EV Club and CFE

The EV Club of CT and the CT Fund for the Environment (CFE) are hosting a meeting on July 15 at the offices of the CFE. The meeting will begin at 7:00 PM. The CFE address is 900 Chapel Street, Upper Mezzanine.

Agenda

Aside from being an opportunity to get to know one another, the agenda includes a recap of this year’s legislative session, planning for Green Wheels during Drive Electric Week, and a proposed event to be held at the Lime Rock racetrack.

Come join us on the 15th!

The EV Club of CT is pleased to announce that there will be a presentation from Hieu Le of the Sierra Club at the upcoming club meeting, scheduled for May 28^th. The Sierra Club is one of the organizations that EV Club CT partners with in the Connecticut Electric Vehicle Coalition.

Hieu Le is the campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for all Campaign. He leads the organization’s efforts on the Volkswagen settlement funds, electric vehicles, EV fees, National Drive Electric Week, and the Rev Up Electric Vehicles campaign. Prior to joining the Sierra Club, he worked on Beto O’Rourke’s Senate campaign in Texas. He also worked in Sacramento for a government affairs firm. He is a former delegate to the California Democratic Party and attended the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Meeting logistics

Date: May 28^th

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Bedford Square Offices of The Higgins Group, 30 Elm Street, Westport, CT.

Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D-136) Kicks Off The Session By Advocating for Added CHEAPR Funding (Photo: Bruce Becker)

Presenters: Dana Lowell (not pictured) of MJ Bradley and Associates; (left to right) Emily Lewis, Policy Analyst for Acadia Center; Mustafa Salahuddin, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1336 in Bridgeport; and Kevin Killer, Director of Public Policy for Chargepoint

A full house

A full meeting room of people assembled to hear a panel on EV public policy, specifically the economic benefits of moving to more extensive EV adoption. Along with the panelists noted above, the crowd also heard from Representatives Jonathan Steinberg (D-136, Westport) and Roland Lemar (D-96, East Haven), who is co-chair of the Transportation Committee. The panel was co-moderated by Claire Coleman, climate attorney for the CT Fund for the Environment, and Bruce Becker, president of the Electric Vehicle Club of CT.

The topic of the panel was how increased adoption of EVs will confer significant economic benefits to the state of CT and its residents.

Among the specific topics covered were continued funding of CHEAPR, the state program of rebates for EV purchasers; time-of-use utility rates; the impact of EV charging on utilities and ratepayers; and the benefits of moving to electric buses in our transit systems. For example, Mr. Lowell pointed out that, by law, the additional net revenues that would flow to utilities from EVs plugging in would have to be returned to ratepayers, lowering bills by an average of about $150 annually. And, if the charging were to occur primarily during off-peak hours, this would contribute to smoothing the power-utilization curve throughout the day. A good summary of the proceedings can be found in a write-up done by The Day of New London.

The EV Club of CT showed up in force for the day’s events, which included meetings with legislators and legislative aides in addition to the forum. Aside from Becker, club members Phil Levieff, Dawn Henry, R. Murali, Demetri Spantidos, Analiese Paik, Virgil de la Cruz, and Barry Kresch made the rounds.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) issued the attached Notice of Technical Meeting for February 8, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, in the Gina McCarthy Auditorium, DEEP Headquarters, 79 Elm Street, Hartford, Connecticut. 

The purpose of the technical meeting is to inform the recommendations of the EV Roadmap. The technical meeting will consist of four panel discussions with subject matter experts presenting on key topics, followed by a question and answer session with the audience. 

November 26, 2018

AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE ROADMAP FOR CONNECTICUT

NOTICE OF SCOPING MEETING AND OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

As recommended by the Comprehensive Energy Strategy issued on February 8, 2018, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) initiates this proceeding to develop an electric vehicle roadmap (EV Roadmap) for Connecticut. The EV Roadmap is anticipated to identify Connecticut-specific policies, programs, and strategies that the State of Connecticut should pursue to optimize deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) and associated infrastructure. Moreover, the EV Roadmap is intended to support development of a self-sustaining EV market, and ensure that increased electricity demand from EV deployment is a benefit rather than an impairment to the electric grid.

DEEP will conduct a scoping meeting on December 14, 2018, at 10 a.m. EST, in Hearing Room 2 at DEEP’s New Britain Office, Ten Franklin Square, New Britain, Connecticut. The purpose of the meeting is to brief stakeholders on the proposed scope of the EV Roadmap proceeding and to take public comment on the proposed scope of the EV Roadmap, which is provided below.

Draft Scope EV Roadmap

Overview

The EV Roadmap will outline the 2030 vision and objectives necessary to support the deployment of increasing numbers of light-duty zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) in Connecticut necessary to meet air quality and climate goals and to inform the parameters DEEP will consider when soliciting electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) infrastructure proposals under the VW NOx Mitigation Grant. In so doing, the document will review and describe a summary of user trends and projections, regional and federal efforts to date, and zero emission options beyond light-duty fleet applications.

Accelerating ZEV adoption and creating a robust fueling infrastructure Even with increasing demand, a growing roster of vehicle models, and an expanding network of both public and private infrastructure, the EV market is still in an early stage of maturation. To further support development of a self-sustaining EV market and the necessary infrastructure, the EV Roadmap will build on existing efforts already underway and make recommendations on the following elements:

• Education, outreach, and marketing
• Public and private fleet strategies
• Sustainable funding in the form of incentives, financing, manufacturer partnerships, or other
• Partnering with dealerships
• Bringing clean transportation options to low- to moderate-income communities
• Streamlining building codes and permitting
• Future proofing
• Interoperability
• Consistency of customer experience
• Data collection (EV registrations, charging station data, etc.)

Fueling/charging cases

Increasing market penetration of ZEVs requires increased deployment of fueling/charging infrastructure. In turn, accessible and reliable infrastructure will support and encourage further adoption of ZEVs in the state. Building out self-sustaining fueling/charging networks will require ongoing private-public partnerships and open communication to ensure that planning efforts are coordinated among multiple fueling/charging cases, including public, residential, and workplace charging.

The EV Roadmap will discuss and make recommendations on the following fueling/charging cases:

Public

• Public charging infrastructure ownership models
• EV fast charging
• Corridors, destinations, state facilities and properties, around town
• Hydrogen refueling stations

Residential • Single family homes

• Multi-unit dwellings

Workplace

• Workplace charging opportunities
• Outreach to promote workplace charging
• Opportunities to reduce impact of charging during peak hours
• Workplace charging host guidance
• Leadership recognition

Rate design and demand charges

Rate design and demand charges for residential, commercial and industrial customers set market signals. Market signals may be necessary to encourage beneficial off-peak charging that improves the efficiency of the grid and reduces costs for all electric ratepayers. Further, ZEVs can be a demand- response resource and/or function as distributed energy storage, enabling a reduction in investments in new electricity infrastructure and shifting load from peak to off-peak hours.

The EV Roadmap will explore and recommend crafting a rate design and demand charge strategy that encourages EV adoption while mitigating adverse electric demand and costs and harnesses the benefits of EV flexible load capabilities.

ZEV’s beyond light-duty vehicles

The EV Roadmap will discuss emerging applications for medium- and heavy-duty vehicle and non- road electrification in order to identify cost-effective strategies that target transportation electrification opportunities beyond light-duty vehicles including fleet and freight applications.

Planning forward with VW EVSE

As a part of the Volkswagen settlement, Connecticut has been allocated almost $56 million for use towards offsetting the excess oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions caused by VW’s actions. DEEP’s plan for the allocation of VW funds is set forth in the State of Connecticut Mitigation Plan and focuses on extensive mitigation projects to reduce NOx from a wide array of mobile sources. In accordance with a federal Consent Decree (Appendix D-2), Connecticut reserved up to 15 percent of these funds for electric and hydrogen vehicle infrastructure/EVSE.

EVSE project funding, like NOx mitigation funding, will be awarded through an open, competitive and transparent process that will comply with all applicable state and federal procurement requirements.

In November 2018, DEEP issued $12.1 million for a variety of clean air projects. DEEP will offer additional rounds of funding at a later date and will include a competitive grant opportunity for electric and hydrogen vehicle charging/fueling infrastructure. The EV Roadmap will both inform and outline funding priorities in this category.

DEEP plans on following the preliminary timeline detailed below:

Action Preliminary Timeframe DEEP initiates EV Roadmap proceeding and notices scoping meeting November 21, 2018 DEEP scoping meeting December 14, 2018, at 10:00 a.m.

Comments due on proposed scope December 20, 2018, by 4:00 p.m.

DEEP technical meeting January 2019 DEEP issues draft EV Roadmap February 2019 DEEP hearing on draft EV Roadmap February 2019 Comments due on draft version EV Roadmap March 2019 DEEP issues final EV Roadmap April – May 2019

By way of this Notice, DEEP is accepting public comment on the proposed scope of the EV Roadmap proceeding through December 20, 2018, by 4:00 p.m. EST. Written comments may be filed electronically on DEEP’s website or submitted to DEEP.EnergyBureau@ct.gov. All materials submitted by stakeholders in this proceeding will be posted on DEEP’s Energy Filings website under the matter “EV Roadmap.” Any questions can be directed to Debra Morrell at (860) 827-2688 and/or via e-mail at DEEP.EnergyBureau@ct.gov.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to complying with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please contact us at (860) 418-5910 or deep.accommodations@ct.gov if you: have a disability and need a communication aid or service; have limited proficiency in English and may need information in another language; or wish to file an ADA or Title VI discrimination complaint. Any person needing a hearing accommodation may call the State of Connecticut relay number – 711. Requests for accommodations must be made at least two weeks prior to any agency hearing, program or event.

Notice filed with the Secretary of State on November 26, 2018.

Clean Transportation Forum in Hartford

These are the details of the upcoming forum: