Infrastructure Funding and Policy Considerations for EVs: A Life-Cycle Based Assessment

The influx in adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in light-, medium-, and heavy-duty classes can provide benefits in air quality and public health, and both the public and private sectors are aggressively investing in development and implementation of EVs and charging infrastructure. Recent Federal policy provides manufacturing and consumer incentives to accelerate adoption of EVs leading to a need for state and local transportation agencies to rapidly adjust funding, maintenance, and planning models to incorporate the growing number of EVs. While electric vehicles eliminate tailpipe emissions, they are significantly heavier than internal combustion engine vehicles, with larger vehicles requiring larger batteries to maintain a useful range. These heavier vehicles increase the load on roadway pavements and the shift away from gas- and diesel-powered vehicles leads to accelerating decreases in fuel tax revenue. This project (1) examines infrastructure lifecycles and maintenance studies and assumptions; (2) determines needs to adjust current estimates based on projected increased loads on pavements; (3) examines asset management policies (such as reporting timelines and fix-it-first) and funding policy options (such as weight-mileage-based user fees) and; (4) assesses alternative policies to best support changing needs for roadways due to increasing electric vehicles in the overall fleet; and (5) creates a tool to support state-level decision-makers with incorporating adjusted lifecycle analyses and funding mechanisms to account for a growing share of EVs in the on-road fleet.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $150000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552344813

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Infrastructure Transformation

  Prairie View A&M University
  Prairie View, TX  United States  77446
• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135
• Principal Investigators:

  Kuzio, Jacqueline

• Start Date: 20230901
• Expected Completion Date: 20250831
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
• Source Data: 01-18-TTI

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asset management; Electric vehicles; Financing; Infrastructure; Life cycle analysis
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01893185
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Infrastructure Transformation
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552344813
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 13 2023 2:08PM