NYSERDA Releases New York Electric Vehicle Benefit-Cost Analysis

On April 23, 2019, NYSERDA released a detailed benefit-cost analysis (BCA) of electric vehicles in New York State.  The analysis was sponsored by NYSERDA and is the result of a collaboration between MJB&A, Energy & Environmental Economics, and ICF.  The BCA focuses on three adoption scenarios – a base case, a behavior modification case, and a high infrastructure case – across three regions in New York: New York City Metropolitan area, Long Island, and Upstate New York.

The analysis considers benefits to EV owners, other utility ratepayers, and society from achieving New York State's 2025 EV target.  Because of the disparity in electricity rates, gasoline prices, and charging infrastructure across the state, the three regions were established to determine how the benefits differ among regions.  The base case assumes that EV owners continue to face flat residential rates and charging occurs based on convenience.  The behavior modification case incorporates smart charging measures that provide incentives for off-peak charging (e.g., Time-of-Use rates), and the high infrastructure case looks at the potential impact of increasing deployments of direct current fast chargers (DCFC).  With the high infrastructure case, adding DCFC incurs certain costs and the case explores the tradeoff off these costs with the benefit of increasing electric vehicle miles traveled (eVMt).

The full report is available for download on NYSERDA's website here.