Electric Vehicles in a Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy

As part of the Great Plains Institute’s work to develop a Midwestern clean fuels policy, we are hosting webinars that focus on clean fuels on the market today and how those industries could benefit from a regional policy. The first two webinars, available to watch below, brought together leading experts to discuss electricity for electric vehicles (EVs) and how a clean fuels policy could drive transportation electrification in the Midwest. Our speakers covered existing clean fuels policies, how the EV industry has benefited from those policies, and how a Midwestern policy would support adoption of EVs for different use cases.  

A few takeaways from the EV-focused webinars:

• A clean fuels policy can significantly increase electric vehicle adoption and charging infrastructure in the Midwest. Additionally, it can support EV adoption for categories including light duty vehicles, EV buses and trucks, and offroad applications.
• Clean fuels policies in other states demonstrate the potential benefits for the electric vehicle industry in the Midwest.
• GPI analysis shows the lower carbon intensities of electricity as a fuel would have important environmental and economic benefits in addition to market potential in a regional clean fuels policy.

As described in our forthcoming Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy 101, “A clean fuels policy is a technology-neutral, performance-based policy that reduces the use of high carbon transportation fuels while providing incentives to deploy lower carbon alternatives such as electricity, hydrogen, and biofuels.” A Midwestern clean fuels policy could be a game-changer when it comes to reducing emissions from the transportation sector, the region’s largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Similar policies are major drivers for transportation electrification in markets like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program.

In the first two webinars, GPI looked at the role of EVs in a potential clean fuels policy. The first webinar covered what a clean fuels policy could look like for the Midwest, how it would specifically benefit the EV industry, how an LCFS has helped grow the EV industry in California, and how market participants have benefited from the California LCFS.

Speakers included:

• Dean Taylor, Plug In America
• Eileen Tutt, Cal-ETC
• Martha D’Andrea, City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation
• Melodee Black, Southern California Edison
• Russ Musgrove, FedEx

Watch the full webinar

The second webinar focused on the lessons learned from California’s LCFS and how a clean fuels policy could be applied to the Midwest. Topics included how EVs and charging stations could generate credits under a clean fuels policy, GPI’s analysis on modeled credit revenues from different scenarios, and how Midwestern companies think a clean fuels policy could support transportation electrification initiatives in the region.

Speakers included:

• Anjali Bains, Fresh Energy
• Campbell Scott, CALSTART
• Jessi Wyatt, Great Plains Institute
• Nick Martin, Xcel Energy
• Tom Van Heeke, General Motors

Watch the full webinar

The Midwestern Clean Fuel Policy industry webinars will continue through early 2021. Future topics include renewable natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel, and others. At each webinar, a fuel-specific case study is released for feedback, laying out the GPI research team’s analysis. If you would like to be on the invitation list and be the first to see the GPI analysis, please contact Hannah Haas.