This year started off with some exciting signals for clean vehicles in Nevada. In Gov. Joe Lombardo’s State of the State address, he announced a new $3.6 billion Tesla semitruck manufacturing facility in Northern Nevada. Soon after, lithium-ion battery recycler Redwood Materials won a $2 billion loan from the U.S. Energy Department. And just last month, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development expressed a desire to make Nevada the “lithium capital of North America.” Clearly, this administration is positioning Nevada as a national hub for electric vehicle manufacturing. And they are smart to do so.  

We are in an unprecedented moment with billions of dollars in federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ready to fuel advanced energy acceleration, so long as states take advantage of it. And Nevada’s more ready than anywhere because just last week, the Legislature passed, and the governor signed, a widely supported and bipartisan bill that will help businesses in the state seize this moment.

Assembly Bill 184, sponsored by Assemblyman Howard Watts, creates the Clean Trucks and Buses Incentive Program, which kickstarts a market for the adoption of electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses that may be manufactured in Nevada, or produced with Nevada’s own resources.

This bill earmarks a portion of incoming federal dollars to lower the upfront costs to purchase medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks and buses. This will drive cost savings to the local businesses and public entities that want these vehicles because the operating costs of electric trucks can be significantly lower than their diesel counterparts and the cost of electricity is just a fraction of that of gas.

Many Nevada businesses, small and large, are sensitive to the volatile gasoline prices and higher maintenance costs that come with internal combustion engines, and they are eager for an alternative. But they have previously been unable to front the money to make the leap to electric. Now, we will allow entities such as school districts and local delivery services to fully capture the cost savings that accrue over the lifetime of an electric vehicle.

Importantly, growing the electric vehicle market supports a quickly growing electric transportation workforce, with Nevada electric vehicle jobs increasing 29 percent in 2021 alone. Potential clean transportation careers include occupations for workers of all backgrounds and educations, and can be as diverse as industrial engineering technician, fleet manager and customer service representative.

Another critical benefit of getting these vehicles deployed in Nevada is that they can, with the right NV Energy programs set up, be an immense asset to grid resilience, due to their large batteries and predictable charge and discharge cycles. With innovative bidirectional capabilities that can take power from the grid and send it back, these vehicles can act as large batteries on wheels.

When the cumulative power of a fleet is considered, for example, a large school district could use its buses as a source of power, lowering facility costs by only drawing from the grid when prices are the lowest.

Well-crafted charging management solutions can ensure vehicles are ready to do their jobs, but also to shift charging to times when electricity is not in high demand, which helps make the electric grid more efficient and stable. More work, especially before the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, is needed to help turn this vision a reality. The Clean Trucks and Buses Incentive Program will provide Nevada businesses with the assistance needed to play their part.

To be an electric vehicle hub, it was critical that the state continue to give manufacturers, charging providers and fleet services assurance that Nevada’s future is in clean transportation. This bill shows everyone that Nevada means business.

Heidi Sickler is the policy director at bp pulse fleet. Colin Wilhelm is the policy manager at Lightning eMotors.