Accelerating growth forecasts for electric vehicles have energy analysts urging utilities to start planning for their impacts on the grid today.
By 2021, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) forecasts U.S. electric vehicle (EV) sales could reach 800,000 annually. By 2025, the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group, estimates there could be 7 million zero-emission vehicles on U.S. roads.
“EV sales in the U.S. have been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 32% for the past four years,” said Chris Nelder, electricity practice manager at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). “2017 monthly sales data suggest that rate is accelerating. Under some reasonable assumptions, there could be 2.9 million EVs on the road in the U.S. within five years.”
