Update: US Infrastructure Bill

Dear MOBI Community,

President Biden officially signed the $1.2 trillion U.S. Infrastructure Bill into law on 15 November 2021. Last month we reviewed a version of the bill that was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on 4 June 2021. Now, we’re looking at the Enrolled Bill to identify changes that may be relevant to the MOBI community and initiatives.

The proposed funding for programs we highlighted in our Policy Review, including charging and fuel infrastructure and a per-mile user fee pilot, passed into law unchanged. Electric vehicle infrastructure remains a critical component of the Infrastructure Bill, with $7.5 billion set aside for EV charging and related programs out of a total $110 billion for roads and bridges. In even more exciting news, President Biden committed to installing over 500,000 charging stations across the country in an effort to accelerate EV adoption and mitigate the effects of climate change from gas-powered vehicles.

With the 2021 launch of the DRIVES (Distributed Registry for Intelligent Vehicle Ecosystem and Sustainability) Program, an incubator to develop digital infrastructure for the New Economy of Movement, the MOBI community is perfectly positioned to contribute to seamless EV infrastructure integration and drive the adoption of sustainable, user-friendly transportation options. Read about our Electric Vehicle Grid Integration Working Group here and explore the use cases from its standards here.

Our recently released MOBI Trusted Trip standard (MTT) supports sustainable transportation goals by linking decentralized sovereign identities and verified timestamped locations throughout a trip to enable Trusted Carbon Emissions Tracking (TCET) and countless other track and trace applications. Members of DRIVES recently completed the first MOBI Trusted Trip pilot to demonstrate a user journey involving electric vehicle charging, payment, battery state of health (SOH) reporting and tracking, tailpipe emissions tracking, road usage charging, and validation of decentralized sovereign identities.

Exploring how blockchain can improve mobility infrastructure is especially critical as public and private mobility stakeholders begin exploring decentralized infrastructure and applications. The MTT standard ensures data privacy for all stakeholders in a decentralized mobility ecosystem. With MOBI Trusted Trip, users own their data and can choose to share it for rewards and incentives. At MOBI, we believe it’s crucial to ensure that future programs kickstarted by the Infrastructure Bill put users and providers in control of the increasingly valuable data in the connected mobility ecosystem.

Below is an overview of key sections with their respective funding amounts.

Charging and fuel infrastructure: $15 million maximum grant amount — Sec. 11401
Strategic innovation for revenue collection: $15 million for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13001
National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot: $15 million for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13002
Data integration pilot program: $2.5 million for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13004
Emerging technology research pilot program: $5 million for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13005
Electric vehicle working group: Participation is not compensated. No information on money designated — Sec. 25006
Demonstration of electric vehicle battery second-life applications for grid services: No information provided on money designated — Sec. 40112
Electric drive vehicle battery recycling and second-life applications program: $200,000,000 for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 – Sec. 40208 *Correction: in our original policy review, we stated that $2,000,000 was designated. This was an error; the bill actually designates $200,000,000.

Best,

Tram Vo

Co-Director and Co-Founder

MOBI

US Infrastructure Bill

Note: MOBI will keep track of the Infrastructure Bill as it progresses through congress. This analysis is based on the version introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on 4 June 2021.

What is it? The U.S. Infrastructure Bill (H.R. 3684) is a trillion-dollar measure to fund several infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, railways, and electric vehicle charging stations. With pressure mounting to move towards a more sustainable mobility future, there is additional focus given to electric vehicle infrastructure and alternative fuel options to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Why is it relevant to the MOBI community? The bill features several sections that relate to various MOBI initiatives, including road-usage charging, data integration, multimodal transit, EV charging and grid integration, and the EV battery supply chain. MOBI members are working on implementing MOBI Trusted Trip which combines decentralized sovereign identity and timestamped location certified through the trip to enable a multitude of applications that advance smart mobility and sustainability, such as those mentioned in the infrastructure bill. MOBI standards and networks are increasingly relevant on a national scale with millions now designated for these smart and sustainable transportation projects.

What should you pay attention to in H.R. 3684? We highlighted several key sections that relate to sustainable and smart mobility initiatives at MOBI.

Division A — Surface Transportation

Title I — Federal-Aid Highways — Subtitle D — Climate Change — Sec. 11401. Grants for charging and fueling infrastructure
Title III — Research, Technology, and Education
- Sec. 13001. Strategic innovation for revenue collection.
- Sec. 13002. National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot.
- Sec. 13004. Data integration pilot program.
- Sec. 13005. Emerging technology research pilot program.
Title V — Research and Innovation — Sec. 25006. Electric vehicle working group.

Division D: Energy

Title I — Grid Infrastructure and Resiliency — Subtitle A — Grid Infrastructure Resilience and Reliability: section 40112 demonstration of electric vehicle battery second-life applications for grid services
Title II — Supply Chains for Clean Energy Technologies — Sec. 40208. Electric drive vehicle battery recycling and second-life applications program.: mentions EV battery recycling, which is also similar to EU’s battery regulation.
Title IV — Enabling Energy Infrastructure Investment and Data Collection
- Subtitle C — Miscellaneous: Sec. 40433. Digital Climate Solutions Report

Division H: Revenue Provisions

Title VI — Other Provisions
- Sec. 80603. Information Reporting for Brokers and Digital Assets

How is money designated? The bill designates billions of dollars to various infrastructure projects, but we picked out the projects most relevant to the MOBI community.

Charging and fuel infrastructure: $15 million maximum grant amount — Sec. 11401
Strategic innovation for revenue collection: $15 million for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13001
National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot: $15 million for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13002
Data integration pilot program: $2.5 million for each of fiscal years 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13004.
Emerging technology research pilot program: $5 million for each of fiscal years 2022 to 2026 — Sec. 13005.
Electric vehicle working group: Participation is not compensated. No information on money designated — Sec. 25006
Demonstration of electric vehicle battery second-life applications for grid services: No information provided on money designated — Sec. 40112
Electric drive vehicle battery recycling and second-life applications program: $2,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 – Sec. 40208.

EU Battery Regulation

What is it? Published by the European Commission on 10 December 2020, the EU Battery Regulation proposes several updates to regulatory policies in the European Union related to the safe and sustainable production, use, and recycling of batteries. It is an integral part of the EU’s Green Deal, which aims to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030, stimulate economic growth decoupled from resource use, and promote equitable climate futures across the globe.

Why is it relevant to the MOBI community? Batteries play a key role in sustaining the acceleration of the global digital economy, particularly when it comes to the development of zero-emission mobility and renewable energy storage solutions. The EU Battery Regulation puts forth new requirements for all types of batteries, identifying four categories by name: portable batteries, automotive batteries, electric vehicle (EV) batteries, and industrial batteries.

In addition to grappling extensively with the full life cycle of EV batteries, the Battery Regulation features sections that correlate with the track and trace work being done through DRIVES, Citopia, and MOBI Trusted Trip, including a clause that stipulates economic operators shall “…establish and operate a system of controls and transparency over the supply chain, including a chain of custody or traceability system or the identification of upstream actors in the supply chain.”

MOBI Trusted Trip will combine decentralized identity and ubiety (timestamped location) to ensure a more efficient and transparent supply chain. In anticipation of global supply chain paradigm shifts such as those outlined in the EU Battery Regulation, MOBI is working with several battery equipment suppliers in order to foster a well-equipped and compliant mobility ecosystem. If passed, the EU Battery Regulation will signify a major opportunity for widespread implementation of MOBI Trusted Trip and transform the global battery market as we know it.