Interactive Playbook Helps Communities Boost Electric Vehicle Charging

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Imagine you are a city planner who has received comments about a lack of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in your town. Because you do not have many EV chargers in your community, you wonder how to get input from community members on charger locations, navigate building codes and regulations, and write an effective grant application to acquire the charging infrastructure.

As EV adoption charges forward, local government officials, utilities, sustainability managers, and more want to know the same thing: Where can they find a one-stop shop to plan the public infrastructure needed for a zero-emission transportation system?

Developed by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office), the Public EV Charging Infrastructure Playbook (the Playbook) provides the answer. Designed to help communities plan for their EV charging needs, the Playbook recognizes the reality that most charging happens at homes, workplaces, and other locations within communities.

The Playbook arrives at a crucial time: The Joint Office just announced nearly half a billion dollars in funding from round 1B of the Federal Highway Administration's Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program to fund more than 9,200 public EV charging ports. This massive initiative, in addition to other EV charging grant programs, means communities across the country are now looking for a tool to navigate their projects.

"I think a lot of communities, given the right instructions and tools and information, are ready, prepared, and willing to do this work on their own," said NREL's Kaylyn Bopp, project lead for the Playbook. "This playbook is perfect for that."

The Modules

There are many steps that a local government must take before chargers can be deployed for use by the general public. From planning and community engagement to funding and policies, the Playbook prepares community leaders, local governments, Tribal nations, and decision makers for success.

The Playbook provides interactive resources to help communities plan and build the infrastructure to support EV charging. It contains instructional modules with guidance and best practices for planning, engagement, siting, funding, policies, regulations, procurement, and revenue. Each module contains three components: interactive activities, videos, and additional resources.

"It can be useful for people regardless of where they are in that planning process," said Lauren Reichelt, a project manager for the Playbook. "The Playbook is designed to be an accessible, full-service center that can be tailored to each community's unique needs."

Regardless of whether communities are seeking grants to build out their EV charging infrastructure or are in the final steps before a ribbon cutting, the Playbook is for everyone.

"That's why the modules are great," Bopp said. "For example, some of these communities have done a few steps. With the modules, they're able to see what's missing, fill in the blanks, and pull resources together so they can execute independently."

Equity at Every Step

Disadvantaged communities are historically marginalized by underinvestment and lack of resources and overburdened by pollution. When creating the Playbook, NREL and the Joint Office embedded equity considerations into each module, so that communities can distribute benefits in ways that ensure economic opportunity, environmental justice, accessibility, and energy democracy.

"Equity should be incorporated meaningfully throughout the entire process and not thought of as a standalone action that you do one time," Reichelt said. "Because of this, rather than creating a separate equity-themed module, we intentionally designed the Playbook to weave equity throughout each of the modules."

For instance, if a city's sustainability manager went to the Playbook searching for information on procurement, they would find guiding questions, activities, and resources that ensure equity is incorporated throughout each step of the purchasing process.

"We created the Playbook to be an accessible resource to help people get started strategically planning for electric vehicle infrastructure," Reichelt said. "The modular approach allows people to incorporate equity into wherever they are in that process."

Charging Forward

As funding for EV charging infrastructure gains momentum across the nation, communities are embracing the transition to zero-emission transportation. This means efficient, timely, and equitable implementation is more important than ever.

"The Playbook is a win for communities looking to build out the national EV charging network," Bopp said. "Everyone deserves access to clean transportation, and making the Playbook widely available will help accelerate widespread charging access."

Learn more about NREL's sustainable transportation and mobility research and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. And sign up for NREL's quarterly transportation and mobility research newsletter, Sustainable Mobility Matters, to stay current on the latest news.