Our fourth annual “Transportation Electrification within the Southeast” report unpacks market developments and coverage levers underpinning development in electrical automobile, truck and bus adoption, together with skyrocketing investments in manufacturing and job development.
Stan Cross | September 6, 2023
| Clear Transportation, Electrical Autos, Power Coverage, Utilities
Drive by means of the key inhabitants facilities throughout the Southeast United States immediately, and also you’ll see an growing variety of each electrical autos (EVs) on the roads and charging stations scattered in parking tons. You may see children being picked up by an electrical college bus, or riders hopping on an electrical transit bus to get throughout town. Drive by means of the area’s rural landscapes, and the variety of EVs decreases, whereas huge EV and battery manufacturing websites rise out of fields and forests.
The Southeast’s EV market is advanced and paradoxical. Our area has captured 40% of the nation’s EV meeting, EV components, EV charging infrastructure, battery manufacturing, and battery recycling investments, and 35% of anticipated manufacturing jobs (totaling over 65,000). The Southeast has emerged as an EV and battery manufacturing powerhouse. And, although lagging behind nationwide averages, light-duty passenger EV gross sales grew 50% over the previous twelve months, and charging station deployment grew 66%.
But, the coverage setting stays hostile in lots of states. For instance, Alabama and Georgia have among the nation’s highest EV road-use taxes; Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina restrict or ban EV producers from promoting or servicing their autos on to customers, together with autos manufactured in these states; Georgia legislators imposed a brand new tax on the sale of electrical energy at EV charging stations; and Florida’s Governor vetoed a near-unanimous bipartisan invoice that might have saved taxpayers cash by prioritizing EVs for state and native authorities fleets.
Within the “Transportation Electrification within the Southeast” fourth annual report, the Southern Alliance for Clear Power and Atlas Public Coverage spotlight the information behind these advanced market dynamics to offer context, showcase developments, and highlight actions accelerating or slowing down EV adoption.
Learn the Report Watch the Webinar View State Pages
Manufacturing Employment and Funding
The Southeast has emerged as a number one hub for EV manufacturing and jobs, with anticipated jobs totaling 65,242. Georgia leads the nation in anticipated EV manufacturing jobs, and the Southeast is dwelling to 4 of the highest eight states within the nation—Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Anticipated EV manufacturing jobs within the Southeast grew 56% over the previous 12 months, as manufacturing investments grew 97%. This 12-month development was pushed by Hyundai in Georgia, which dedicated $4.3 billion in battery manufacturing investments in partnership with LG Power Options, and Toyota in North Carolina, which expanded its dedicated battery manufacturing investments to $5.9 billion. With the federal Inflation Discount Act (IRA) injecting billions of {dollars} into America’s clear vitality financial system, the Southeast is well-positioned for continued manufacturing and job development.
EV Market Share and Gross sales
Among the best methods to trace EV market momentum throughout states is to take a look at the market share of light-duty passenger EVs. Market share is the proportion EVs make up of all new automobile gross sales. The development strains for all Southeast states are upward, although at totally different trajectories, and on the similar time each state in our area continues to lag behind the nationwide common. Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina lead the area with market shares in Q2 above 7%, double the place these states had been two years in the past. If that doubling each two years continues, these states would see over 50% EV market share by 2030.
Market share is influenced by demographics (together with the focus of early adopter customers), supportive or undermining public insurance policies, and the presence of electrical utility packages akin to charging station rebates and discounted electrical energy charges. Market share can also be a self-fulfilling prophecy; the extra EVs on the highway and in neighbors’ driveways, the extra customers are uncovered to the know-how and prone to contemplate shopping for one. Plus, for EV charging station corporations, the place the EVs are is the place the enterprise alternative lies, and due to this fact the place infrastructure investments are made, additional supporting EV possession in these areas.
Trying on the uncooked new EV gross sales numbers, the Southeast continues to succeed in new highs. Cumulative new EV gross sales within the Southeast grew 50% from July 2022 to June 2023, from 312,316 autos to 469,602 autos. Although Telsa nonetheless dominates the market, an growing proportion of recent EV gross sales are coming from legacy automakers.
Charging Deployment
Previously 12 months, the Southeast noticed continued progress in deploying EV chargers. Regional DC Quick Charger (DCFC) ports now whole 4,401 after a 60% enhance yr over yr, and the area now boasts 15,036 public Stage 2 charging ports, a 69% enhance yr over yr. Although all Southeast states lag behind common nationwide charging station deployment numbers, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina are all trending in keeping with the nationwide development curve.
This DCFC deployment momentum is important as states put together to launch practically $680 million in Nationwide EV Infrastructure (NEVI) Program funds to scale DCFC each 50 miles alongside the area’s main journey corridors. NEVI comes out of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Invoice (BIL) and represents probably the most important public funding in EV charging ever made. Present momentum signifies elevated readiness of EV infrastructure producers and installers to fulfill the demand NEVI will stimulate.
Utility Investments
Utilities characterize a vital supply of funding for the EV transition by means of direct infrastructure deployment, charger rebates, charging-as-a-service packages, make-ready infrastructure investments, supportive EV electrical energy charges, and funding to help autos akin to electrical college buses. The investor-owned utilities in our area considerably path their nationwide friends in {dollars} per buyer invested in supporting the EV transition: the nationwide common is $75 invested in transportation electrification per buyer, whereas the Southeastern utilities vary from $41 to only $3 per buyer. Our area, which makes up 18% of the nation’s inhabitants, represents simply 7% of all permitted utility investments nationally.
“Drilling down into fairness, the Southeast has seen low ranges of recognized equity-focused investments in transportation electrification from investor-owned utilities. From July 1, 2022, by means of June 2023, round $6 million within the area was permitted for underserved communities, or 10% of all permitted investments inside the previous 12 months. For reference, over the identical interval, 54% of utility transportation electrification filings had been labeled as fairness investments nationally.”
Public Funding
Southeast lawmakers have allotted only a few state {dollars} to help transportation electrification exterior incentive packages to entice companies to find and develop. Nevertheless, states have accessed important federal funding and leveraged VW Settlement funds to allow EV infrastructure deployment and electrical college and transit bus purchases. Over the previous 12 months, the area has accessed federal funds totaling $234 million for electrical transit buses, $172 million for electrical college buses, and $3 million in EV-related analysis and growth grants, and awarded $169 million in VW Settlement funds. The full quantity of federal transportation electrification funding allotted to this point is $741 million, which might be dwarfed over the approaching years if the area is profitable at drawing down the large quantity of funding being made out there by means of a rising listing of BIL and Inflation Discount Act (IRA) packages.
Conclusion
Electrical car gross sales are on the rise, increasing considerably throughout the Southeast. The area continues to guide nationally in new battery manufacturing and EV manufacturing investments, with many new billion-dollar bulletins all through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee. In the meantime, the primary spherical of NEVI and Group Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) grant funding will inject a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for EV charging infrastructure buildout within the Southeast. Different federal funding from BIL and IRA will proceed to drive non-public sector investments in EV, battery, and provide chain manufacturing and jobs, present car tax credit to help shopper and fleet EV purchases, enhance charging station deployments, and extra. However whereas the market and funding alternatives have expanded, supportive insurance policies have but to maintain tempo.
The velocity at which electrical automobile, truck, and bus adoption will develop within the Southeast and the equitable entry to the advantages of the expansion relies upon largely on how the work of policymakers on the state and native stage enhances and enhances investments from business and the federal authorities. Extra motion now will put Southeast residents and fleet operators within the driver’s seat on their approach to improved public well being, a cleaner setting, and a rising financial system.
The Southern Alliance for Clear Power’s Electrify the South program leverages analysis, advocacy, and outreach to speed up the equitable transition to electrical transportation throughout the Southeast. Go to ElectrifytheSouth.org to study extra and join with us.
