What the Truck? What the WA State Legislative Session Means for EV Fleets
What the truck happened for transportation decarbonization during the 2025 Washington State Legislative session?
Answer: a lot!
We held a webinar digging into how the 2025 session significantly expanded opportunities for EV adoption in Washington, with a focus on fleets, charging infrastructure, and trucks. We were joined by a panel of policy and electrification experts:
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon
Washington State Department of Ecology Climate Pollution Reduction Program Manager Joel Creswell
MTRWESTERN President Jeremy Butzlaff
Clean & Prosperous Institute Stakeholder Outreach Director Sarah Severn
Breaking Barriers Collaborative Program Director Paul Bloom
Keep reading for a breakdown of key topics covered, clips from our panelists, and some additional responses to the excellent audience questions.
WA State Clean Energy Transition
Climate Commitment Act
Q: How are decisions made as to what/who gets how much? Is there a report which lays out what has been done/spent on what to date?
A: Each session, Legislators in Olympia determine how to spend revenue raised by the Climate Commitment Act (CCA). You can find a breakdown of spending decisions from the 2025 Legislative session from Clean & Prosperous Washington here. Clean & Prosperous Institute (CPI) has developed Mapping Washington’s Climate Commitments, which is the single most comprehensive resource that tracks where and how revenue from the CCA is spent. The map now reflects approximately 2,700 unique CCA-funded projects totaling $4.74 billion in existing and planned spending through June 2027.
Medium- and Heavy-Duty (MHD) Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Voucher Program
Clip: Sarah Severn on WAZIP Incentives for Small and Minority-Owned Businesses
Clip: Joel Creswell and Paul Bloom on New Electric Drayage Program Stackable with WAZIP
Q: BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) are making good progress, but some applications will be better suited for FCEVs (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). Are the grants available for those technologies? Any progress in establishing the infrastructure?
A: Yes, the MHD ZEV voucher program, called WAZIP, will support both battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles, though details on specific vehicle and equipment inclusions are still being finalized. On infrastructure, the 2025 budget passed by the Legislature also includes $25 million for the deployment of electric and hydrogen fuel vehicle charging and refueling infrastructure along state highways. This is not exhaustive and does not encapsulate additional programming from public and private sector partners including the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub.
Q: Do municipal vehicle departments have access to funds?
A: While the Implementation Plan has not been finalized, it is very likely that municipal vehicle departments will have access to MHD ZEV vouchers (as long as the vehicles themselves meet specific criteria).
Q: When does the MHD ZEV voucher program come online? Can dealers sign up now?
A: The voucher program will come online later this year. Dealers, fleets, manufacturers, and anyone else interested in receiving updates on WAZIP, the MHD ZEV voucher program, can sign up here: www.calstart.org/wazip.
Clean & Prosperous Institute (CPI) will be supporting outreach to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and dealers as part of this program, and will help communicate updates to dealers in the coming weeks.
Clean Fuel Standard
Clip: Paul Bloom and Joel Creswell on How the Clean Fuel Standard Works
Clip: Jeremy Butzlaff on How Electric Fleets Make Money in the CFS Market
Q: My brief research suggests that copying the California Clean Fuels standards can result in serious unintended consequences with a significant portion of the carbon credits being used out of state and used by fossil fuel companies to offset even greater greenhouse gas emissions. Is someone paying attention to this?
A: The Washington State Department of Ecology is currently accepting public comments related to updates to the Clean Fuel Standard (CFS). This is a good example of a comment that should be submitted directly to Ecology for their review as part of the rule-making process. Submit comments here.
Q: Can public entities such as Sound Transit or King County metro generate CFS credits for using electric vs diesel?
A: Yes, under the Clean Fuel Standard, Sound Transit and King County Metro Transit can generate credits for electrification of public transit vehicles, which can then help reduce the upfront cost of electric buses and fund the electrification infrastructure needed to support their transition. The CFS coupled with the CCA are key programs to fund transition off of diesel buses.
Charging Infrastructure
Q: Who owns the public rest areas? Is there an opportunity to add charging stations in those?
A: Rest areas along major highways like I-5 are maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The legislation that established our national highway system (the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 or the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act) also included a national prohibition against commercial activity at public rest areas. This has prohibited the expansion of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at public rest stops because the purchase of electricity to charge a vehicle is considered “commercial activity.”
However, WSDOT has been able to establish EV charging at two rest stops. You can find a full list of rest stops, including those that have EV charging, here.
The continued expansion of charging infrastructure along highways is a current priority for the state. The Washington State Department of Commerce recently announced new fast-charging stations along I-5 and SR 530.
Grid Reliability
Q: What policies do we need to make sure our electricity grid stays reliable and that power remains affordable so we can keep adopting EVs?
A: The most important thing Washington state can do is continue to support and build renewable energy, battery storage, and transmission projects across the state as quickly as possible. The more we build, the more renewable energy becomes available, the more reliable our grid becomes and utility prices - no longer subject to the international volatility of fossil fuels - go down in turn.
Charging infrastructure can also be a flexible grid asset that increases grid reliability and resilience, rather than just another large electric load to serve. Utilities play a key role in realizing the potential of this EV integration and grid benefit with vehicle-to-grid programs, time of use rates, and other load management and grid improvements.
Policies that enable utilities to proactively plan and improve infrastructure are critical to helping this happen.
An added bonus: Building out renewable energy projects spurs economic growth and creates jobs.
