Delivering EV Program & Market Studies to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

DNV worked with TVA to evaluate its electric forklift incentive program, deliver EV charging consumption analysis for Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty vehicles, assess the commercial EV market opportunity, and assess current and future EV availability.

About the customer

DNV worked with TVA to evaluate its electric forklift incentive program, deliver EV charging consumption analysis for Medium-Duty (MDV) and Heavy-Duty (HDV) vehicles, assess the commercial EV market opportunity, and assess current and future EV availability. TVA provides electricity for 153 local power companies serving 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states, as well as directly to 57 large industrial customers and federal installations.

DNV’s solution

DNV currently serves as the program evaluation contractor for TVA’s EnergyRight® Solutions program portfolio, which includes a wide variety of energy efficiency, DR, and renewable energy programs across all market segments in TVA’s seven-state territory. As part of this work, we evaluated TVA’s Electric Forklift Incentive Program which provides cash incentive for purchase of five classes of electric forklifts. We completed detailed analysis of the electric load shapes for forklifts and of the emissions impacts associated with using forklifts powered by electricity instead of internal combustion.

DNV’s evaluation contract for TVA’s EnergyRight® Solutions program portfolio includes occasional deep-dive Process, Productivity, and Equipment Technology Research efforts at TVA’s request. Most of these efforts involve research into the electrification potential for several technologies. Recent analyses have included topics such as wastewater, UV disinfection, ice storage, midstream program design, and opportunities for commercial EV programs. As part of the medium- and heavy-duty vehicles charging consumption analysis, DNV summarized Medium-Duty (MDV) & Heavy-Duty Vehicle (NDV) EV Charging Consumption Analysis via available energy usage information for four types of electric vehicles: medium-duty trucks for local freight applications; heavy-duty trucks for local freight applications; transit buses (including <40 foot, 40-foot, and >40-foot buses); and school buses. The summary included details regarding vehicle classes, battery capacity, maximum charging rate, average charging time, average annual miles, vehicle efficiency (mile/kWh), and average annual consumption (kWh) for nearly 40 vehicle models available in the United States.

As part of the commercial EV program opportunity assessment, DNV summarized current efforts among utilities and state energy regulatory agencies to support EVs among commercial customers (including incentives to reduce the costs associated with purchasing or leasing EVs, to support EV charging infrastructure installation, and to shift EV charging load through price signals to off-peak times in the form of time-of-use [TOU] rates or DR activities). We also provided details regarding EVSE types and use cases. These analyses will support TVA’s decision-making regarding possible commercial EV market interventions.

As part of the EV market availability assessment, DNV conducted a review of secondary literature regarding market readiness and availability for four categories of electric vehicles: passenger vehicles (including sedans, wagons, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks), long-haul trucks, local delivery trucks, and nonroad vehicles (including forklifts, golfcarts, neighbourhood EVs, and airport servicing equipment). The assessment reviewed details regarding current availability and future projections across numerous sources and highlighted the areas in which market status or projections align and conflict among these sources. The assessment also summarized factors contributing to differences in vehicle availability by state within certain categories.