Western Governors’ Association Issues Special Report on Electric Vehicles Roadmap Initiative

This summer, the Western Governors’ Association published a special report outlining an Electric Vehicles Roadmap Initiative, spear-headed by Oregon Governor Brown, the current WGA Chair. The initiative examined opportunities to improve the planning and siting of EV charging infrastructure in western states – a goal shared by State of Oregon agencies and recently highlighted in the Oregon Department of Transportation’s “TEINA” Study.

Throughout 2020, the WGA hosted biweekly work sessions on EV topics like exploring charging station inconsistencies across states, examining utility investment and rate structures, expanding EV fleets in urban and rural areas, and more. Those work sessions helped develop findings and recommendations for western states and the federal government, including supporting multi-state efforts to boost EV adoption, utility roles for grid infrastructure and planning, infrastructure permitting and siting, medium- and heavy-duty EVs and fleets, and economic and workforce development.

In her cover letter for the special report, Governor Brown noted:

“Like any other big idea, EV infrastructure planning and deployment requires continued coordination and shared investment across multiple parties to keep growing efficiently. It was our goal to determine how best to do that. We started with a series of Initiative work sessions that assembled the brightest minds from the public and private sectors, including EV manufacturers, charging station network operators, utilities, and technical and nonprofit experts, and focused on the hard questions of infrastructure, finances, and logistics that affect EV planning…

We all recognize that a robust and efficient transportation sector is key to meeting future economic goals and connecting businesses to regional and international markets. The Electric Vehicles Roadmap Initiative helps create a roadmap to that future.”

Check out the special report on WGA’s website.