The DOT has planned to choose one vendor to build and maintain the first phase of the state’s charging stations, funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Joe Biden.
In July 2023, the DOT said it expected to award a vendor contract in the fourth quarter of 2023 or first quarter of 2024. But now, the DOT says it’s still developing the request for proposal for its phase one procurement strategy.
WV still hasn't developed RFP for electric vehicle infrastructure plan
With spring one week away, a new season is long overdue for progress on West Virginia’s federally funded plan to build out electric vehicle infrastructure.
Perry Keller, DOT chief economic development officer, said the agency is “working to ensure the process is completed correctly and the RFP is consistent with federal and state legislation” in a statement emailed to the Gazette-Mail by agency spokesperson Jake Flatley on Wednesday.
Keller said the DOT hopes to have the procurement finalized in the next few months in a brief follow-up statement to the Gazette-Mail Thursday. Keller said the DOT’s Division of Highways has worked with the state Parkways Authority to develop specifications for charging stations at travel plazas.
Keller did not specify what has prevented the request for proposal from being completed.
The update follows Keller saying at a January 2024 virtual public meeting the agency hoped to have “something out in the next two to three weeks” regarding its procurement process. The DOT had been “collecting” what other states were doing, Keller said.
W.Va. behind other states in EV infrastructure buildout
West Virginia is lagging well behind other states in progress toward an electric vehicle charging station buildout.
WV lags in electric vehicle charger buildout as implementation questions loom
West Virginia transportation officials are lagging behind neighboring states in finding a partner to prepare for an expected seismic shift in how people travel.
In October 2023, Ohio became the first state to break ground on an electric vehicle charging station supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the federal Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Ohio began accepting proposals from companies to install and operate electric vehicle charging stations in October 2022.
Also in October 2023, Kentucky announced a second round of awards for developers to design, build, operate and maintain a statewide electric vehicle station charging network. Gov. Andy Beshear announced five developers were approved to build eight public charging stations.
Neighboring states have placed greater emphasis on vehicle electrification than West Virginia in their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the on-road transportation sector through vehicle electrification and other zero- and low-carbon fuels is the first measure of Virginia’s Priority Climate Action Plan submitted for the competitive Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program established through the Inflation Reduction Act Biden signed into law in 2022.
Maryland’s plan touted the state’s electric vehicle tax credit program providing a one-time excise tax credit up to $3,000 for the purchase or lease of a new zero-emission plug-in electric or fuel cell electric vehicle.
Pennsylvania’s plan highlighted a 2020 memorandum of understanding it signed with 14 other states to advance and accelerate the market for electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles with a goal to ensure 100% of all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales be zero emission vehicles by 2050 with an interim target of 30% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2030
W.Va. has projected demand to exceed federally backed supply
But electric vehicles figured little into the plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions West Virginia submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in March 2024 seeking federal funding for that purpose through the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program.
The West Virginia Office of Energy-submitted plan drew criticism from renewable energy advocates by relying heavily on improving efficiency of existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, and new generation from combined-cycle gas turbine plants and small modular reactor and carbon capture technologies unproven at commercial scale.
The DOT has predicted great demand for a robust electric vehicle infrastructure buildout despite its comparatively slow progress toward one.
The agency said in its buildout plan electric vehicle sales and registrations in West Virginia increased 1,051% and 1,686%, respectively, from 2016 to 2023. The DOT estimates federally funded ports comprise just 10% of the ports West Virginia will need for public charging by 2027.
West Virginia is already in the middle of its allotment of federal funding.
The state was allocated roughly $6.7 million for fiscal year 2022 and $9.7 million for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, with two more $9.7 million allotments expected for fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
West Virginia had 21,600 electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid light-duty vehicles registered in 2022, according to U.S. Department of Energy data. The state had 1,267,500 gasoline-powered light-duty vehicles registered in 2022.
© 2024 The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, W.Va.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
