For electric co-ops, municipal utilities and G&Ts
Your members decide to buy an EV months before you hear about it.
EVReadinessCheck is a free tool that answers one question for a driver: will charging work for me? For you, it answers a different one: which members in your territory are about to add an EV, what kind, and how they will charge it.
Charging is what holds people back
Most EV websites teach the car: range, battery size, specs, model comparisons. That is rarely what stops someone. After testing this tool with hundreds of drivers, the question that stalls them is simpler. Where will I charge it, and will that be enough for how I drive?
The check settles that. A driver answers a short set of questions about weekly miles, parking and charging access. They get a readiness score from 0 to 100, the charging setup that fits their routine, what it will cost, and an honest answer when an EV does not fit yet.
Once charging is settled, the only question left is when
A driver who knows charging will work has made the decision. The purchase then waits for an ordinary event in the life of their current car:
- The gas car reaches the age or mileage where they planned to replace it
- A lease ends
- A repair estimate costs more than the car is worth
- A collision takes the car off the road
- A second driver in the household needs a vehicle
Most people who take the check tell us when they expect that to be. The usual answer is within three to six months. That is the window in which a rate plan, a rebate or a charger recommendation from you can still shape what they install and when they plug in.
What this means for you
The load is coming whether or not anyone tells you. Today the first signal is a rebate or EV rate application, and it arrives after every decision has been made: which car, which charger, which circuit, what time of day they plug in.
Many members never send that signal. In our data, 46.4% of people who complete the check have only a standard outlet and still score ready. They need no installation, so they have no reason to call you. Their load shows up on the transformer and nowhere else.
EVReadinessCheck gives you the view before the purchase. For your territory, in aggregate: how many members are planning an EV, where they live, what kind of vehicle, when they expect to buy, whether they will charge on an outlet or a Level 2 charger, and how much of that charging can move off-peak.
What you receive
A monthly report, aggregated. Any group smaller than 10 households is suppressed. Individual contact details reach you only when the member chooses to share them.
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| ZIP code | Where the household is, grouped to protect small counts |
| Purchase timeline | When the member expects to buy, in their own words |
| Vehicle type | The kind of EV they are considering, from a city commuter to a long-range road-trip vehicle |
| Housing and parking | House, condo or apartment, and garage, driveway, dedicated, shared or street parking |
| Charging level | Level 1 outlet, Level 2, workplace, or public charging only |
| Connected load | Charger draw while charging, in kW |
| Weekly energy | Grid-side kWh per week at home, for a mild week and a cold week |
| Flexible hours | Hours the car sits plugged in beyond what it needs, which is how far the load can move |
| Programs matched | Which of your rates and rebates the household fits, and which it cannot use |
For whoever owns your load forecast
The Energy Systems Integration Group published its EV Load Forecasting Guide in March 2026. It makes a point every planner will recognize: EV adoption does not show up in a customer’s usage history, and registration records lag and drift from where the car charges. The guide lists consumer surveys and home charging access as key inputs. This is a standing source for both.
| ESIG best practice | What the guide asks for | What this provides |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Documented adoption inputs | Ownership type, where the vehicle parks, local market factors | Housing type, parking detail, vehicle class and purchase timeline for each household |
| 10. Assumptions grounded in observed behavior | Real charging access and travel patterns | Stated weekly miles, charging access and hours plugged in |
| 13. Managed and unmanaged charging scenarios | A range of charging behaviors, not one load shape | Flexible hours and off-peak fit per household, in mild and cold weather |
| 14. Calibration, and tracking accuracy over time | Compare the forecast with metered reality | A stated-intent baseline today that you can check against AMI data once the vehicles arrive |
| 19. Coordination and data sharing | Formal agreements between planning parties | A monthly aggregate report under a simple data agreement, shareable with your G&T |
The guide also notes that smaller utilities may do better adapting a third-party or state forecast than building their own. If your G&T or a consultant produces yours, this report is designed to be handed to them.
What this is not
- It is a forecast input, not a forecast. It does not project adoption or peak load for your territory.
- It does not predict individual households. The report is useful in aggregate, which is also where the guide says household-level data is most reliable.
- Respondents choose to take it. They are people already considering an EV, not a sample of your membership.
- Answers are stated, not metered. Your AMI data is the check on it, and the pilot review is where that comparison happens.
Why the numbers hold up
- The scoring engine is deterministic. The same answers produce the same score every time.
- The engine never sees which partner sent the member. No partner can move a score.
- Every recorded result carries the engine version that produced it, so results scored under different rules are never mixed.
- Vehicle specifications come from EPA, electricity and fuel prices from EIA, and grid emissions from EPA eGRID.
A 90-day pilot
Step 1
A page with your name on it
A co-branded version of the check that shows your standard rate, your off-peak plan and your programs. Members see whether their charging fits your off-peak window, in summer and in winter, and only the programs they can use: a renter is not shown a rebate that requires owning the building. The score itself is identical for every partner.
Step 2
A QR code and a link
For a bill insert, the annual meeting, the member newsletter or your EV web page.
Step 3
A monthly aggregate report
The fields listed above, grouped by ZIP code and purchase timeline.
Step 4
A review at day 90
We compare what members told the check with the rebate and rate enrollments you received over the same period.
The first conversation is one question: how do you learn today that a member has an EV?
Ask about a pilotOr see what members see: take the check.
Figures as of September 2026. Source for the forecasting framework: Energy Systems Integration Group, EV Load Forecasting Guide (2026). EVReadinessCheck is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by ESIG.