The next surface transportation reauthorization bill will define key transportation policy and funding priorities for several years. Reauthorization needs to recognize that every form of transportation – from bicycles to cars to heavy-duty trucks – continues to be quickly electrified, and that the federal government has a key role to play in supporting this transition.

The most recent surface transportation reauthorization – the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021 – was the first to provide core federal funding and capacity-building support for transportation electrification. The next bill must build on this foundation, while making improvements based on the lessons learned over the past few years.

Specifically, reauthorization needs to include the following elements:

Funding for charging infrastructure

Reauthorization must include dedicated funding for charging infrastructure. This is now as fundamental a form of transportation infrastructure as roads or sidewalks. We have learned a lot since 2021 about how best to provide this funding. For example, this funding should be flexible enough to meet the needs of heavy trucks and passenger vehicles, and should support both charging on the highway for long distance trips and in communities for people who can’t easily charge at home. FHWA’s recently announced “interim final guidance” is a step towards increasing flexibility, but reauthorization is an opportunity to make additional major improvements in program design.

Reauthorization also needs to recognize the important role of the federal government in building institutional capacity. Charging is still a relatively new responsibility for state and local governments, and they will continue to need substantial technical assistance and support. If Congress does not wish to fund and staff federal agencies, such as the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, to do this work, then Congress should fund third parties such as nonprofits and national labs to provide this technical support.

Funding for Innovative Solutions

State, regional, and local agencies are increasingly piloting and deploying innovative mobility projects, including autonomous vehicles as well as electric and/or shared systems. Reauthorization should provide dedicated and flexible funding for agencies to test innovative solutions to their local needs, including electric carsharing, shared micromobility and bikeshare programs, incentives for e-bike purchases, mobility hubs, transportation wallets or “mobility as a service” projects. Such an “innovation fund” should also encourage documentation of best practices and lessons learned, as well as robust technical support.

Leveraging Programs to Support Electrification

The federal government has long had a role in supporting transit agencies, school districts, ports, etc. Reauthorization should ensure these programs include both funding and technical assistance to help partners that wish to purchase electric vehicles and supporting infrastructure. Good examples of programs that should be carried forward include Low-No Emission Bus, Clean School Bus, and Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities. Here again, reauthorization is an opportunity to build on these programs while making improvements based on the past few years of experience, making them more flexible and efficient for years to come. As with charging, technical assistance and support is absolutely vital, but Congress can choose whether it should be provided by third parties or by federal agency staff.

Building Guidelines and Best Practices

The federal government plays a key role in convening stakeholders, establishing minimum national standards, and promoting consistent guidelines and best practices. Reauthorization should reaffirm this role in a number of areas, including EV readiness in building codes; minimum standards for publicly funded charging; and standards for vehicle grid integration. Federal guidelines and rules in an emerging area like electrification can actually streamline investment and decision-making by avoiding the proliferation of conflicting state and local rules. In many of these areas, the federal government has already created initial standards; reauthorization needs to direct agencies to continue to support and update them to reflect current industry norms and best practices. As one small example, current standards for federally funded charging have been helpful in establishing baseline requirements for cybersecurity, safety, reliability, and consumer protection – but need to be continuously updated to reflect a changing industry while supporting flexibility and innovation.

Reinventing the Transportation Trust Fund

As Transportation for America has pointed out, the “user pays” trust fund idea has not reflected transportation reality for 15 years. At the same time, it’s true that people driving gas guzzlers currently pay a lot more to use our roads than people driving fuel efficient cars or electric cars. In any case, gasoline and diesel sales will rapidly decline in the coming years, so we need an updated transportation funding system that does not rely on fuel taxes. It may be politically popular to respond with high annual fees on electric vehicles, but that directly undermines the goals of advancing clean transportation while doing nothing to address the underlying problems with transportation funding. Reauthorization is an opportunity to create a transportation funding system that more accurately and fairly captures costs, and that allows transportation agencies to manage demand. The best answer is one that Congress and states have been tiptoeing towards for many years: per-mile road user charges, with the flexibility for state and local governments to vary them to reflect factors like traffic congestion and pollution.

Transportation electrification is making it more affordable and easier to get where we need to go, with the added benefit of improving air quality, reducing climate pollution, building American economic competitiveness, and promoting energy security. Recent federal policy changes have created some headwinds, and may slow the transition, but they cannot change fundamental global technology and market trends. Even stakeholders who are hostile to electric vehicles should recognize that these vehicles are coming, and the federal government has an important role to play in making the transition as orderly and efficient as possible.