Paving the Way to an Electrified Transportation Future in Washington State

RMI supported Washington State in creating the Transportation Electrification Strategy (TES) using a two-stage analytical approach. The first stage assessed EV adoption pathways and identified that reaching the 2030 goal of 100 percent zero-emissions passenger vehicle sales would result in 13.6 MMT of on-road emissions, which exceeds the target of less than 10 MMT CO2e needed to meet broader climate goals. To bridge this gap, the TES recommends point-of-sale rebates and low-cost leasing programs. The second stage utilized the GridUp tool's hyper-local travel data to forecast EV load and identify where grid investments are necessary to prevent bottlenecks and maintain affordability during the transition to electrified transportation and heating.

• Washington State has a mandate for 100 percent of passenger vehicle sales to be zero-emissions by 2030 and a broader goal to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions to 50 million metric tons per year, which is 45 percent below 1990 levels.
• Analysis indicates that achieving the state's 2030 climate goals requires on-road vehicle emissions to be below 10 MMT CO2e annually; however, meeting the 100 percent zero-emissions vehicle sales goal alone would only reduce these emissions to 13.6 MMT by 2030.
• To address gaps in EV affordability and adoption, the TES proposes policy measures including a state-supported low-cost leasing program with an equity focus and a targeted, up-front, point-of-sale rebate program.
• The GridUp tool uses hyper-local travel data to model EV charging needs, helping policymakers identify 'excess capacity' on the grid and determine where strategic investments are required to avoid bottlenecks as transportation and building heating (such as heat pumps) electrify.

APA

RMI (2024). Paving the Way to an Electrified Transportation Future in Washington State. https://rmi.org/resources/paving-the-way-to-an-electrified-transportation-future-in-washington-state/

Chicago

RMI. Paving the Way to an Electrified Transportation Future in Washington State. 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/paving-the-way-to-an-electrified-transportation-future-in-washington-state/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Paving the Way to an Electrified Transportation Future in Washington State |date=1 August 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/paving-the-way-to-an-electrified-transportation-future-in-washington-state/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2024paving, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Paving the Way to an Electrified Transportation Future in Washington State}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/paving-the-way-to-an-electrified-transportation-future-in-washington-state/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }