This is part one of a five-part series by the Virginia Mercury about Virginia’s transition to electric vehicles that examines the government’s role in the process, the private industry’s status, the development of charging infrastructure in the state, EVs’ impact on the electric grid, and how the commonwealth’s workforce may be influenced by the growing industry.
RICHMOND — In one sense, car travel can be traced all the way back to 3500 BC in the Middle East when Mesopotamians invented the wheel and axle to transport items.
Flash forward through the advent of the horse and buggy and the Ford Model T, the U.S. and Virginia are undergoing the latest stage in four-wheel travel: the adoption of electric vehicles that run on rechargeable batteries.
“The process is happening, and it’s happening faster everyday,” said Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, an electric vehicle owner. “It’s part of the natural evolution of technology. It’s not an infringement on anybody. It is a phased-in process. It’s a transition of the kind we’ve experienced before.”
However, as the demand for reducing carbon emissions and purchasing electric vehicles grows, government and transit agencies in Virginia are facing questions about how they will meet such expectations. At the center of these charged efforts is the substantial costs of implementing the technology statewide, and how different levels of government are helping to support the transition through policy and funding.
“The electrification of the transportation industry is an opportunity, and also a disruption, to the national power economy that the Governor’s All-American, All-of-the-Above energy plan contends with,” Christian Martinez, a press secretary for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, said in a statement.
High costs for everyone
Localities across the commonwealth agree that the costs to pay for electric vehicles and chargers can add up quickly, even for some of the most affluent jurisdictions. Local leaders have said state and federal grants have become vital to the transition statewide, but they also believe there is a long-term benefit for the future.
In 2018, Fairfax County, one of the most affluent counties in the commonwealth, organized its Operational Energy Strategy, which included goals to electrify its fleet and have a 100% carbon-free fleet by 2035.
Now, Fairfax has 12 electric buses in its transit connector fleet with four more in production, two electric trash trucks, and an electric box truck to move supplies, all purchased through grants from the Environmental Protection Agency.
John Morrill, director of Fairfax’s Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination, said Fairfax’s “inclination to pursue the goal of electrification and the goal of carbon neutrality was perhaps facilitated by the county having staff already working in this area toward environmental goals, the external funding is absolutely critical.”
Similar to Fairfax County, affluent Alexandria adopted a goal in 2019 of transitioning the city’s vehicles to full electric by 2040, but it’s falling short of its aim to convert 25% of the fleet by the end of this fiscal year, June 30, because of delays, including the pandemic when funding was scarce.
So far, the city has acquired 65 electric vehicles, 45 hybrids, 6 plug-in hybrids and 42 hybrid electric buses, said Ursula Ramos, a spokesperson for the city’s transportation and electrification office. The costs for the passenger vehicles have ranged from $25,000 to $55,000, as costs for some heavy duty trucks and buses have ranged from from $500,000 to $1.8 million per vehicle, Ramos said.
The locality is working on a study, expected to be completed by the end of the year, to fully evaluate how much transitioning a vehicle may cost in the long term, which will present a perspective beyond the sticker shock.
“We anticipate getting some savings over the life of the vehicle through maintenance and fuel costs, and we are also taking advantage of the IRS’s direct pay incentives that provide some incentives for the purchase of any alternative fuel vehicles,” said Amy Posner, electric vehicle planner for Alexandria.
Keith Harless, town manager of Pennington Gap in Lee County, said the town partnered with Virginia Clean Cities to promote electric vehicles in rural areas three years ago.
He said one of the challenges for rural areas with charging stations is being patient on the revenue return. The town manager said rural areas “most likely” won’t have day-to-day users compared to more densely populated areas like cities.
But that is not stopping the town of approximately 1,600 people.
Harless said the town has a charging station and two others expected to be available this month, thanks to grant funding.
“We recognized years ago that even though we are a small town, we still want to be able to prepare for the future, regardless of what comes … we would still like to accommodate anybody that’s visiting our town,” Harless said.
How Virginia is participating in the transition
Since Virginia has dedicated millions to clean transportation projects following the 2016 Volkswagen settlement, which required the major car maker to make payments toward environmental remediation because of allegations of cheating on emissions tests, the state’s vehicle electrification transition has included some proposals from lawmakers.
Some of the policy goals were intended to drive the public toward purchasing electric vehicles, and to help localities with funds. However, those efforts have been mostly unfruitful, as the state legislature and governor’s administration have collided on the matter.
The Democratic members of the legislature pushed for new electric vehicle sales by passing a law in 2021 that tied Virginia’s tailpipe emissions to the stringent “Clean Car” standards passed by California, which takes periodic steps toward ultimately banning the sale of new gas-powered cars in 2035.
Even though gas-powered cars could still be used and bought from the used car market under the standards, Republican legislators and Youngkin have opposed the policy, arguing that people should transition to electric vehicles at their own pace. In June, despite the 2021 legislation, Youngkin decided to take up the only other option: following the federal standards next year. It was a move that some legislators opposed and others embraced.
“I have no doubt that those intent on mandating what citizens are allowed to drive will have the inclination to challenge this, but I’m hopeful we ultimately recognize we are better off when we make our own policies and decisions as a Commonwealth — not be forced to tie our yolk to a state like California,” said Del. Tony Wilt, R-Rockingham, in a July statement. Still, Wilt acknowledged both air pollution improvements and cost concerns with the standards.
The Clean Cars policy had been seen as the best way to curb the country’s and state’s largest source of emissions, those coming from transportation, which are causing climate change’s increasing storm intensities. But to offset the costs of electric vehicles, the federal government has been the only provider of government-based point-of-sale rebates or tax breaks in the amount of $7,500 through the Inflation Reduction Act, which funds many of its initiatives through a tax on corporations.
Those incentives have been tough to use, because of federal requirements mandating electric vehicle components be made in America that come with them, yet Virginia’s government hasn’t funded a $2,500 rebate program through Virginia Energy, which could help offset costs.
“Do I wish that had been and was being funded? The answer to that is yes,” said Sullivan. “I await the day when Virginia, both the legislature and the governor, make the decision to fund that program.”
In response to The Mercury’s query on how much interest there has been in the rebate program, the Virginia Department of Energy sent a statement from Director Glenn Davis, a former Republican lawmaker, that said “bipartisan consensus has remained to this day” on deciding the program “was not worthy of funding.”
Martinez, with the Youngkin administration, didn’t address costs directly in his statement, but said that with federal funding available, “state agencies across Virginia … are pursuing opportunities aligned with the Governor’s vision to foster innovation and ensure Virginians have access to reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy.”
The state government is grappling to gauge the cost of electric vehicles for its own use, by way of legislation that passed in 2022 to fully assess the cost of transitioning state vehicles to electric. Similar to Alexandria’s study in evaluating maintenance and fuel cost for purchasing an electric or gas vehicle, the state is supposed to purchase a gas vehicle only if the assessment “clearly indicates” it’s the cheaper option when looking at the lifetime of the costs instead of the sticker price.
The Department of General Services, which oversees the state’s facilities and cars, said 99% of their vehicles are gas powered, with less than 1% being electric or hybrid. Those percentages are the same breakdown for vehicles bought in 2024, said Killeen Wells, deputy director of communications, when “only 1% of purchases showed an electric vehicle as being more affordable and operationally viable.”
Besides cots, there are other factors for the state to contend with when purchasing EVs, Wells said, including “limited electric vehicle availability to government fleets” and lack of infrastructure at our state agencies and cost.” There’s no defined timeline to transition the state’s fleet fully to electric vehicles, Wells added.
“Electric vehicles are purchased when the electric vehicle meets the commonwealth’s operational and financial criteria,” she said.
The Virginia Department of Transportation launched an electric vehicle pilot program last year after purchasing a number of trucks for the agency. However, like others, VDOT has faced a significant delay in acquiring and using electric vehicles.
Christopher Berg, assistant director of VDOT’s environmental divisions, said the agency is deploying them across the commonwealth in different use cases to determine the feasibility of bringing electric vehicles into the agency’s fleet.
“We’re really in the early days of looking at how to bring electric vehicles into our VDOT fleet,” Berg said.
Virginia has also put $39.9 million toward the purchase of battery-electric buses from the state’s share of the 2016 Volkswagen settlement.
How federal EV funding is being put to use statewide, from schools to law enforcement
With local support and the overwhelming amount of federal funding, schools in Virginia have been the most notable groups to benefit from the transition from diesel to electric. In addition, local governments have also started to convert their fleets of vehicles but are still facing challenges with costs and charging.
In Fairfax, the school division purchased 73 electric buses, most of which were paid for by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a competitive grant from Dominion Energy. The Fairfax County Joint Environmental Task Force, a group that worked to address climate change and environmental sustainability, provided assistance in purchasing three electric buses. Currently, there are 1,625 school buses in the division’s fleet.
“FCPS School Board and Administration recognize the importance of protecting our children and community by eliminating emissions into the atmosphere and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Steven Brasley, a spokesman for Fairfax schools, adding that the county plans to convert school buses and other fleet vehicles to electric or zero-carbon alternatives by 2035.”
Brasley said Fairfax would advise other school divisions interested in switching to electric to work with their local utility provider to ensure infrastructure and agreements are in place and to take their time. Training drivers, maintenance technicians, and supervisors are critical to success.
Some schools are still working to reduce emissions through alternatives to purchasing electric buses. Others have tabled the idea.
In the southeastern part of Virginia, Newport News Public Schools announced in January that it would be using other alternative fuel sources, such as propane, for buses. The school division announced it was awarded a grant of $525,000 from the EPA to replace 15 diesel school buses with propane buses. The acquisition would bring the city’s total of propane buses to 168 out of a total fleet of 318.
Rappahannock County Public Schools Superintendent Shannon Grimsley said her division has not purchased any electric buses. She said until the infrastructure is available, it does not make much sense for the district to switch.
Grimsely said the school division also faces challenges with meeting the qualifications for grant funding, terrain and the lack of available charging resources presently.
“We researched and even collaborated with other districts on available grant programs to purchase electric buses, but the partial rebates and up front infrastructure costs associated with these programs made the concept cost prohibitive for us to pursue further,” Grimsley said.
Law enforcement is also considering converting its fleet, but in smaller steps, as the technology continues to develop for electric patrol vehicles.
Fairfax County Police Department has acquired five electric vehicles through a procurement process as part of its fleet with over 1,200 vehicles. The vehicles, which range in costs between $25,000 to $75,000, are used for recruitment primarily by administrative staff, but are being considered for other uses.
The department said one of the keys was having the infrastructure in place before receiving the electric vehicles.
Since its 2019 announcement, Virginia Capitol Police has been operating a six-seat electric vehicle, which was purchased from Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Polaris Industries using grant funds from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Spokesman Joe Macenka said the Capitol Police’s six-seat Polaris GEM, licensed for use on city streets and capable of traveling 25 MPH with a range of 35 miles, helps to transport people around the 13-acre Capitol Square.
In 2019, Col. Anthony S. “Steve” Pike, former Capitol Police chief, announced that the GEM could reach all state properties the division is assigned to protect in Richmond. He said GEM would be less expensive to operate than a traditional police vehicle and have less of an impact on the environment.
Given the impact transportation use has on climate change and direct air quality benefits, Posner, with Alexandria, said the transition to electric vehicles is “pretty critical to meet our overall environmental and climate action goals.”
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