Powering New Electric Vehicle Mobility Choices Through Utility Collaboration

As the electricity and transportation sectors become increasingly intertwined, it is critical to consider the long-term needs of a sustainable electricity system. The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office) works across offices and with multiple stakeholders, including investor-owned utilities, public power utilities, municipal electric cooperatives, states, communities, and more, to ensure the efficient, effective deployment of grid-friendly zero-emission electric vehicle (EV) charging and refueling infrastructure nationwide.

The Joint Office is engaging with state utility and energy regulators, transportation offices, utilities, and charging companies to bring the full benefit of EVs to the grid. Our current areas of focus include accelerating and automating permitting processes, streamlining equipment energization, enabling smart usage of the right of way (ROW), and supporting innovative approaches to vehicle-grid integration (VGI).

Areas of Focus

The Joint Office has several areas of focus established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Streamlining Permitting

Currently, it can take up to two years for high-powered EV chargers to be connected to the electric grid. Improving the speed and predictability in service timelines will result in lower costs and faster project deployment. Federal funding opportunities are increasing service requests for high-powered EV charging infrastructure, and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s 2022 report Paving the Way: Emerging Best Practices for Electric Vehicle Charger Interconnection identifies slow permitting processes as an obstacle to progress. One major element of the EV charging interconnection process is jurisdictional permitting.

Currently, there are no national standards for EV charging infrastructure permitting. Processes and codes addressing permitting, zoning, building, electrical, safety, and fire standards vary across local jurisdictions. For Level 2 or direct-current (DC) fast EV charging, a developer will generally apply to the local utility to connect to the electric grid, obtain an easement from the property owner, and acquire permits from the authority having jurisdiction. If the authority having jurisdiction has no clear standards, individual staff and zoning board members are left to determine whether applications meet requirements, which can lead to unclear and lengthy processes. In other cases, the authority having jurisdiction may need to create a new permitting process.

To promote faster permitting of commercial electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), the Joint Office is supporting the development and deployment of automated commercial EVSE permitting through the following workstreams:

Reducing Time to Power

Current utility practices lead to an 18-month (and sometime longer) turnaround for high-powered chargers to be connected to the electric grid. Distribution utilities currently lack the tools and internal capabilities to adequately manage large queues and study service requests for high-powered (>50 kW–5 MW) EV charging infrastructure seeking to connect to low-capacity grid networks, without delays or high costs. Due to federal funding opportunities, tax incentives, decarbonization goals, and consumer interest, service requests for high-powered EV charging infrastructure are expected to increase.

Distribution utilities need to implement tools and procedures to efficiently process service applications or risk becoming mired in queue backlogs, hindering the transition to new energy sources and the shift to electric mobility. The Joint Office helped develop the Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) to collaborate with distribution utilities to facilitate the rapid piloting of interconnection and EV service load request queue optimization solutions.

The iQMS program provides $11.2 million in direct funding to solve emerging challenges to integrating the increasing number of nonresidential, mid-scale clean energy projects of 100 kW to 5 MW and EVSE into distribution grid networks. The iQMS program plans to fund up to 25 electric distribution utilities to implement, test, and pilot different approaches to queue management that are aligned with their needs, capabilities, and goals. Electric cooperatives, municipal electric utilities, and investor-owned distribution utilities were eligible to apply. The program, which will take place over 24 months, will enable the adoption of simpler, faster, and fairer queue management solutions and accelerate decarbonizing the nation’s energy system.

• iQMS Demonstration Program - Generator Interconnection (TRACK 1)
• iQMS Demonstration Program - EVSE Load Request (TRACK 2)

Funding award announcements were made in January 2025.

Enhancing Right of Way Uses

Siting Transmission in the Right of Way

Part of the Joint Office’s responsibilities includes studying, planning, and funding for high-voltage DC transmission infrastructure in the ROWs of the Interstate Highway System and constructing high- and/or medium-voltage transmission pilots in the ROWs of the Interstate Highway System.

Transmission development is a complex process involving multiple regulatory authorities. Siting within the transportation ROWs also has requirements that can vary by public or private ownership and state or local jurisdiction. The combination of these two regulatory schemes has resulted in limited examples of successful transmission siting in the ROW.

To facilitate analysis and resolve information gaps between transportation and energy siting perspectives, the Joint Office is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Grid Deployment Office and The Arthur M. Blank Foundation to fund a workshop, Reinventing the Right of Way Policy, Technical, and Economic Implications of Siting Transmission Lines Along Transportation Corridors, through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This workshop will bring together stakeholders from all aspects of transmission siting and planning and ROW siting to identify perspectives from both sectors and highlight areas for possible future collaboration.

Building from the national summit’s learnings, the Joint Office is working with U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe Center and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to create a strategy for actions stakeholders and the federal government can take to support transmission development within the ROW.

New Energy Generation in the Right of Way

The Joint Office exists to help establish and implement programs to promote renewable energy generation, storage, and grid integration, including microgrids, in transportation ROWs.

Many state DOTs have limited bandwidth and expertise to identify areas that might hold the potential for developing energy resources. Most existing development of renewable energy within the ROW has required the state DOT to act as the primary developer of the project by initiating, contracting, and navigating interconnection.

There is potential for state DOTs to financially benefit from the development of resources within the ROW without the responsibility of developing the projects. This initiative will support geographic information system (GIS) analysis to identify areas in ROWs appropriate for the siting of energy resources accounting for the DOT-identified site limitations.

Maximizing Efficiency With Vehicle-Grid Integration

We work to optimize the interaction between EVs and the grid through effective VGI efforts. Rapid changes in technology and policy, as well as influx of funding, highlight the need for decision makers across these sectors to become knowledgeable about a growing array of complex, interdependent topics as they support and influence the switch to electrified transportation.

An initiative through DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office, EVGrid Assist, will accelerate this decision-making to achieve our shared goals. VGI can encompass a variety of technical implementations, including vehicle-to-grid programs that pay vehicle and fleet owners for sending power back to the grid, vehicle-to-home technology that provides resilience during disasters and blackouts, and more.

Managed or “smart” EV chargers in buildings, homes, and charging stations can adjust charging power levels or delay charging sessions. Charging infrastructure may be unidirectional (charges the battery) or bidirectional (can also dispatch electricity from the battery out through the charger to a building or beyond the meter to the grid). Unidirectional chargers can time-shift demand; EV owners who leave their vehicle plugged in at home overnight, for example, will not notice changes in charge timing as long as the vehicle is sufficiently charged in the morning. Bidirectional chargers—called vehicle-to-everything (V2X)—may provide electricity akin to a behind-the-meter battery when an EV is plugged in.

Partners

Energy touches nearly every sector of the economy. We are proud to collaborate with partners across the government and the energy industry to accelerate zero-emission transportation fueling options:

• EVGrid Assist: Accelerating the Transition
• Grid Deployment Office
• Office of Electricity
• Vehicle Technologies Office
• Solar Energy Technologies Office | Department of Energy
• Wind Energy Technologies Office | Department of Energy
• Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange | Department of Energy

We also work closely with utilities and regulatory agencies to ensure they have the resources and information they need to plan effectively for EV charging deployment:

• American Public Power Association
• Edison Electric Institute
• Electric Power Research Institute
• The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
• National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners

Tools and Resources

The Joint Office has developed and collaborated on a variety of resources that can support communities, states, and utilities in installing EV charging. You may find additional relevant resources at EVGrid Assist.

Help Sheets

Help sheets are available to support deploying zero-emission vehicle infrastructure with battery-buffered charging and VGI, among other innovative approaches:

• Battery Energy Storage for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
• Grid-Constrained Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Sites: Battery-Buffered Options

Reports

Expand your knowledge of EV charging requirements, permitting, energy use, and more:

• The 2030 National Charging Network: Estimating U.S. Light-Duty Demand for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure is a quantitative needs assessment for a national charging network capable of supporting the U.S. transition to EVs.
• The Multi-State Transportation Electrification Impact Study: Preparing the Grid for Light-, Medium-, and Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles illuminates the charging network and associated distribution grid infrastructure needed to support increasing plug-in EV adoption in line with requirements from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report finds that managed charging could reduce 30% of utility investments and that EV deployment will result in net consumer benefits, primarily in fuel savings, 2.5 times greater than the incremental costs.
• National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI) Brief for State Public Utility Commissions
• The Public Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Playbook includes resources to get communities started with EV charging planning
• Major Drivers of Long-Term Distribution Transformer Demand
• Distribution Transformer Demand: Understanding Demand Segmentation, Drivers, and Management Through 2050
• EVGrid Assist reports
• EV Charging Infrastructure Energization: An Overview of Approaches for Simplifying and Accelerating Timelines to Processing EV Charging Load Service Requests

Tools

The Joint Office has funded a variety of tools intended to assist with planning for EVSE energization.

Web Tools

• Utility Finder (U-Finder): A networking tool for EV charging infrastructure installation that helps states, communities, and fleets by providing lists of local utility partners and incentives.

Modeling Tools

These resources provide modeling expertise and tools for planning charging locations, designing charging stations, and performing financial analysis:

• Caldera simulation platform: Software from Idaho National Laboratory that models how EV chargers draw power from the grid
• EVI-X modeling suite: A suite of tools from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that informs the planning and development of large-scale EV charging infrastructure deployments—from the regional, state, and national levels to site and facility operations. Tools are available for network planning, including community charging, long-distance driving, and ride sourcing, as well as site design and financial analysis.
  • Electric Vehicle Infrastructure - Locally Optimized Charging Assessment Tool and Estimator (EVI-LOCATE)
• Electric Power Research Institute eRoadMAP
• How Many Transformers Will US Distribution Grid Need by 2050? (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Webinars

The Joint Office has hosted and participated in many webinars highlighting how utilities can advance electrification.

Joint Office Webinars

• Engaging Utilities: Rural Cooperatives Working to Deploy EV Charging focuses on the landscape of rural utilities in transportation electrification, best practices and strategies for building EV charging infrastructure, and how to plan for future transportation needs.
• Utilities, Commissions, and State DOTs: Working Together to Deploy EV Charging gave the perspective of a utility, a public utility commission, and a state DOT working to deploy EV charging infrastructure.

EVGrid Assist Webinars

EVGrid Assist helps stakeholders make actionable progress toward achieving their transportation electrification goals through validated data and tools, technical assistance and capacity building, and shared learnings from real-world experience.

• Developing a Cost-Benefit Analysis Guide for Managed EV Charging
• EV Load Forecasting to Support Vehicle-Grid Integration
• Preparing the Grid for Light-, Medium-, and Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles

See all EVGrid Assist Webinars (DOE).

Events

• Reinventing the Right of Way: Policy, Technical, and Economic Implications of Siting Transmission Lines Along Transportation Corridors (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine)