Government
Timeline and what to expect: Virginia plans 100% electric vehicle sales by 2035
Electric vehicle registration has increased in Virginia. The state mandate to have 100% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2035 helps drive this trend, but efforts to prepare consumers and infrastructure are just getting started.
By Adrianna Lawrence
People who own electric vehicles often try to help other drivers understand the investment, and benefits.
EV owner Jess Wooten is no exception. Wooten is on his second Tesla Model 3.
“I definitely wanted to be more sustainable with my purchases and I felt that getting an electric vehicle was a great investment,” Wooten said.
He offered to drive a Capital News Service reporter around Richmond to detail his experience owning one.
Wooten estimated he has driven approximately 10,500 miles. “I’ve spent $105 as of today,” he said about his “fuel” cost.
Electric vehicle owners and industry advocates all talk about the savings. After all, the state average for a gallon of regular gas at the beginning of May was $3.39. The national average was $3.58 per gallon, according to AAA.
But, the entry cost to EV ownership can be high for the average consumer, even with federal and state tax credit incentives.
Regardless, EV registration is on the rise in Virginia. There were 55,823 EVs registered in the state as of March 31, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
And there will be many more registered in the next 12 years, due to the state mandate that all new vehicles sold must be electric by 2035. The first checkpoint along the timeline to fulfill that mandate is 35% of all new cars and trucks sold in Virginia with a 2026 model year must be electric.
Lawmakers and citizens are worried about the obstacles along the way to complete the switch.
Virginia legislators passed the Clean Car law in 2021, which was adopted from the California standard. Virginia was the 15th state of 17 to adopt California’s standards, according to the California Air Resources Board. The state applied for an Environmental Protection Agency waiver to expand standards under the federal Clean Air Act.
Transportation is the biggest contributor of air pollution in the state, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. State Democratic lawmakers passed the 2021 legislation along party lines when they had control of the General Assembly.
Republicans recently supported legislation to reverse the law, which takes effect next year.
Lawmakers questioned if the state and consumers are ready to support an EV-only market by 2035. Other concerns included the initial cost to purchase an electric vehicle, continued maintenance cost, if Virginia’s power grid can sustain EV charging stations, and the overall impact on the automotive industry.
Going EV: Cost of ownership
Electric vehicles are usually more expensive than gas-powered cars, according to Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air in California. The average EV price is just over $61,000, according to Kelly Blue Book data from December 2022.
Manufacturers have focused too much on production of luxury EVs, Magavern said. But they will have to market to all consumers soon, especially with the obligation to sell zero-emission cars.
Some manufacturers have already announced affordable EVs coming to the market, Magavern said.
“Ford, Volkswagen — the companies that do tend to cater to every class of buyers, they’ve announced plans to do that,” Magavern said. “The manufacturers are getting better at learning how to make affordable cars.”
The compact sedan Tesla Model 3 is currently the most affordable Tesla offering. It is often compared to the Toyota Corolla in size but the starting price is higher, even with the current EV tax credit, according to manufacturer websites.
Tesla promised a newer entry level model is on the way, and also to reduce EV assembly costs by half, AP news reported.
The five-passenger, hatchback Chevy Bolt starts at $26,500 and is eligible for a tax credit, according to Car and Driver.
Electric vehicles are cheaper than gas-powered cars when consumers take into account the maintenance costs and gas money to power them, according to Magavern.
EV owners and advocates tout the entry level price as comparable to other vehicles, but most lower priced EVs are smaller in size, according to a survey of auto manufacturer websites.
Charging up: Virginia’s power grid
Electric vehicle drivers generally spend the equivalent of $1 per gallon for a complete charge, according to Kate Staples, director of electrification for Dominion Energy.
An EV owner would use about 10 kilowatt hours to charge an electric vehicle, or an estimated monthly 300 kilowatt hours, according to Staples. Drivers would see about a 30% increase in an electric bill, according to Staples.
“While your electric bill might go up, you’re certainly going to be saving in your pocketbook from not having to go to the gas station,” Staples said.
Dominion Energy is the state’s largest public electric utility. Virginia’s electrical grid is currently powered by nuclear, natural gas, renewable energy and some coal and oil, Staples said.
The future grid in 2035 will be able to sustain the demand of more electric vehicles on the road and support the Clean Car law, Staples said.
Dominion is required to regularly file plans every few years on how it will meet Virginia’s power needs in the next 15 to 30 years, Staples said.
“As the needs of our customers grow, we will be planning the grid to serve them,” Staples said.
Dominion Energy is moving toward cleaner cars and a cleaner power grid, regardless of whether or not the law is implemented, Staples said. Dominion aims, in part, to help meet that goal through the Coastal Offshore Wind Project.
Going the distance: How to ‘fuel’ up
An EV can drive 150 to 400 miles on average before it needs to be recharged, according to the Department of Energy, although many drivers plug in daily.
There are three different types of chargers:
‒ Level 1 charging: provides 5 miles of distance per one hour charge
‒ Level 2 charging: provides 25 miles of distance per one hour charge
‒ Level 3, or DC fast charging: charges in approximately 30 minutes for a 100 to 200-plus mile trip
“I actually find that it can be a very pleasant way to take a trip,” Magavern said, when drivers plan accordingly. “You do a lot of charging while you’re eating lunch, for example.”
Virginia continues to roll out more EV chargers across the state, according to Trip Pollard, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Fast chargers will eventually be within 30 miles of 90% of Virginians, Pollard said.
Virginia received incremental federal funding for charging infrastructure that will ultimately exceed $100 million, according to Pollard. The state will receive more funding from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, or NEVI program.
“That’s probably the most significant thing that’s happening right now in Virginia to prepare us,” Pollard said.
Private businesses such as Tesla and Plug In America have already installed charging stations across the state, Pollard said. There are currently 1,142 public charging stations in Virginia, according to the Department of Energy’s fueling locator.
The General Assembly passed legislation in 2018 and 2019 to expand charging infrastructure. Failed lawmaker efforts in the recent session would have empowered localities to require charging stations as part of new, larger developments.
“The entire market is shifting toward more electric vehicles,” Pollard said.
Building the fleet: Manufacturer response
Many major auto manufacturers have promised that 40% to 50% of sales will be electric by 2030. Honda hopes to expand to 100% EV sales by 2040.
General Motors plans to offer a full suite of electric vehicles, including affordable, luxury and trucks, according to Matt Ybarra, GM senior manager for public policy communications.
“GM has laid out its plan to be carbon neutral by 2040 in global products and operations, and plans to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles in leading markets by 2035,” Ybarra stated in email.
About 80% of the assembly process for electric vehicles is similar to gas-powered vehicle production, due to investment in production plants, Ybarra stated.
Seventeen car manufacturers have promised to go electric, some within five years, according to Consumer Reports.
Gas-powered vehicles will still cruise Virginia roads after 2035, but all new sales will cease. Some lawmakers are concerned that residents will look to surrounding states and drive revenue out of Virginia.
Adopting the playbook: What California is doing
California has taken many steps to prepare for the Clean Car standard, Magavern said.
The state currently receives federal tax incentives toward EV purchases. This helps lower the upfront costs associated with electric vehicles, Magavern said. California incentivizes automakers to manufacture electric cars that cost less than $20,275 but only for model years between 2026 through 2028, according to the Associated Press.
Lawmakers established the Virginia Electric Vehicle Rebate Program in 2021, but have not funded the program, according to the state budget. In theory, the program would offer $2,500 rebates for new and used electric models from select state dealers.
California utility companies also offer incentives for charging during off-peak hours. Less electricity is used to charge between midnight and 8 a.m., Magavern said.
“Then that actually helps to spread out the cost of the grid over the 24-hour period,” Magavern said.
Virginia offers something similar through Dominion Energy’s Off-Peak Plan but with a limited 10,000-customer capacity.
Getting to know the EV: ‘Take a test drive’
Other states that implement this standard should educate residents on electric vehicles, and focus on charging infrastructure, Magavern said.
“A great way to do that is by having ride and drives, where people have the experience of driving the car and you know, they can easily be shown how to charge them,” Magavern said.
On a relatively quiet test drive around a loud city, Wooten talked about why he first bought an EV. He switched to a Tesla with tax incentives and credits, Wooten said.
Incentives are a big factor to consider when making the switch. Legislators should push consumers to switch to electric cars, according to Wooten.
Manufacturers should be pushed with deadlines to offer electric options. That requirement is essential, Wooten said.
“I think not everyone will make that push on their own and sometimes some correct legislations or incentives like a tax incentive, I think that’s a great way to encourage people to buy electric vehicles,” Wooten said.
He encouraged drivers to just go test drive one.
“Drive any electric vehicle that you’re curious about and you’ll be surprised because these cars are incredibly quick, they’re fun to drive, you won’t believe how fast they can go,” Wooten said.
Tesla steering wheels can even act as a game controller for video games like Mario Kart while parked, according to Wooten.
He shared it is one of the many reasons he enjoys his electric vehicle.
Business
WATCH: Richmond Region Tourism’s new marketing campaign proves Richmond “speaks for itself”
The campaign will run June 1, 2023, through June 2024, and is expected to reach more than 80 million potential travelers through connected TV in selected markets in the East Coast and southern United States, as well as on social media, digital display ads and out-of-home digital billboards in select markets.
Richmond Region Tourism has launched a new, multi-channel $2 million marketing campaign to inspire travel to the destination. “Speaks for Itself” is a first-of-its-kind campaign for the Richmond Region, targeting potential travelers in East Coast and southern U.S. markets through an unconventional, sound-focused video approach centered around the genuine and authentic character of the region. It also marks a historic opportunity for Richmond Region Tourism to invest more than double its normal budget for tourism marketing.
A 60-second video preview was unveiled to the local hospitality community at Richmond Region Tourism’s 2023 Tourism Awards and Annual Meeting on May 11. The campaign video takes inspiration from popular ASMR content on social media to communicate what it’s like for visitors to experience the Richmond Region – a destination marked by an understated authenticity that even locals find hard to define.
“The Richmond Region speaks to every visitor in different ways,” said Jack Berry, President & CEO of Richmond Region Tourism. “Trying to find a pithy slogan to sum up the region simply wouldn’t do it justice, which is why we’re so excited by this campaign—it provides a platform for local voices and experiences to shine and encourages visitors to take in the many diverse sides of the region.”
The campaign also reflects an effort of community collaboration across the Richmond region. Six jurisdictions including the City of Richmond, Chesterfield County, Hanover County, Henrico County, Colonial Heights and the Town of Ashland contributed funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) via Virginia Tourism Corporation, which must be used specifically for tourism recovery efforts.
“It’s the little moments that make a visit to a destination special, and this campaign embraces and celebrates those experiences in a uniquely Richmond way,” said Richmond Region Tourism Board Chair Dan Schmitt. “They could happen at a buzzy restaurant downtown or in a peaceful park in Henrico. This campaign is remarkable in how it can be embraced and adapted across the region’s many jurisdictions.”
Richmond Region Tourism partnered with ChamberRVA and the Greater Richmond Partnership to review a competitive set of proposals from more than a dozen marketing agencies and selected Richmond-based agency Padilla to create and deliver the campaign.
To ensure that the campaign authentically reflected the Richmond Region, Padilla interviewed more than 60 local leaders and community members during campaign concepting including the BLKRVA and OutRVA committees, business owners, government officials, museum staff, college administrators and more. Keeping with the “Speaks for Itself” theme, local influencers also are being tapped to create unique ASMR-style videos that will be promoted in the campaign’s target markets.
The campaign will run June 1, 2023, through June 2024, and is expected to reach more than 80 million potential travelers through connected TV in selected markets in the East Coast and southern United States, as well as on social media, digital display ads and out-of-home digital billboards in select markets.
Downtown
New federal tailpipe rules would put stricter limits on Virginia’s heavy truck emissions
As Virginia continues down the road of speeding up the transition from gas-powered passenger vehicles to electric ones, new rules proposed by the federal government could also accelerate electrification of the state’s heavy trucks.
By Charlie Paullin
As Virginia continues down the road of speeding up the transition from gas-powered passenger vehicles to electric ones, new rules proposed by the federal government could also accelerate electrification of the state’s heavy trucks.
This April, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter tailpipe emissions limits for passenger vehicles as well as for heavy trucks. The new limits for passenger vehicles will have little impact in Virginia: As a result of 2021 legislation, the state follows stricter standards for light vehicles set by California, which will mandate that 100% of sales of new passenger cars be electric beginning in 2035.
But because the 2021 legislation only applies to vehicles weighing 14,000 pounds or less, Virginia must follow the federal emissions standards for heavy trucks, which if finalized will apply to trucks beginning with model year 2027.
While the EPA would allow manufacturers to choose their own method of meeting the stricter emissions standards, the agency projects up to 50% of vocational vehicles — heavy trucks used for particular industries or occupations — in model year 2032 could use electric batteries and fuel cell technologies.
“By proposing the most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks, we are delivering on the Biden-Harris Administration’s promise to protect people and the planet, securing critical reductions in dangerous air and climate pollution and ensuring significant economic benefits like lower fuel and maintenance costs for families,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a statement.
But Virginia Trucking Association President and CEO Dale Bennett said his group has some concerns about the faster pace the new rules would set for the transition to electric vehicles.
The trucking association expects that under the new rules, fleets will become 100% electric by 2055, given the roughly 30-year lifespan of a heavy truck.
With the trucking association counting about 45,870 heavy truck and tractor-trailer drivers in Virginia in 2021, Bennett said more rapid electrification of the fleet will require significant buildout of the electric grid.
He also voiced concerns about charge times, which can take about two hours to power a truck to travel about 200 miles, compared to about 15 minutes to fill up a truck with diesel to cover 1,200 miles; battery weight; and cost. While a new diesel truck can cost about $180,000, typical electric trucks go for $400,000, he said.
“We need to go at the speed of right, not at the speed of light,” said Bennett.
Trip Pollard, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, however, said the stricter standards will improve Virginia’s air quality. He pointed to recent research from the Union of Concerned Scientists estimating exposures to particulate matter from tailpipe emissions, which has been estimated to be responsible for about 95% of the global public health impacts from air pollution.
“EPA’s proposed federal heavy duty vehicle emissions standard will help to clean Virginia’s air — improving our health and our environment,” Pollard said by email.
California has more stringent regulations for heavy trucks, but Virginia hasn’t adopted those, Pollard noted. And while he acknowledged truckers will see an increase in upfront costs for vehicles, he said they can be recouped in three to seven years through savings on gas and maintenance.
If finalized, the rules will be implemented by heavy-truck manufacturers, including Volvo’s New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia, and its Mack Trucks facility just outside Roanoke.
Dawn Fenton, vice president of government relations and public affairs at Volvo Group North America, said the company supports the transition to zero-emission vehicles and has committed to 100% of its products being fossil free by 2040. Because the Dublin plant makes both electric and diesel heavy truck engines, the facility will be able to continue producing vehicles while adjusting to a faster transition, Fenton said.
“We see that we’re moving toward a zero-emission vehicle future,” Fenton said. “Our biggest concern is by far the question about the availability of charging infrastructure to be able to enable fleets to be able to adopt them.”
Fenton said “a lot” of Volvo’s current electric truck sales are happening in California, which has stricter heavy-truck emissions regulations and has also created incentives for charging infrastructure buildout and electric vehicle purchases.
In Virginia, House Republicans this past session for the second time killed legislation from Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Arlington, to create a fund that would provide money for rural infrastructure development. The General Assembly has also repeatedly blocked proposals for state rebates for electric vehicle purchases in Virginia, although incentives are available from the federal level through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Business
Virginia ABC officials say they’ve ‘automated’ liquor lotteries to prevent future errors
Virginia liquor officials said they’re taking steps to automate the random lottery process for rare bottles after an outcry from bourbon enthusiasts who say the state bungled a recent lottery and allowed some entrants to win multiple bottles despite steep odds of that outcome occurring naturally.
By Graham Moomaw
Virginia liquor officials said they’re taking steps to automate the random lottery process for rare bottles after an outcry from bourbon enthusiasts who say the state bungled a recent lottery and allowed some entrants to win multiple bottles despite steep odds of that outcome occurring naturally.
The leadership of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority discussed the lottery issues Tuesday morning during a meeting of the authority’s board of directors.
ABC officials told the board a problem occurred in the last lottery — which had more than 40,000 entries — due to a “breakdown in Excel sorting,” referring to the commonly used data processing software Microsoft Excel. The authority was using Excel to sort through lottery entries and determine the winners.
“I can’t speak to the inner workings of Excel. It sorted some of it and didn’t sort some of the rest,” said ABC Director of Internal Audit Mike Skrocki.
The authority also offered assurances that the possibility for human or spreadsheet errors would be reduced under a new system that will require less human oversight to pick winners at random. Officials indicated the new system will be implemented immediately and is expected to be formally announced when the next round of lottery results go out.
The previous system, said ABC Chief Digital and Branding Officer Vida Williams, allowed lottery entrants to enter multiple times using different home and email addresses. Though winners are asked to show identification to verify their address when they go to pick up a bottle they won, ABC officials said the old system appeared to let one person submit 241 different lottery entries.
“Our old process was very manual,” said Skrocki. “You could put Sesame Street as your address. It’s going to take it.”
Officials said they weren’t sure if allowing multiple entries contributed to some people seeming to defy the odds to win multiple bottles. But addresses will be more diligently verified going forward, they said, by checking them using location data from Google. The authority will also be implementing a stronger review process to check the results for statistical anomalies, officials said.
“The automated process does dramatically decrease the opportunity to game the system,” Williams said.
The lottery controversy is the latest rare-liquor drama for ABC, whose internal logistics data was offered for sale online last year to help bourbon hunters get a head start on figuring out which ABC stores would be getting highly sought-after products that aren’t usually available. The two men involved in the scheme, one a former ABC employee, both pleaded guilty to one felony charge related to computer trespassing.
[Read more: Neither man convicted in scheme to sell ABC bourbon info will face active jail time]
The authority’s explanation of what Williams called a “hiccup” hasn’t satisfied many of its customers. Statements ABC has posted on Facebook about the matter have been followed by a flood of skeptical responses, many questioning why the state should even be in the business of running liquor lotteries.
“In addition to the government not being able to properly run a booze raffle, a booze raffle exists,” wrote one Facebook commenter.
Another respondent quoted a line about propaganda from George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears,” the commenter wrote. “It was their final, most essential command.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, authority officials reiterated their belief that the flaws in the recent lottery didn’t appear to be intentional mischief by ABC employees and noted that anyone employed by the authority is barred from participating in the lotteries.
“We believe in equitable access to all of the products that we sell,” Williams said.
Williams also noted that most lotteries ABC conducted within the past year did not see similar problems, calling that “part of that story that is missing.”
“It made us seem like we’re a lot more egregious in oversight than we actually have been,” she said.
Some ABC board members pressed for more information on exactly where the problem occurred and how the new system would prevent it from happening again.
Board Chair Tim Hugo, a former Republican delegate, asked if the authority’s new system was something already being used successfully elsewhere or a system designed internally that would be more like a “beta test.”
ABC officials said elements of the new system are commonly accepted industry standards without going into specifics about the technology powering the new process.
“If you don’t know exactly how it happened other than that there were vulnerabilities … how do you know that this solution of dealing with the addresses stops the problem?” asked ABC board member Mark Rubin, who previously served as a senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., when Kaine was governor.
Authority officials said the new process will also involve a new, algorithmically driven way of picking winners at random, removing the need for manual sorting of Excel spreadsheets.
“We run the randomization through a statistical process,” said Williams.
Rubin noted he had gone to law school because statistics weren’t his strong suit.
“So your confidence level is very high that this problem is eliminated?” Rubin asked.
Williams replied: “My confidence is exceptionally high.”
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