What it is: Each month, the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Agency compiles a running amalgam of statistics on electricity generation, transmission, usage and costs. The data highlights both current usage, nationally and regionally, as well as overall trends.
Where it comes from: The Energy Department collects the data from regulated utilities and grid operators across the nation and other sources.
How it's used: The data shows trends that are vital to watch as the transportation industry shifts from internal combustion to battery electric power. An example is the increasingly rapid decline of coal as a primary fuel source for electricity generation. The data tracks the growth in power generation and price comparisons between fuels.
How it might be misused: The collected data is massive and could be cherry-picked to show how battery electric vehicles in certain locations draw the majority of their energy from environmentally harmful fuels, including coal and natural gas, even as renewable energy sources grow and fossil fuel sources decline.
