportation is electric, independent of whatever the United States decides to do.”

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