Over the past few years, states across the country have seen increased consumer adoption of electric vehicles (i.e., vehicles with an electric motor, or EVs), thereby increasing electricity demand from the transportation sec-tor. This change is quickly becoming a trend, which provides utilities with an opportunity to increase electricity sales while providing customers with the possibility of lowering emissions and overall vehicle ownership costs compared to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Electric utilities are at different stages of ex-ploring their role in both building EV charging infrastructure and managing grid impacts, including through rate design and managed charging. As a result, many Public Utility Commissions (PUCs), the state agencies tasked with regulating utilities, are being asked to make decisions in this unfamiliar industry, sometimes without direct legislative guidance.

This issue brief provides data about the trends in EV adoption, a synopsis of the types of decisions Commissions are facing, and examples of recent State regulatory approaches to EV questions.