While electric vehicles (EVs) provide benefits over traditional gas-powered vehicles, they also come with challenges. Investigators surveyed and interviewed staff, analyzed costs and developed an optimization model to address these challenges. Project findings will help agencies across Minnesota achieve a successful and cost-effective transition to the increased use of EVs.
Continue reading Successfully Integrating Electric Vehicles into FleetsTag Archives: electric vehicles
CTS Webinar: EV Infrastructure and Fuel Policy—Understanding the Transportation and Economic Impacts
Thursday, April 23, 2026, 2:00–3:30 pm, Virtual
About the Webinar
Transportation policy and energy markets are evolving rapidly as states explore strategies to reduce emissions and support new fuel technologies. This webinar will examine two current policy areas shaping transportation systems: electric vehicle infrastructure development and low-carbon fuel standards.
Beth Kallestad from MnDOT’s Office of Sustainability and Public Health will provide an overview of Minnesota’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. Her presentation will discuss how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and NEVI funding have shaped the development of EV infrastructure in Minnesota, the program’s current status, and what to expect in the next phase of implementation.
Monica Haynes and Neil Wilmot from the University of Minnesota Duluth will highlight a 2025 study that examined the relationship between low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) programs and gasoline prices. They will explore how LCFS programs in other states have affected retail fuel costs and discuss the challenges of predicting the economic impacts of a potential LCFS program in Minnesota.
Through these presentations, webinar attendees will gain insights into how emerging transportation energy policies influence infrastructure planning and economic outcomes.
Speakers
Beth Kallestad is the sustainable transportation planning director with MnDOT’s Office of Sustainability and Public Health. She has a wide range of experience in the environmental field, including in the private, government, academic, and nonprofit sectors. This experience has given her a strong background in the management and implementation of a variety of sustainability planning efforts, public and stakeholder engagement, effective communications, trust building, and collaboration. Beth joined MnDOT in June 2022 and has focused her work on the development and implementation of the EV infrastructure program with federal NEVI funding and supporting MnDOT’s internal fleet transition.
Monica Haynes has served as the director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Minnesota Duluth since 2014, supervising a small team of student researchers and a writer/editor. During her time in this role, the department has completed more than 90 funded research projects on a wide range of topics related to current events, proposed development opportunities, and economic trends. She also serves as adjunct faculty in the Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE), as chair of LSBE’s outreach committee, and on the Duluth Workforce Development Board.
Neil A. Wilmot is an associate professor and head of the Department of Economics and Health Care Management, Labovitz School of Business and Economics, at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is also an associate of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. Wilmot’s research interests include energy economics and energy commodities, encompassing a wide range of topics including oil and gas markets, renewable energy integration, and energy pricing mechanisms. He has published numerous articles in leading energy economics journals, including Energy Economics, Resource and Energy Economics, and The Energy Journal.
Registration
This webinar is free, but registration is required. Once you have registered, you will receive an email confirmation with a Zoom link. The link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.
Related Reading
Transitioning to EV Fleets: Best Practices and a Decision Tool | MnDOT Digital Library
Using Onboard Vehicle Data to Assess Pavement Quality
Many modern vehicles continuously track location and performance data such as speed and acceleration. Collecting large amounts of this data to use in machine learning models has many potential applications, including aggregating and evaluating road pavement conditions. This project investigated the feasibility of using large amounts of onboard data from electric vehicles to monitor and assess pavement conditions comprehensively and cost-effectively across a large network.
Continue reading Using Onboard Vehicle Data to Assess Pavement Quality
The winding road to an electric fleet
Reprinted from CTS News, November 24, 2025
Even for cities, counties, and organizations with zero-carbon emissions goals, most fleet managers are skeptical about going fully electric. Calculating the return on investment for a single vehicle is straightforward—but for a fleet, it’s complex.
Continue reading The winding road to an electric fleet
New Project: Transitioning to EV Fleets: Best Practices and a Decision Tool
Minnesota agencies are evaluating how to meet the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) target of at least 50% by 2030. Numerous technical, social and coordination considerations are inherent in a transition to electric fleets.
Continue reading New Project: Transitioning to EV Fleets: Best Practices and a Decision Tool
Researchers identify Minnesota’s best charging locations for e-trucks, aiming to boost adoption
By Megan Tsai, reprinted from CTS News, February 8, 2024
Aiming to eliminate barriers to electric truck adoption in Minnesota, U researchers have identified the state’s most suitable e-truck charging locations.
Currently, the adoption of electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks is lagging compared with the rising popularity of personal and transit electric vehicles. There are several reasons behind the delay, but one key factor is the lack of an adequate charging station network for e-trucks. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) called on U of M researchers for insight and guidance.
“Our goal was to understand the needs and opportunities for e-truck charging stations and to optimize the location of charging stations in Minnesota, ” says Alireza Khani, associate professor with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering and the project’s principal investigator.
The project was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, researchers identified the most important criteria to consider when planning e-truck charging stations; this was done with a survey of experts and stakeholders, including staff from MnDOT, the Freight Mobility Research Institute, and the American Trucking Associations.
Based on this survey, researchers ranked the relative importance of the criteria and assigned each a weighted value. The top three criteria were ease of access for e-truck drivers, proximity to power substations, and proximity to existing truck stops. Other criteria included environmental conditions (land cover, water resources, and flood risk), land prices, and the potential to generate onsite solar energy.
During the second stage, researchers developed geographic information system layers for each criterion and pared down candidate locations using optimization modeling. The model was designed to consider truck demand in Minnesota, the routing and charging activities of e-trucks, and the market penetration rate of e-trucks, with a goal of minimizing total travel costs to promote greater adoption of e-trucks.
“This optimization model is a novel decision-making tool that will help MnDOT maximize its return on investment in the charging station network,” Khani says. “The model can be expanded to incorporate other contributing factors and inform policy decisions.”
To gain additional insight into Minnesota e-truck adoption, researchers tested the model with several assumptions based on the reduced per-mile operating costs of e-trucks over diesel trucks. They found that the adoption of e-trucks would grow sharply as the charging station network is developed; the growth rate would be highest when the first 30 to 40 stations are added. The modeling also found that solar generation was not a viable option to fully power truck charging stations.
MnDOT is focused on meeting the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, and increasing the adoption of e-trucks would help MnDOT proactively address this significant subsector of transportation greenhouse gas emissions.
“This project helped us understand considerations for e-truck charging stations, such as electric power substation location and capacity,” says Andrew Andrusko, freight planning director with MnDOT’s Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations. “It also identified optimal locations for truck charging stations to support intrastate freight movement.”
Future of Mobility: Decarbonized transportation
April 26, 2023
The Future of Mobility series collects the perspectives of top U researchers and other national experts. In 17 articles, the authors scan the horizon and reflect on critical transportation topics. Each article recommends action steps for public officials and policymakers.
Continue reading Future of Mobility: Decarbonized transportation
EV System Impacts
Model helps analyze EV system impacts, evaluate policies for subsidies and charging
Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to capture a substantial portion of the future vehicle market. In the short term, however, technology and infrastructure limitations—such as driving range and charging availability—will prevent transition on a large scale. Because EVs will share the road network with gasoline vehicles (GVs), says Alireza Khani, “it’s crucial to understand how EVs and GVs will coexist.”
Continue reading EV System Impacts
Researcher Charts Path for Greater use of Electric Freight Vehicles in Minnesota
This article was originally published in Catalyst, May 2022.
In Minnesota, trucking produces about 13 percent of the total pollutants in the state. Moreover, a 2019 EPA report identified the transportation sector as the source of the highest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, a problem compounded by the fact that this pollution is more concentrated in urban areas.
Continue reading Researcher Charts Path for Greater use of Electric Freight Vehicles in Minnesota
New Project: Identifying and Optimizing Electric Vehicle Corridor Charging Infrastructure for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Trucks
Transportation is the number one emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota and medium to heavy duty trucks contribute to about 40% of transportation carbon pollution.
While electric cars and buses are becoming more common, medium and heavy duty electric trucks are still in their infancy, and the nationwide infrastructure needs to support them still has to be determined.
In a new study, MnDOT will identify the electric charging infrastructure needed along Minnesota highway corridors to support clean freight transportation.
Continue reading New Project: Identifying and Optimizing Electric Vehicle Corridor Charging Infrastructure for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Trucks
Crossroads 