Canary Library

President Biden’s focus on charging infrastructure is a historic confluence of environmental, climate, economic and infrastructure policy. The funding that could come with it could not only speed up customer adoption of electric vehicles, but provide a more strategic, efficient, and equitable investment in charging infrastructure than private companies have provided so far.

This paper discusses the strategies that could turn the president’s electric vehicle charging agenda into a generational transformation of American transportation.

Pecan Street’s new analysis explores the opportunities for policymakers and utilities to remove a significant barrier to residential electrification. By incentivizing electric service panel upgrades for existing homes and requiring larger capacity panels for new construction, we can clear the path for full residential electrification. This is also a critical opportunity to ensure a just energy transition by creating sliding incentives based on household income levels.

As states and cities across the United States work to cut carbon emissions from every sector, they’re starting to tackle a crucial transition: eliminating fossil fuels in buildings. Burning fossil fuels, primarily gas, to heat space and water and cook food poses a risk to climate goals and public health. Thus, spurring the shift to modern, electric appliances like heat pumps becomes critical.

To help inform these decisions, we are expanding and improving upon our previous economic analysis to give a full picture of the cost of all-electric housing, starting with new, single-family homes in seven U.S. cities.