Nearly 3 million electric vehicles (personal light-duty) are expected to be on New England roads by 2033, according to ISO New England’s 2024 Transportation Electrification Forecast. This is 24 times more than the current number of electric vehicles and expected to approach 30% of the total number of vehicles on the road.
The lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, however, may deter drivers from heading to areas with few public chargers, such as New Hampshire, which has the lowest number of electric vehicles in New England. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, New Hampshire has approximately 230 public charging stations, compared to Vermont with 375 and Maine with 475.
The recent report Supporting New Hampshire’s Tourism Industry through EV Charging Infrastructure by Clean Energy NH highlights the economic risks to New Hampshire by not building out EV charging infrastructure.
With New Hampshire becoming an EV charging desert in comparison to neighboring states (competitors for tourist traffic), the report estimates that New Hampshire risks suffering an overall economic impact of approximately $1.4 billion (including direct, indirect, and induced consumption) in the travel and tourism sector by 2031.
Further exacerbating the problem is that most of the EV chargers in New Hampshire are in southern regions, whereas the White Mountain tourist attractions are located to the north. The report concludes that these regions would be hardest hit, potentially losing tourism dollars, tourism jobs and tourism-related taxes.
A significant number of New Hampshire tourists come from Massachusetts. For example, in the winter six out of 10 skier visits come from out of state, with roughly half coming from Massachusetts. While the Bay State is already one of the top states in the country for EVs per capita, ISO-NE estimates it will have more than 1.5 million EVs registered within a decade.
Massachusetts’ strong EV adoption is attributed to the numerous policies enacted in the state as well as build out of the charging structure needed to support those EVs. The report notes that over half of New England’s EV chargers are in Massachusetts.
The other New England states have also been proactive in promoting EV adoption and New Hampshire stands alone among all New England and nearly all mid-Atlantic states in adopting California’s Zero Emissions or Low Emissions vehicle standards.
According to the report, what’s holding back investments in New Hampshire’s EV charging infrastructure is the requirement that any utility investment must be approved by state-appointed public utilities commissioners. “As a result, they are not able to make business decisions to enhance the opportunities to sell their product in the way that the purveyors of other transportation fuels can,” the report concludes.
Another bottleneck is that the utilities’ rate structures must also be approved by regulators, and are designed for traditional use of electricity and not aligned with the performance profile of EV chargers.
The report identifies the following policy actions recommended to encourage private capital investment in a sufficient EV charging network:
- Establish clear targets for EV infrastructure development. These targets should be based on realistic EV adoption trends region-wide, and should be geographically specific to ensure that no part of the state is left behind.
- Implement programs allowing utilities to invest in EV infrastructure in a manner that is designed to maximize ratepayer and economic benefits.
- Ensure that utility programs are market-based and non-discriminatory in order to encourage maximum competition.
- Require the creation of rate structures and line-extension policies that foster enhanced charging deployment.
- Create a mechanism whereby state funds can be used to complement federal resources, and fill in critical gaps in the EV charging infrastructure map.
Tourists from EV-dense states, such as Massachusetts, are more likely to visit destinations with accessible charging infrastructure, the report notes. By failing to enhance the charging network, New Hampshire stands to suffer, in economic terms, the equivalent of having no tourists for an entire winter season. In addition to the $1.4 billion lost in net revenue, the report estimates that the state would lose $43 million in tax revenue and more than 9,000 jobs.
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