Guide change | News center

[ad_1]

Policy Drivers Can policy be an infrastructural catalyst?

Just as fuel efficiency in gas-powered vehicles has improved over time, the range of electric vehicles has also improved, yet the practicality of alternative fuel vehicles continues to play into consumer hesitation in the absence of an infrastructure fully completed. With just under 51,000 public charging stations nationwide, significant gaps remain between metropolitan and rural areas, an issue addressed in Georgia with assistance from the Electric Mobility Innovation Alliance.

Formed by Governor Brian Kemp, who recently reaffirmed his goal of making Georgia the “Electric Mobility Capital of America,” the task force helped the Georgia Department of Transportation prepare a plan to allocate $135 million over five years. The funding, created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), aims to ensure that a charging station is located along every 50-mile alternative fuel corridor, within 1 mile of each exit. Georgia has nearly 1,700 charging stations and 42,500 registered EVs as of September 2022, an increase of 174% from 2014.

Each station has a limited number of ports, however Maryam Saeedifard, a professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is working on a solution. In 2021, Saeedifard and co-author Pengcheng Zhang were awarded a paper 2021 IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics First Place Prize for their research on integrating wireless power transfers for electric vehicles.

Rich Simmons, principal research engineer and director of research and studies at the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech, has taken a leading role in the launch of the Southeast Electric Transportation Regional Initiative (SETRI). This coalition of automakers, corporations, nonprofits, state agencies and other entities promotes electric vehicle development in the region, which is home to 18 percent of the nation’s population and more than 28 percent of its investment in electric vehicle manufacturing.

Rich Simmons in the Zero Emissions Energy Solutions Lab. Photo by Priya Devarajan

“We are bringing stakeholders together to hear from each other. There is a flow of federal money to accelerate the adoption of EVs,” Simmons said, alluding to the IIJA and the Inflation Reduction Act. “SETRI’s role has been to help users understand how to get money and how to partner with other organizations to access research like we are doing, to better inform their decisions and ensure that when they spend money, they get a return on their investment.”

The legislation, which also extends the $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles and creates a $4,000 credit for used vehicles, was discussed at length during Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to campus.

[ad_2]