Powering Up Minnesota Utility Electric Vehicle Programs

Drive Electric Minnesota and the Clean Energy Resources Team hosted a webinar on August 12 to amplify electric vehicle utility program participation in Minnesota. The webinar included an overview of MNCharging.org, panel discussions with panelists representing utilities and utility partners, and the release of Drive Electric Minnesota’s “Utility Website Toolkit.”

Webinar recap

The webinar opened with Transportation and Fuels Senior Program Manager Katelyn Bocklund sharing information about electric vehicles in Minnesota, including sales growth, market share, and subscription rates for electric vehicle utility programs by large utilities in Minnesota.

Next, Jukka Kukkonen from Shift2Electric provided an overview of http://www.mncharging.org/. The site provides links to all Minnesota utilities so consumers can find information on electric vehicle charging and charging with renewable energy. Other entities, such as car dealerships, can also easily refer customers to learn about programs available to them.

Then, panelists representing different utilities across the state outlined their electric vehicle utility programs. They explained the different promotional strategies they use to educate their customers about their programs, which include tabling at events, purchasing and displaying an electric vehicle at events, and engaging with youth in the community (e.g., reading to children at public libraries about topical books). Utilities encouraged other utilities to educate their customers about electric vehicles to simplify the information and engage with their communities.

Other participants, including the City of Faribault and the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, discussed how they partner with utilities in their work. They stressed that the industry needs to bridge the gap between the consumer and the utility at the dealership, starting with the sales process, to increase transparency. They also encouraged utilities to increase engagement with their communities and partner organizations about electric vehicles. Lastly, they emphasized the influence utilities have in increasing electric vehicle adoption, encouraging them to use it to educate elected officials, property managers, and fleet managers.

At the end of the webinar, Drive Electric Minnesota released its “Utility Website Toolkit,” developed by Minnesota GreenCorps member Chloe Carstensen. Read more about the toolkit and how to access it below.

To watch the webinar, visit the Great Plains Institute’s Transportation & Fuels YouTube page.

Utility Website Toolkit

A recurring theme throughout the webinar was the importance of utilities educating customers and engaging their communities. To assist utilities in providing basic electric vehicle education to their customers, Drive Electric Minnesota developed the “Utility Website Toolkit.” The toolkit includes examples of model utility websites, electric vehicle website content, and different types of incentives utilities can offer that are not rate-specific programs. Utilities can use this toolkit as guidance while creating or updating their web pages to include electric vehicle information.

The website content is tailored for residential customers, but utilities may add a page or section for their commercial customers with applicable utility programs. The content covers basic electric vehicle and charging information for customers. It also includes buying guides and resources for personal research on energy savings and fuel savings when switching to an electric vehicle, as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Screenshot of buying guides and resources hyperlinked in the Utility Website Toolkit.

As seen in Figure 2, both the condensed and full versions prompt utilities to add their experience with electric vehicles and highlight public chargers in their service territory.

Figure 2. Screenshot of different suggestions utilities could add to their EV website.

The final section briefly covers different incentive programs utilities may offer that are not rate programs, such as rebates, an electric vehicle owners club, and a survey. These programs may incentivize customers to switch to an electric vehicle for their next car purchase. Utilities can further incentivize customers by pairing these programs with electric vehicle-specific rates or tariffs.

Conclusion

The “Utility Website Toolkit” is designed to guide utilities through creating or updating their websites to include information about electric vehicles. By adding this information, utilities will help their customers consider electric vehicle adoption and ensure that MNCharging.org continues to be a useful tool.

Download the toolkit below or email us at [email protected] for the Word document.