Use Cases

The Montana Team identified four different options, or “use cases”, for participating communities to consider when prioritizing how to electrify their transportation sector. The use cases describe different segments of the transportation sector and different charging paradigms associated with those segments. Read more about prioritization of the use cases in the Roadmap.

Light Duty Private Vehicles
Charging for light duty vehicles is targeted for privately owned electric vehicles and would include banks of charging stations made available at public locations like businesses, libraries, shopping centers, parking garages, etc. Learn more…

Light Duty Fleet Vehicles
Charging for fleets of vehicles involves banks of charging stations. This strategy targets municipalities or businesses who own many light duty electric vehicles and can locate charging stations at their offices. Learn more…

Public Transit, Depot Charging
Providing charging for public transportation at transit depots allows the buses to be charged predictably based on known schedules of when they will be at the depot. Learn more…

Public Transit, On-Route Charging
Providing charging for public transportation during on-route service may allow for interesting opportunities for continuous charging, but typically requires fast-charging infrastructure. Learn more…

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Tradeoffs Between Use Cases

Prior to meeting with each community, the Montana Team evaluated economic, environmental, and societal benefits for each use case by qualitatively assessing their ability to produce these benefits. These included: Reducing traffic congestion, increasing equity/accessibility, emission reduction, economic benefits for the user, economic benefits for the owner, and co-locating with renewable energy. The matrix below describes how well each of the four use cases produces these benefits. Green indicates the use case typically achieves the benefit. Yellow indicates the use case sometimes achieves the benefit. Red indicates the use case does not achieve the benefit.

Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment

The electrical vehicle charging equipment that was available at the time of this report can be categorized into three basic levels. The biggest difference between them is the voltage supply, which dictates how quickly the vehicle can be charged. Throughout the use case descriptions, we will refer to the levels listed below and how they facilitate different EV options.

Level 1 Charging: These provide 120V of alternating current (AC) power. These can be plugged into any wall outlet, and are primarily used in residential settings. They generally provide 2-5 miles of range per hour of charging. They are commonly referred to as “trickle chargers” because of their low voltage and longer charge times.

Level 2 Charging: Level 2 charges provide 240V of AC power, which makes them suitable for both residential and commercial use. They typically provide 10-20 miles of range per hour of charge. These are commonly used for public charging stations.

Level 3 Charging: More commonly known as “DC fast chargers”, Level 3 charging equipment provides 480V of direct current (DC) power. This allows for much faster charging, generally allowing 60-80 miles of range per 20 minutes of charging. These are generally used only in commercial settings.