Virginia’s main electric company received an good greenlight rating from regulators this week, which is good news for anyone looking to reduce their cost of living or their environmental footprint (or both). Dominion will soon start delivering well-designed electric vehicle chargers in order to increase the number of EVs on the road, put money back in all Virginians’ pockets, and reduce air pollution by removing more expensive, polluting vehicles from the road.
Through improved EV-charging access in areas where it is most needed, the approved programs will make driving an EV even simpler. More Virginians will be able to drive vehicles that are more affordable, cleaner, and faster thanks to these more locations for greener electron filling (just dont drive them TOO fast, now).
Ahead, cheaper driving More EV miles driven as a result of Dominions’ newly-approved proposal will result in more money for everyone (and not just for the EV drivers). How?
Compared to inefficient gas engines, EVs are much less expensive to acquire and operate. Instead of spending a lot of money to fill your tank at the pump, you fill it up with much, much cheaper power at the outlet. Think about avoiding the $4 per gallon sign and filling up at home, in your apartment, or in your garage. Customers of Dominion now have much easier access to that less expensive choice.
And switching from the pump to the outlet is not only cost-effective for the driver’s wallet, but also beneficial for all Virginia electric customers: instead of sending billions of Virginian dollars out of the state to pay for dirty, climate-wrecking petroleum imported from the global petro market, Virginia’s EV-fueling dollars stay right here in the Commonwealth. Instead, those new, reduced electric payments—new income that results in lower electricity prices for all—are used to reduce the expense of our state’s electric grid.
If it seems too good to be true that Economics 101 would result in cheaper electric rates by increasing revenue and paying down the fixed cost of our state’s power system, just look at the lowered electric rates region, which has the highest percentage of EVs in the country.
However, EV drivers and non-EV drivers alike can benefit from better grid economics in other ways as well.
Ahead, cleaner driving We all breathe cleaner air as a result of the program that was approved by the Dominions.
Even when accounting for the upstream pollution from any remaining gas and coal plants that fuel them, EVs in Virginia typically emit less than half the pollution compared to the comparably clunky, putt-putt-putt engines of dirty fossil combustion cars. This is because EVs’ direct-drive motors operate (and accelerate!) so efficiently. Every neighborhood will be cleaner as a result of clean EV charging and EV transportation, especially those near busy corridors and already underprivileged areas. Cutting the pollution of any number of Virginia drivers by more than half will eventually add up to be a very large problem, for cleaner air and a safer world, as cars are by far Virginia’s main source of air and climate pollution.
Ahead, faster driving If you want to (safely) find out whether charged-up EVs are faster, you’ll just have to buy one. But let’s just say that once you switch to electric, there’s no turning back.
How the Dominion charging package makes driving in Virginia more affordable, cleaner, and faster. Although modest and constrained in scope, the well-designed programs regulators approved this week start to close significant gaps. These recently installed chargers, together with independent contractors and essential federal EV-charger funding around Virginia, will make it possible to switch Virginia’s dirty, expensive, and yes, faster putt-putt-putt fleet over to clean, affordable, and faster EVs. The three new possibilities for EV drivers in Virginia are as follows:
1) In-home chargers: Dominion now provides residential clients with easy at-home EV charger installations. That is a really logical fundamental: most charging takes place at home. Consider cheap overnight charging while you sleep and while the grid is essentially idle and able to absorb that extra charging demand cheaply (not to mention that extra revenue that in turn lowers rates for all).
Importantly, 10% of those residential chargers will be made free of charge to low-income consumers to increase access to EVs for the less well-off. In the next years, more EVs will be introduced to the more accessible pre-owned market, making charging accessibility crucial.
2) Chargers for usage away from home: Dominion now encourages the installation of EV chargers in frequently visited locations where it is most practical to charge when not at home, such as office buildings, retail malls, gyms, and multi-family apartment buildings. If we want to combat climate change and stop wasting Virginia’s money on non-Virginia petroleum products, we must close the charging gaps in these locations. If people can charge where they work and play, they will be more willing to jump into the warm waters of electric vehicles (EVs) rather than being held back by perceived range anxiety.
Again, there is a logical exemption for these chargers in multi-family housing, communities of color, and low-income neighborhoods to increase accessibility in those traditionally underserved areas. In order for low-cost fuelling to be accessible when EVs enter the used car market in the near future, lower cost fueling must be made available to these significant areas right once.
3. Fleet charging: Dominion now provides turnkey charging stations for fleets, making the switch to cleaner, more affordable electric transportation even simpler for the omnipresent, always-driving, always-polluting delivery trucks and other high-mileage vehicles. Given their lengthy commute times, those fleet owners will not only see considerable operating savings, but we as a whole will also benefit from significantly cleaner air.
WHAT RESULTS FROM THE NEXT TURN More EV charging results in improved air quality and more affordable electricity for all. And this is a promising week if you’re a Dominion customer with a home, a fleet, or business property that you’d like to make more inviting: you may now travel more affordably, more cleanly, and—assuming you pledge to drive safely and within the law—faster.
Initially released on NRDC by Walton Shepherd
Anyone may use it for any purpose with the permission of Featured image Lewis Collard as long as the copyright holder is properly acknowledged.
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