PEV readiness is a community-wide effort that requires charging infrastructure, planning, regulations and support services. The new PEV Scorecard helps communities determine their PEV friendliness. | Photo courtesy of IKEA Orlando.
Removing early market barriers is essential to increasing the number of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) on the road. To help cities, counties and states cut red tape, save time and improve drivers’ experiences, the Energy Department’s Clean Cities initiative created the Plug-in Electric Vehicle Readiness Scorecard.
The Scorecard is an interactive online tool that allows community managers to measure their regions’ current “PEV-friendliness” -- the ability to meet the needs of electric vehicle drivers. To calculate their score, community representatives answer a series of multiple-choice questions covering diverse topics ranging from the time required to issue a residential charger permit to incentives available to PEV drivers. The Scorecard questions, which are based on best practices and input from key stakeholders, require real, on-the-ground data from the community. Because PEV community readiness often involves a number of city agencies, non-governmental organizations and even local businesses, multiple users can enter information for the same region on one account.
Using the data provided by community managers, the Scorecard tool assesses the community’s readiness and offers scores ranging from “Needs Improvement” to “Excellent” for each criterion. The topic areas include the permitting and inspection process, incentives, education, level of involvement of the local utility and infrastructure planning. It also provides users with recommendations and resources to help improve their PEV readiness in the future. From case studies on electric vehicle deployment to assistance from the local Clean Cities coalition, help is easy to find.
Communities can update the Scorecard as they fulfill recommendations, and the tool’s snapshot feature can help them track progress and accomplishments along the way.
The Scorecard supports the Energy Department’s EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, a broader initiative to become the first nation to produce PEVs that are as affordable for the average American family as today's gasoline-powered vehicles within 10 years. The Scorecard is designed to be one component in a community’s toolkit as it works to improve the energy, economic and environmental security of its transportation systems.
