During EEI’s Annual Convention in New Orleans, DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz and EEI President Tom Kuhn signed a memorandum of understanding to take a variety of joint actions—including research and analysis; infrastructure; and outreach programs—to accelerate the widespread adoption of EVs. The first specific actions to be taken are:

• National economic value assessment study to quantify the economic impact of broad-based electric transportation on the US economy.

• DOE Workplace Charging Challenge integration with EEI’s new Employee PEV Engagement Initiative.

EEI’s collaboration with DOE builds on the electric utility industry’s leadership on transportation electrification. One example of this dedication is EEI’s fleet electrification initiative. Launched last year, this effort includes a commitment by EEI and its partnering member companies to invest at least 5% of their annual fleet budgets in plug-in vehicles and technologies.

EEI announced that its fleet electrification initiative has exceeded the anticipated $50-million annual industry commitment, and will total more than $90 million in 2015, adding more than 800 new plug-in vehicles and 740 new charging ports to utility fleets.