A new report suggests taxpayers should kick in more to make Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s goal of 2 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2030 a reality, despite plateauing sales and declining consumer interest.

“Despite the growth in EV adoption and EV charger deployment across Michigan, the state still has significant progress to make in order to ensure adequate EV charging infrastructure buildout and support for individuals and businesses who wish to electrify their vehicles,” according to the report, titled Transportation Electrification in Michigan, A Roadmap of State Policy Actions.

“In 2022, there were 9.4 million vehicles registered in the state of Michigan but only 33,100 were EVs, positioning Michigan as the 18^th state in terms of total number of EV registrations, and 29^th in terms of per-capita adoption.”

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While the numbers have since swelled to nearly 47,000 EV registrations this spring, Michigan remains about 1.95 million registrations away from Whitmer’s 2030 goal. Currently at less than 3% of the goal, the state would need to register more than 29,000 EVs per month for the rest of the decade to catch up, Michigan Capitol Confidential reports.

The new report from a coalition of trade and educational groups offers numerous recommendations to make that happen. The groups behind the report include Clean Fuels Michigan, The Institute for Energy Innovation, The Michigan Clean Fuels Initiative and the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council.

“Key recommendations” involve a mandate for the state’s departments of Technology, Management And Budget, Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Labor and Economic Opportunity, Transportation and Michigan Public Service Commission to integrate Whitmer’s EV and charger goals into all planning and evaluations.

The report calls on lawmakers to pass legislation to establish and implement a Clean Fuel Standard, and to allow the state’s public utilities to recoup investments in “transportation electrification at scale” by passing the cost on to customers.

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The coalition further wants utilities to conduct EV load forecasting, and lawmakers to inject language in the state’s energy conservation code that would require all new homes and buildings to be “EV-Ready.”

Those recommendations are in addition to scores of taxpayer-funded incentives.

Among the “priority policies that Michigan can pursue:”

• Transition all state fleet vehicles to 100% EVs. Plans should be updated regularly to account for vehicle availability, price fluctuations, etc., and should be made publicly available.
• Support incentives in the state budget for Level 2 and direct current fast chargers (DCFC), especially for EVSE in disadvantaged communities (DACs) and rural areas, multi-family housing, and fleet charging applications.
• Support incentives in the state budget to enable the adoption of new and used (owned and leased) light-, medium-, and heavy-duty EVs for public and private fleets, prioritizing those operating primarily in DACs.
• Support incentives in the state budget to enable the adoption of new and used (owned and leased) passenger EVs, targeting incentives toward moderate and low-income buyers.
• Pass new legislation ensuring homeowners and renters living in condominiums and multi-family housing cannot be unreasonably prevented from installing EV chargers.
• Pass new legislation establishing tax credits for local businesses, to transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs, paired with technical support for entities located in DACs and rural areas.

A study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy found the clean fuel standard recommendation alone would cost the typical Michigan household an extra $350 in fuel costs annually, while the cost for the rest is unclear.

The report did not delve into the financials, though it acknowledged one analysis that found the clean fuel standard would result in a $500 million annual revenue boost for utilities and charging providers.

“Of course, they cloak their actions in soothing terms like ‘energy conservation’ and ‘maximizing customer benefits.’ But the reality is that customers aren’t asking for the policies proposed in the ‘Transportation Electrification in Michigan’ report,” said Jason Hayes, the MCPP’s director of energy and environmental policy.

“In fact, growth in electric vehicle sales is trailing off rapidly as customers learn more about their environmental impacts and face challenges like ‘range anxiety,’” he said. “The electrification policies promoted in this report will ladle further mandates and restrictions on customer choice while lavishing more protections and corporate welfare on select businesses and special interests.”

Whitmer and Democratic legislative allies approved billions in taxpayer subsidies for the EV industry in recent years through secretly negotiated deals that have yet to produce the jobs promised.

An analysis by Bridge Michigan earlier this year found that with the first $1 billion spent, only 200 of the 12,000 jobs promised have materialized.

This week, GM, one of several companies to secure EV subsidies in Michigan, announced plans to pare back EV production if President-elect Donald Trump loosens regulations and cancels a $7,500 federal tax credit for purchases, as promised.

The recommendations in the new report would require cooperation from lawmakers in Lansing, where Republicans are set to regain control of the lower chamber and end the first Democratic government trifecta in 40 years.

House Energy Committee member state Rep. Pat Outman, R-Six Lakes, told Michigan Capitol Confidential he believes the report’s recommendations would enrich green energy groups at the expense of taxpayers, likening the report to “asking a kid to write a Christmas list for Santa.”

“As a rural Michigan representative, I don’t see a lot of need for EV charging in our areas, but if there ever is a demand for it, then the free market will drive private businesses to bring them in,” Outman wrote in an email. “The same goes for mandating that new homes be built with EV charging capability. If enough home buyers want them, then builders will begin to install them on their own. There’s no reason for the government to force anything.”