Kansas wants to triple its number of electric vehicles. Here's why that's such a challenge

Clean energy advocates are hoping federal funds flowing into Kansas will help charge up the state's electric vehicle infrastructure, which experts argue is lacking as more and more EVs are hitting the road.

As of 2021, there were a little more than 4,000 electric vehicles registered in Kansas, accounting for 0.13% of all cars currently on the road in the state.

The Kansas Department of Transportation told the federal government, however, that they want to triple that number in the next five years.

Whether the infrastructure will rise to meet those lofty benchmarks, however, remains to be seen.

The most recent version of the U.S. Electric Vehicle Accessibility Index, a report published by the consumer advocacy group Consumer Choice Center, rates the state among the worst in the country for accessibility.

More recent data is somewhat more generous to Kansas. A report released Wednesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked Kansas 31st in the country for electric vehicle infrastructure — but it was one of only 11 states to actually reduce their carbon emissions in the past year.

Now, the state is set to dole out funds, provided as part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by President Joe Biden in 2021, that it is hoping will add a charge to Kansas' hopes of expanding the number of electric vehicles on the road.

"We have an opportunity in Kansas, with our vast amount of renewable resources, central geography and history of manufacturing, that we could benefit from an electric vehicle transition in our country," said Zach Pistora, a lobbyist with the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. "It's the right thing to do for the environment. And it's a responsible thing to do for our state and country."

Kansas hopes federal funds can give charging stations a boost

There is not good data on an exact number of charging stations in Kansas, but the total has seemingly slowly climbed in recent years. The state used funds from a settlement with Volkswagen to add a half-dozen stations at points along Interstate 70 and Interstate 35, for instance.

But it can still be expensive to install charging stations — for not much gain.

Kevin Gregg, associate executive director of Fuel True Independent Energy and Convenience, the statewide lobby for gas stations and convenience stores, noted that it can cost his members anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million to install a charging station that might see only a car or two per day use it, even along a busy travel route.

"While our locations along high-traffic roadways are well-positioned, only a small number of our members have taken the risk of offering EV charging at their locations," Gregg said in an email.

The nearly $40 million Kansas will receive from the federal infrastructure law over five years can supplement those efforts but, at least initially, the money can only go to certain areas.

In order to qualify for the funds, the charging stations will need to be installed alongside what have been designated as "alternative fuel corridors."

That includes I-70 and I-35, plus Interstate 135 and US-81 through central and north-central Kansas and US-400, which runs across the southern part of the state through Dodge City, Garden City, Wichita and Pittsburg.

The goal is for there to be a charging station every 50 miles across those routes, with the site no more than one mile from the highway. Once that is achieved, funding can flow to other locations.

In addition, most states, including Kansas, offer at least some form of incentive for purchasing a electric vehicle, mirroring a federal rebate program currently operating for certain car models. Some want to see states expand those programs.

Kansas school districts, meanwhile, have been experimenting with electric buses and Pistora noted there are opportunities to further invest in making Kansas a hub for EV manufacturing, building on a multi-billion dollar Panasonic EV battery plant set to be located in DeSoto.

"The more we're intentional about it, the more we make these investments now, the quicker the transition will happen," Pistora said. "And then the quicker we can receive the benefits of a more electrified society."

A rise in EVs could give Kansas funding problems

But some fear that a rise in electric vehicles in Kansas will present a whole new set of problems.

Kansas, like most every state, collects a 24 cent-per-gallon tax at the gas pump and uses the funds to pay to improve the state's roadways. Naturally, electric vehicle owners don't pay that tax but own a car that travels over streets and highways just like any other.

State officials have said they are studying the issue and a report is due out next year, with an eye toward evaluating potential solutions, such as potentially just charging motorists for the number of miles they drive in a year, regardless of the type of vehicle.

"We like to think of this as being fuel agnostic," Joel Skelley, director of policy at the Kansas Department of Transportation, told legislators earlier this year. "It doesn't take into account what the fuel is, we don't really care. It is taking into account how you utilize the roads."

But some don't want to wait.

A handful of Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill in the Legislature to assess a tax for every kilowatt hour of electricity used to charge an EV at a public, commercial charging station.

Currently, Kansans who own an electric vehicle pay between $70-$100 in additional fees in an attempt to make up the difference for lost gas tax.

But Rep. Bill Rhiley, R-Wellington, one of the bill's co-sponsors, noted that this wouldn't cover out-of-state drivers who pass through Kansas.

He pointed to the increased blitz in marketing of EVs, saying "when was the last time you saw a manufacturer of a vehicle in the United States in the last year say they are selling a gas-powered vehicle."

"We can't just look at the ... EV vehicles that are in Kansas," Rhiley told the House Transportation Committee earlier this year. "We have to look at the hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles that are going to be traveling through Kansas."

Some feel the fee doesn't go far enough and that the structure would effectively disincentivize the purchase of internal combustion engine vehicles.

But critics say it is a cumbersome way of hitting the wallets of EV users. The bulk of those drivers generally don't stray more than 20 miles from their home, meaning the bulk of their charging takes place there and thus wouldn't be taxed.

Others favor using a system that could track how many miles a resident drives, but that idea raises privacy and civil liberty concerns.

Ultimately, EV drivers say they feel they are being targeted.

"It would impose a redundant and completely unnecessary penalty on electric vehicle owners," said Tad Kramar, a Big Springs resident and EV owner. "The penalty on electric vehicles is even greater when you consider that gas-powered vehicles pay nothing to compensate for the pollution or noise they generate."

In some states, even the issue of electric vehicles quickly turned political. Wyoming bristled at the requirements of the federal funds to be used for charging stations and its state legislators even proposed a measure phasing out all EV sales in the state by 2035, a response to a California effort to ban gas-powered cars.

Pistora said he hoped Kansas could avoid that.

"We all need clean air to breathe," he said. "We could all benefit from cleaner, more efficient means of transportation."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas hopes infrastructure funds can boost electric vehicle demand