Last month, the state senate passed a bill that would unlock $78 million dollars in federal funding to expand the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure. The bill, which has bipartisan support is pending in the assembly.

Emma Heins, a Policy Manager from the Electrification Coalition says that this effort comes down to charging stations. “That’s what people need to get where they’re going, and to feel confident that they can take their EV across the state and across the country,” she tells Carousel Bayrd. Emma says charging stations in Wisconsin are currently concentrated in cities and the goal is to spread access across the state to “make sure that rural drivers especially can reap these benefits, because if they’re driving longer distances they get more savings from having an EV.”

Carousel also talks with Tom Content from Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin (CUB) to talk through the bill, the realities of range anxiety for EV drivers, and the energy grid.

Tom Content is the Executive Director Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin  the state’s consumer advocate for residential and small business utility customers since 1979. Content directs CUB’s work to advocate for electric, natural gas and water utility customers at the Public Service Commission and at the Legislature, and its work to educate Wisconsinites about energy and utility issues.

Emma Heins is a Policy Manager for the Electrification Coalition, where she works on state advocacy in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and at the federal level. Her focus is on policy research and analysis to help policy makers create ambitious policy opportunities and strengthen the case for transportation electrification. Before joining the EC, Emma was a Science Policy Fellow for Clean Wisconsin working on EV policy research, and prior to that, she worked at a small research group conducting indoor air quality research.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

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