25,444 Registered EVs

The new number is the result of 5,441 EVs added to the rolls from January through June (and turnover of 1,379 EVs). This represents virtually the same pace relative to the 5,407 registered in the second half of 2021 and an improvement over the 4,335 year over year comparison.

Registrations are up 19% for the first half of this year and 48% from one year ago.

These numbers come from the DMV website which publishes top line data. The breakdown of battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, make, model, and municipality are not yet available to us. We have a Freedom of Information Act Request on file and expect to receive the information before the end of the month.

This number puts us at 6.06 registered EVs per 1000 residents. As a point of comparison, Maryland just announced that they passed the 50,000 mark, which puts them at 8.13 per 1000 residents.

For our purposes, the definition of EV includes battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell vehicles, and battery electric motorcycles. This is what the state tracks. We’ll have the breakdown when we receive the new files.

The state has set goals for itself via the Multi-State Zero Emission Action Plan of 150,000 by 2025 and 500,000 by 2030. A 48% increase in a year isn’t bad, but that percentage pace will at minimum need to sustain itself off of an increasing base, meaning the absolute number increase will have to grow substantially.

$50K MSRP Cap Effective July 1

The first of the changes to the incentive program has been implemented as of July 1, namely an increase in the $42,000 MSRP cap to $50,000. This is still below the average cost of an EV, but at least it helps keep up with inflation to some degree and enables additional models to be eligible, a mix of BEVs and PHEVs, including the BMW 3 Series PHEV, BMW i3, Polestar 2, and Ford Mustang Mach-E. Not all trim levels may fall within the price cap. A reminder, the price cap applies to the base price of the trim level, excluding taxes, title, destination charges, and options. It also excludes any dealer markup. The DEEP website is not 100% up to date with respect to eligible vehicles. If you are in the process of buying an EV that you think should be eligible but you’re being told by a dealer that it isn’t, it could be a matter of the database not being updated. Contact cheapr@energycenter.org. If that doesn’t work, you can reach out to the club.

May Rebate Data

The low level of rebates continues and it will be 2 months at least before we see the impact of the higher MSRP cap, longer for the other program changes. There were 63 rebates – 39 PHEV, 24 BEV – also the typical recent pattern with the Toyota PHEVs getting the most action. Otherwise, there was a modest pop with the Kia EV6, which going forward will have more eligible trim levels under the new price cap. There were no income-limited rebates.

Treading Water – Awaiting New Program Implementation

The data for April have been posted, a low number of 51 rebates. We are in a holding pattern at this point as we await the particulars of the implementation of changes mandated in Public Act 22-25 (a.k.a. SB-4). Rebates declined from 114 in March. There were no income-limited Rebate+ incentives awarded.

During these supply-constrained times, the rebates by model often fluctuate and that was the case in April with the large decline in the RAV4 Prime from 42 to 8. (Note: the numbers in the chart below do not tie back to the total. That is because there are slightly different numbers in the Tableau graphic on the CHEAPR website than the accompanying spreadsheet.) Given that the RAV4 Prime has been so dominant, it actually tilted the balance to a slightly higher number of BEVs, driven by a relatively strong number for the Nissan Leaf and signs of life for the Chevy Bolt and Kia EV6.

Of course, the new legislation is expected to dramatically change things. There are specifics that DEEP has to decide, as well as implementation logistics to be developed. There is a CHEAPR board meeting in a few weeks and we will report on any specific announcements made at that time. Our review of the legislation can be found here.

Modest Increase in March Rebates

The CHEAPR rebate count was up modestly to 96 rebates, 64 of them PHEVs. The big gorilla was the Toyota RAV4 Prime, continuing its run as by far and away the rebate leader. It is quite amazing to see how much the RAV4 has cannibalized the Prius Prime, which was down to only 9 rebates. The Kia Niro placed a distant second with 12 rebates, and the first rebate for the new Kia EV6 appeared. Below is the disposition of all the rebates by model.

Legislation

The major news is that SB-4, the big environmental omnibus bill which includes significant changes to CHEAPR has passed the Senate. The vote was largely along party lines with only one Republican voting in favor. It now goes before the House. Momentum seems to be with it. Since this is a short session, we’ll know in less than a week. We will give a more detailed summary of the changes for CHEAPR if it passes, but the headlines are an increase in the MSRP cap to $50,000, loosening the requirements for the income-limited incentives, and extending eligibility to businesses, fleets, municipalities, and tribal entities.

Low Rebate Levels Continue

There were 50 total rebates awarded in February 2022. January was restated from 40 to 52. There were no LMI (income limited) rebates as far as we can discern. These rebates are of a different amount than the standard rebate and that is how we can identify them.

There were no actions taken to modify the program at the March board meeting. Of course, even if there were, it would take some time to implement. SB-4, the big environmental omnibus bill raised in the legislature has passed out of committee and is now before the Senate. This bill has several CHEAPR related components that would significantly change the program, in particular by raising the MSRP cap and loosening the LMI criteria. (More details here.) It will be known before the next board meeting in June if this bill will become law. Many bills are written for changes to take place in the fall. Realistically, whether it is legislation or DEEP-driven, that is probably the earliest timeframe we are looking at.

The RAV4 Prime dominant distribution of rebates by model continues. Driven by this, the program remains PHEV top-heavy with 34 of the 50 rebates.

The appearance of the VW ID.4 was nice to see but we have not seen evidence of many of this trim level being delivered. We expect this pattern to continue absent an MSRP cap increase. Nissan, maker of the budget-friendly Leaf, is getting ready to introduce its new Ariya EUV, but the starting MSRP is $46K. To the best of our knowledge, GM has still not resumed production of new Bolts as it is still working its way through the recalled vehicles and dealer inventory, though it should be coming to the closing stage of that. The forthcoming Equinox EUV is projected to have a similar price point to the Bolt, but it is 18 months away.

Time to Get Moving

There have been any number of data-focused posts on this blog tracking the details of EV adoption in our state, not to mention references to the goals the state has set for itself via the MultiState ZEV Action Program Memorandum of Understanding. If the goal of a half-million registered EVs by 2030 were to be realized, it would represent roughly 20%, perhaps a bit less, of the entire statewide light-duty fleet. As each year goes by, the trend line has not been rising fast enough. The simple image above shows the historical trend beginning with our first data dump from the DMV in 2017 (blue), to the most current data point (orange), and then onto what the slope would need to be (magenta) for us to achieve the 150,000 interim goal by 2025, along the way to the final 500,000, calculated on a straight line basis. The chart goes to January 2031, which is the same as December 31, 2030. We need every day we can get.

We also need the right policies, such as direct sales and a more aggressive CHEAPR program. Direct sales has come before the legislature numerous times in the past without passing. If SB 214 has been brought up before the committee, it means it most likely has enough votes to pass out of committee. What happens next is harder to predict. We only know that if you don’t try, it won’t happen. We also know that there are more EV owners and advocates every year. The direct sales blog post has information about how you can help.

Help Needed to Remedy Persistently Low Rebate Levels

As can be seen in the chart at the top, the rebate count for January was exceedingly low with only 40 rebates, just over half of the low number of 78 from January 2021.

Continuing recent trends, the Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid dominated with 17 rebates, with PHEVs overall accounting for 28 of the 40 rebates.

Some changes could be afoot if SB-4, raised jointly by the Transportation and Environment Committees of the legislature, become law. There are several CHEAPR-related provisions included in the draft text. This is the description to the best of our knowledge.

Environmental Justice Focus

There is a statement of purpose now that focuses on environmental justice communities and lower income individuals. It is phrased as, “The commissioner shall prioritize the granting of rebates to residents of environmental justice communities, residents having household incomes at or below three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level, and residents who participate in state and federal assistance programs, including, but not limited to, the state-administered federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, state-administered federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or a Head Start program established pursuant to section 10-16n. The program shall provide rebates of five thousand dollars to residents of environmental justice communities.”

This represents a loosening of rules for income limited individuals, often referred to by the shorthand LMI. Currently, only participants in state and federal assistance plans are eligible for the Rebate+ incentives and very few have been used. There were zero in January. This expansion to 300% of the federal poverty level should expand the pool. The poverty level for a family of 4 is $27,750. Aside from an overly limited applicant pool, the rebate+ incentives arguably suffer from being awarded after the fact. If that can be addressed, it would be up to DEEP and the board to determine the process.

The LMI incentive is increased to $5000. Currently, a BEV carries a total incentive of $4250. It is not clear if $5,000 applies to everything.

Standard Rebate and Higher MSRP Cap

The standard rebate still exists and the rules are below.

MSRP cap increase to $50,000. This is the level where it was before being lowered in 2019 to $42,000, which began the chronic underspending and has more recently resulted in a program tilted heavily toward PHEVs. For example, over the past 4 months, BEVs accounted for 30% of CHEAPR rebates, but represent 59% of all registered EVs.

While the EV Club has pushed for a restoration of the $50,000 level for the past couple of years, in the current inflationary environment, it arguably could be higher. The average transaction price of an EV, according to Kelly Blue Book, is $56,437 (excluding Tesla). The marketplace has blown through the cap level.

Inclusion of Fleets

Expansion of program to include municipalities, businesses, organizations, and tribal entities. These organizations are entitled to up to 10 rebates per year up to a max total of 20. Organizations located in an environmental justice community can receive more at the discretion of the DEEP Commissioner. This could be a big help.

eBikes

eBikes are now included with a rebate of $500 for a bike costing no more than $2,000. In the Transport Hartford/Center for Latino Progress meetings, they have said that $2,000 isn’t enough for a quality bike. We support eBike rebates, along with their efforts to advocate for a higher price cap.

Higher Budget

The CHEAPR budget established in the 2019 legislation is $3MM per year, which has been underspent since the day it started. With the expansion of incentives described in this post, the spend level looks to be considerably higher. The proposed legislation authorizes the program to spend “a minimum of $3MM per year.” This indicates that more funds are forthcoming, but it doesn’t specify a cap. CHEAPR funding comes from the clean air fees collected as part of auto registration. These fees bring in about $8MM per year. $3MM have been going to CHEAPR with the rest having gone to the general fund. The new legislation designates that 57.5% go to transportation funding, though it is possible that other programs could be included.

Board

There are proposed changes to the board, specifically the inclusion of a “representative of an association representing electric vehicle manufacturers,” and a “representative of an association representing electric vehicle consumers.” For the former, we don’t know if this is a way to draw in the new EV-exclusive manufacturers or if it can be filled by an organization such as the Automotive Alliance which represents legacy OEMs. The manufacturer representative is appointed by the Senate President Pro Tempore. The consumer organization representative is appointed by the House minority leader. These replace 2 current positions appointed by the same individuals. Those positions are currently filled and it is not known if those people will depart.

There are also a couple of unfilled board positions, appointed at large by DEEP, and designated for representatives of an industrial fleet or transportation company.

The board is characterized as operating in an advisory capacity so it is not completely clear how much power they have when it comes to setting policy.

Other Legislative Items

In this and other bills, there are other items of note.

• Right to charge legislation to make it easier for residents (owners and renters) to be able to install a charging station.
• Adoption of California medium and heavy duty vehicle emission standards, pending results of DEEP analysis. (Does anyone seriously doubt we desperately need this??) Update: DEEP released their expected endorsement of this measure on March 9th. (This is bill HB-5039.)
• Allowance for school to enter into 10-year contracts for EV school buses. Currently, only 5-year contracts are allowed. For EV buses, 10 years are needed to make the numbers work.
• Accelerated purchases of smart traffic signals (yes, this really does reduce emissions).
• EV charging stations that go beyond the federal Infrastructure bill and highway corridors to cover communities with lack of charging access.
• Active transportation – pedestrian and bike paths.
• Any project involving state funds must not add to carbon emissions. If it does, there needs to be offsets.

Advocacy:

We are supportive this bill. There are many good things in it. We would prefer an MSRP cap of $55,000 for CHEAPR to reflect the realities of the electric car marketplace, as well as a higher cap on the cost of eBikes.

Go here to find your legislators and contact information.

The Transportation Committee and the Environment Committee will hold a joint public hearing on Friday, March 11, 2022 at 11:00 A.M. via Zoom.  The public hearing can be viewed via YouTube Live.  In addition, the public hearing may be recorded and broadcast live on CT-N.com.  Individuals who wish to testify via Zoom must register using the On-line Testimony Registration Form.  Registration will close on Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 3:00 P.M.  Speaker order of approved registrants will be posted on the Transportation Committee website on Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 6:00 P.M. under Public Hearing Testimony.  If you do not have internet access, you may provide testimony via telephone.  To register to testify by phone, call the Phone Registrant Line at (860) 240-0590 to leave your contact information.  Please email written testimony in PDF format to TRAtestimony@cga.ct.gov.  Testimony should clearly state testifier name and related Bills.  The Committee requests that testimony be limited to matters related to the items on the Agenda.  The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Constitutional Officers, State Agency Heads and Chief Elected Municipal Officials.  Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony.  The Committee encourages witnesses to submit a written statement and to condense oral testimony to a summary of that statement.  All public hearing testimony, written and spoken, is public information.  As such, it will be made available on the CGA website and indexed by internet search engines.

Barry Kresch

41% of CT EVs in Fairfield County

Hartford and New Haven Counties make up the bulk of the rest. When filtered for BEVs, there is even more of a Fairfield County skew.

% BEV by County

In terms of raw numbers.

EVs by City

In the map at the top of the post the bubbles are sized for the number of EVs in each city and the intensity of the color saturation deepens with higher EVs per capita. Below is a bar graph excerpt (due to space limitations of the cities with the highest EV count. Top cities are Greenwich (1371), Stamford (1058), Westport (890), Fairfield (729), and West Hartford (615).

EVs Per Capita by City

A number of the smaller cities, particularly in Fairfield County, rise higher in the ranks.

Make Within City

DMV separates the geo from the vehicle data. Their reason is the 14-10 privacy regulations. I think it is a stretch that PII could be deduced from city level data, but the limitation exists, nonetheless. In this chart, I attempt to knit the files together and come up with estimates of EVs by make within city. I need to use the map format to fit every city on a web page. The bar chart displays the cities with the higher EV counts, along with my disclaimer.

Political Affiliation

This line on this chart is an overlay of EV count by city and the bars are the political affiliations of the voters within each city on a percentage basis (hence, the bars are the same size). There are percentages for Democrats (light blue), Republicans (dark blue), and minor party plus unaffiliated (orange). The minor party plus unaffiliated is mostly the latter. From the looks of this, there does not seem to be a strong correlation of EV ownership with political party, a good thing in our view. This is excerpted due to space limitations.

EV Count and Median Income

This shows a much stronger correlation with income. The bars are cities sorted by median income and the line is EVs per capita (to normalize for population variation). This is also an excerpt due to space limitations. The full chart is on the dashboard.

The upper income skew is a challenge that needs to be addressed by manufacturers, EV advocates and policy makers. We want to see affordable EVs for all. Manufacturers need to serve this segment as well as the affluent. Policy makers can help with incentives and, importantly, taking steps to improve access to charging.

Finally, this is the correlation between EV count by city and public chargers. The line chart displays L1, L2, L3, and the sum of all of them. Again, this is only an excerpt due to space limitations. There is a slider in the dashboard enabling one to display all cities. There is a correlation between EV count and lower numbers of public chargers. To some degree, it is masked in the larger cities where there might be clusters of chargers, L3 in particular, at service areas.

Barry Kresch

Interactive EV Dashboard – EV Adoption in Connecticut

Note: These data are obtained via a Freedom of Information Act Request from the Department of Motor Vehicles. The data are registrations, not sales, and represent all light-duty electric vehicles registered in the state through the end of last year. The definition of “electric vehicle” or “EV” follows what is used in the MultiState Zero Emission Action Plan Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU has sets forth the EV adoption goals the state has set for itself, which are 150,000 registered EVs by 2025 and 500,000 by 2030. The definition of EV in the MOU includes Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV), and Battery Electric Motorcycles (BEMC). These different “fuel types” are captured as a variable, enabling the report to be filtered, so for example, we can choose to only look at BEVs.

Why do this?

I don’t do this just to make pretty charts. In my past life in media, we used to have a saying: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t sell it.” The same holds true for public policy. The ZEV MOU already suffers from the fact that it is a resolution and has no teeth. The real work is all of the under-the-hood advocacy and policies that will get us to where we need to be. Those of us who work on behalf of the EV Club or in other organizations such as the Sierra Club, Save the Sound, or the League of Conservation Voters, know all too well that the devil is in the details. I put this out there for the purposes of policy planning, citizen advocacy, holding the state accountable regarding its progress toward achieving its ZEV Plan goals, and under the principle that transparency is best.

There are 21,382 EVs registered in CT as of Jan 1, representing 14.3% of the 2025 goal and 4.3% of the 2030 goal. It is obvious that we have a long way to go.

The DMV publishes top line data, but the details add texture and insight. Knowing where there are clusters (or deserts) of EVs can help with planning for charging expansion. We track the details of which fuel types are registered and which models are succeeding with consumers. The extreme example: there are only 3 fuel cell vehicles registered in the state. Is it a wise use of resources to promote this technology, which the state extensively does, and which inevitably comes at the expense of supporting electric vehicles and mass transit?

A new dataset is obtained every 6 months, based on current statutory reporting requirements. Changes in policy can be correlated with the differences we see over time in the trended data.

Finally, many people don’t know that it is possible to get these data using public records requests and that it breaks no laws. In this and a subsequent post, I summarize many, though not all, of the charts in the dashboard.

About the Charts

I have not displayed the values in some of the charts below due to lack of space. If you are interested in seeing all of the data that I have charted, it is in a BI dashboard and posted to the website here. The values are displayed either by default or by hovering over a chart element. There are slicers (checkboxes) on most of the pages that can be used to filter the data. To check multiple boxes, depress the command key on a Mac or the control key on a PC. There are 29 pages (subject to change). Pagination is below the fold. Scroll down and click on it, and it will display the other pages and page titles.

Fuel Type

Battery Electric Vehicles account for 59% of EVs and growing faster than PHEVs. This is largely due to the Tesla Models 3 and Y. BEVs are up 59% from one year ago, while PHEVs are up 50%. There are currently 12,513 BEVs, compared with 8,827 PHEVs.

Tesla still has a commanding lead among EV makes

With 8944 registrations, Tesla is still way out in front of all other manufacturers. It is almost 3 times that of the number 2 make, Toyota, which has 3238, followed by Chevy with 1855. If the data are filtered for BEVs, the number 2 make is Chevy with 824.

Tesla accounts for 42% of all registered EVs and 71% of all battery electric vehicles (BEV). Despite numerous announcements from other manufacturers, this number has been holding steady with each successive wave of data.

Tesla – 8944 Registrations

There were more Model 3’s entering the file than the Y even though the reporting is that the Y is Tesla’s top-seller. This pattern is likely due to supply constraints. We know that customers are waiting a long time for their Model Y. The new plant in Austin, TX is expected to go online soon which will help alleviate the supply crunch. In the chart below, which is the trend in net registrations, the Y is growing faster than the 3, which speaks to the 3 having higher turnover, not unexpected for a vehicle that has now been around long enough for lease expirations or turnover for other reasons.

Toyota – 3238 Registrations

The Prius Prime and RAV4 Prime models, which account for almost all of the Toyota registrations, are plug-in hybrids. The RAV EV is a battery electric vehicle that was built in small numbers as a compliance car. The Mirai is a fuel-cell vehicle. There are 3 of them in the state and none currently for sale in CT as far as we know. Toyota did a refresh of the Mirai that became available in November 2021. They have been the manufacturer pushing hardest for fuel cell. Toyota is introducing its first battery electric vehicle, the bZ4X, an electric SUV (or EUV) later this year, according to its website.

It looks like Toyota has a hit on its hands with its RAV4 Prime. It came out of the gate strongly, but its success seems to be coming at the expense of the Prius Prime, where growth has greatly slowed. Note: The version of the Prius that pre-dated the Prime, simply known as the Plug-in Prius (one of those, “Why did they bother building this?” head-scratchers with a pitifully short electric range of only 11 miles), is folded into the Prius Prime numbers. (There are 1838 Primes and 421 of the older model.)

Chevrolet – 1855 Registrations

Chevy was at one time the leader in number of EVs registered, mainly driven by the now defunct Volt PHEV. Of course, Chevy is the tragic story of last year with the extensive recall of the Bolt due to a small, but unpredictable, incidence of battery fires. After the Bolt’s refresh with a lower price point, sales picked up, but the recall slammed on the parking brake. The Bolt has yet to overtake the declining Volt.

Chevy has made a number of high-profile announcements, including an electric Silverado pickup and an electric Equinox, both anticipated as 2024 model year vehicles.

Ford – 1034 Registrations

The big news from Ford was the introduction of the BEV Mustang Mach-E and the F150 Lightning. There was a limited production run of the Mustang this year, but enough to make a noticeable difference. There is a much smaller bump for the Escape PHEV. Deliveries of the F150 Lightning will begin later this year. Ford reports a strong order book and this will be the first EV pickup for sale, reaching the market faster than the Chevy Silverado and Tesla Cybertruck.

Hyundai – 897 Registrations

There was some progress with the Kona BEV. The big introduction of the year was the Ioniq 5. The file from the DMV includes the “Ioniq EV” with no “5” designation, so we may not yet be seeing it.

BMW – 875 Registrations

BMW was a relatively early EV player, with the BEV i3 and high-end, sporty PHEV i8 models. It has a relatively large number of models, mostly PHEV, mostly uninspiring performers. Recently, they have gotten some traction with the X5 PHEV. The imminent launches of the iX and i4 may build on this.

Note: for these charts, I combined the i3 and i3 REx. DMV classifies the i3 as a BEV and the REx as a PHEV, even though the range extender is an under-powered engine that enables you to get to a place to plug in, a preferable option to being dead-sticked, but not intended to function like a regular car as with other PHEVs. Most of the i3s are of the REx variety.

Volvo – 654 Registrations

Volvo had exclusively been selling PHEVs with modest success with its XC90. More recently it introduced the BEV XC40 Recharge.

Nissan – 652 Registrations

Nissan sold the first mass market EV to go on sale in this country, the BEV Leaf. It is still with us, though never a particularly strong seller. Nissan has announced an electric SUV called the Ariya, scheduled to be on sale by the fall of this year as a 2023 model.

Jeep – 489 Registrations

The first plug-in from Jeep became available in the state this year, a PHEV Wrangler, and it has gotten off to a decent start.

A few more charts:

Porsche – 433 registrations

Its most recent model, the expensive BEV Taycan has had a faster growth curve than earlier PHEV entries.

Honda – 419 registrations

Despite its having gotten off to a strong start, Honda stopped supporting the PHEV Clarity in this state a couple of years ago. It   has now been discontinued. Honda also made a short-range BEV Clarity that was never sold in CT. The registration count for this model will gradually erode. Honda has announced a BEV SUV called the Prologue, schedule for a late 2023 introduction as a 2024 model.

Audi – 337 registrations

Kia – 260 Registrations

Chrysler – 256 Registrations

Chrysler introduced the Pacifica, the first PHEV Minivan, but never sold very many. They arguably still have the category to themselves.

Volkswagen – 250 Registrations

VW has moved on from the BEV e-Golf to its new platform and its introductory vehicle, the BEV ID.4 (there is a smaller ID.3 that has been a success in Europe). The ID.4 looks to be an improvement over past sales performance, but this was a supply constrained vehicle in 2021.

Mitsubishi – 91 Registrations

Mitsubishi is another manufacturer that was one of the earlier movers in terms of introducing EVs. There is the micro-compact BEV iMieve and the PHEV Outlander. The former never seemed like a serious entry. The latter was the first plug-in SUV available in the country but has never done more than minimal volume.

Mercedes-Benz – 75 Registrations

Mercedes is an example of a major manufacturer that prides itself on cutting-edge technology that has thus far failed to have even a minimal impact with electric vehicles. The company now has a new EVA2 platform and EQ branded vehicles with the EQS sedan to be available this year.

Polestar – 52 Registrations

Polestar manufactures 2 EVs, the Polestar 2, a BEV and the Polestar 1, a high-performance, expensive plug-in hybrid. The chart below may not appear to have a vehicle label, but if you look closely, you will see a “2” at the bottom. Only the Polestar 2 has any ownership in CT.

Polestar, owned by Geely, which also owns Volvo, initially opened only 3 dealerships, 2 in CA and one in NYC. It was their way of avoiding this state’s retrograde laws against direct sales. One of our Polestar-owning members advises that the car is appearing in at least some local Volvo dealerships. Volvo dealerships can be certified to repair them, as well.

These charts are not an exhaustive review of every make. There is quite a large long tail with 22 makes having fewer than 100 registered EVs.

Electric vehicles may have finally reached a tipping point in consumer interest. 7 of the 9 auto ads in the Super Bowl featured EVs. Gas prices are high, which in years past caused hybrid sales to spike. The main headwind seems to be the chip shortage. Bloomberg just released a report that in Europe, overall car sales in January declined year over year for the 7th straight month due to this reason.

The top photo, is a panoramic shot taken by Dawn Henry at our Green Wheels EV Parade and Showcase, showing some of the breadth of EVs on the market, though not all of them are rebate eligible.

CHEAPR Rebates by Dealership Updated

by Barry Kresch

At the EV Club, it is not uncommon for us to have consumers tell us about their dealership experiences as they buy an electric car. These are highly variable. Some dealerships make an effort to sell EVs. Others try to convince customers to buy an ICE vehicle instead. Some have vehicles that are charged and ready for test drives, others not so much. Oftentimes, the customer knows more about the vehicle than the salesperson.

Some dealers make the CHEAPR rebate the seamless experience it is intended to be. Others try and push it onto the consumer to varying degrees. (Just for the record, for a new vehicle CHEAPR incentive, the dealer is supposed to submit the paperwork and the rebate should appear as a credit on the invoice. This “cash on the hood” aspect is the best thing about the program design.)

The approach here is to use the number of rebates awarded as a proxy for EV-friendliness. It does have some limitations in that not every dealer sells CHEAPR eligible vehicles, which are BEVs and PHEVs that have an MSRP of no more than $42,000.  Some of the newer EVs that are showing early signs of success are either completely or mostly above the MSRP cap. Examples are the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Jeep Wrangler PHEV, and Volkswagen ID.4.

Freedom of Information Act request

The data below were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and are from 2021 only, intending to reflect the current state of the market. There were Tesla rebates in 2021, but these are not included in the tables because Tesla sells corporately, and it is safe to say it does want to sell EVs. If a dealership does not appear in any of the tables, it is because there were no rebates associated with it. Some dealerships sell more than one make. We had granular data as to which vehicle model received the rebate, so they a dealership may be assigned to multiple brands accordingly.

There is often a very large gap between the dealers with the strongest performance and most of the rest, as you will readily see.

Toyota

Toyota has been the recent king of CHEAPR rebates with two popular PHEVs that are eligible (RAV4 Prime and Prius Prime). A1 Toyota has been a consistently strong performer. At the other end of the spectrum, New Country Toyota, located in the city (Westport) with the highest per capita EV ownership in the state, awarded a paltry 5 incentives.

Hyundai

Hyundai has been more of a factor recently with its Kona and Ioniq lineup. Brandfon and Danbury Hyundai were the standouts.

Chevrolet

All of these rebates are for the Bolt. This benighted vehicle first had the launch of its refreshed model and sibling EUV delayed due to the pandemic. When it was finally introduced last year, it showed stronger results than its predecessor. Then a small number of battery fires, for which the cause proved maddeningly difficult to pin down, ultimately cascaded into a full-blown recall of every Bolt manufactured. According to a recent report in MotorBiscuit.com, which characterizes the Bolt as “doomed,” Chevy has shifted its hopes to its planned EUV version of the Equinox, along with an electrified Silverado. Both of these are 2024 model year vehicles, expected to be on sale in the fall of 2023.

Nissan

The Nissan rebates are for one of the first EVs introduced, namely the Leaf. This BEV has never been a particularly strong seller, which is reflected in generally low rebate counts. Still, there is a considerable spread with Harte leading the pack. Nissan is introducing a new BEV called the Ariya.

Kia

Kia makes both a BEV and PHEV version of its Niro and one dealership that stands above the others.

Honda

Honda pulled the plug on its Clarity PHEV, a vehicle that had received little corporate support over the past couple of years. It is one of the few PHEVs with an electric range of over 40 miles. Westport Honda, which had tremendous success with the Clarity, does not appear on the chart, presumably because what we’re seeing here is the selling off of residual inventory. Honda will not have a replacement electric vehicle until 2024 when it plans to release an EUV called the Prologue.

Subaru

Subaru has one plug-in, the PHEV CrossTrek, which is not a strong seller.

Mini

There is a Mini BEV and PHEV.

Chrysler

Chrysler has been selling the Pacifica PHEV minivan for some years. It has never been a big seller. The vehicle from the company’s sister brand, the Jeep Wrangler PHEV, is meeting with early success but is above the MSRP cap.

Volkswagen

VW has transitioned from its e-Golf to the ID.4, the first of its new generation of BEVs to be sold in this country. Most of the ID.4 trim levels exceed the MSRP cap of the CHEAPR program.

Ford

Ford has made major progress with its strategy of producing electric versions of its iconic Mustang and F150 nameplates. The EUV Mustang Mach-E is above the MSRP cap and is currently supply-constrained. The electric F150 Lightning has yet to begin deliveries. Only the base trim level will qualify for the rebate based on the pre-release announced pricing. Usually, early production focuses on the premium trim levels which are more profitable. The rebates here are for the Fusion Energi PHEV, a low-volume vehicle.

Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi has been selling its Outlander PHEV sport utility vehicle. Reportedly, a success story abroad, it never found much traction here.