Dozens of incentives, laws and programs related to alternative fuels are in the books.
“When you consider that infrastructure funding in the amounts of tens of billions of dollars is available in just federal grants, it’s a very significant incentive complemented by local/state/regional grants,” said Negley of Dover.“And a necessary one when you consider the cost for installing an EV charging or hydrogen station can be an order of magnitude more than a traditional fuel station.”
Government incentives exist for hydrogen, too, but haven’t received the same amount of media coverage, Negley said. “What’s lost on some folks is there is more infrastructure funding for the high-pressure hydrogen than there is for EV in terms of incentives for retailers to go out and build infrastructure.”
Even with such federal funding, there’s a push and pull happening with the government incentives, said Renaud. The White House is simultaneously pushing EVs and bringing gas prices down, he said. “Those things don’t work together very well, which makes it really interesting, because if gas prices come down, that pushes a lot of consumers into liquid fuel vehicles. And at the same time, federal government is trying to incentivize the purchase of, and the mileage earned by, EVs.”
“It’s a very tight rope [The Biden Administration] is trying to walk here,” said De Haan.
With a major election coming up, a different administration may have a different tone toward the transition to EVs, De Haan said, so retailers shouldn’t commit too much too quickly. They should also let data dictate the future.
“Some zero-emissions solutions may even be less-known options like hydrogen,” said Lenard of NACS. “It will also take a concerted effort to do more than install new EV chargers—a focus on the cost-benefit to retailers and other locations also needs to be refined.”
But taking advantage of those offers is complicated.
“The process for applying for grants, whether for ethanol, hydrogen or electric can be a full-time pursuit requiring a dedicated resource many businesses don’t have,” Negley said.
Adding to that, rules may be written to require outdated components or require certain electric chargersto be no further than a mile from a highway.
Dover Fueling Solutions, which has served the underground storage tank market with gauges and other equipment, continues working to provide additional solutions to fuel stations as the transportation energy industry broadens, Negley said.
“Some zero-emissions solutions may even be less-known options like hydrogen. It will also take a concerted effort to do more than install new EV chargers—a focus on the cost-benefit to retailers and other locations also needs to be refined.”
Growth Energy is a voice for the biofuel industry and works with station owners to help them secure grants and loans for the installation of ethanol fuels.
“Our retail partners report that once consumers try E15, they don’t go back. In fact, our data shows that American drivers recently surpassed a massive milestone: 100 billion miles driven on affordable, homegrown E15,” said Comer of Growth Energy.
While E15 and E85 are the most popular blends today, Growth Energy anticipates higher levels of ethanol in the future and notes that most underground storage tanks can handle blends up to E100, so retailers have flexibility as economics and regulatory pressures change, Comer said.
“Our retail partners report that once consumers try E15, they don’t go back. In fact, our data shows that American drivers recently surpassed a massive milestone: 100 billion miles driven on affordable, homegrown E15.”