Get Paid for Sharing Your EV Enthusiasm

A lifetime ago (okay, 2 years) in pre-pandemic days, the club participated in several EV ride and drive events, called Electric Car Guest Drive, staged by the publisher of Electric Car Insider. My blog post about the first event is here. These events, typically sponsored by a utility or power authority, involve EV owners bringing their vehicles to be used for test drives (or guest drive) with the owner in the passenger seat. The drive is over a pre-planned route about 1.5 – 2 miles in length on local roads. No highway driving. Owners are paid $300 for each day they participate. Arrival is 9AM and the event runs from 10-4. Lunch is provided, as well as an optional dinner.

The test drive is casual with no dealerships or salespeople on site. Owners explain the vehicle, describe the ownership experience, and answer questions. Just conversation, no sales pressure of any kind. These events have been demonstrably successful at promoting EV ownership with 31% of test drivers buying an EV within 6 months.

Members of the public taking the drives are pre-registered and pre-screened.

If you are concerned about Covid, so are we! The event will only happen if it is safe. The organizer and the utility are watching developments closely. Drivers must be vaccinated. We await final word on protocol for the public and will update this space once we know. If you are interested, register to save the date.

Dates and locations:

September 23, 24, 25 – Middletown, NY (Orange County)

October 16 – Utica, NY

October 23 – Niagara Falls, NY

October 29, 30 – Middletown, NY

Those Utica and Niagara Falls locations are a bit far from CT, but there are a small number of folks on our list in upstate NY.

This is a link with more background information: www.electric-car-insider.com/evpresenters/

There is a registration link on that page. Or contact the publisher, Chris Alan, directly at Chris@electric-car-insider.com

Register for as many or as few days as you like. It’s a fun day!

EV Purchase Incentives, EVSE (charging equipment) Subsidies, Free Charging

This past Tuesday, July 27th, the EV Club presented a webinar jointly sponsored with Sustainne, LLC, Sustainable Westport, and the Town of Westport on how to save money when buying and charging an EV.

The speakers were Analiese Paik, CEO of Sustainne, Paul Vosper, CEO of JuiceBar, and Barry Kresch, President of the EV Club. These were the areas we covered:

• Latest changes to CT CHEAPR program of EV purchase incentives
• Update: There is a recent change to the CHEAPR program not reflected in the webinar. EV buyers can now receive 2 rebates beginning with June 2021, meaning if you had previously received a rebate, you can receive 2 more. They must be spaced at least 24 months apart.
• Federal purchase incentive
• Newly release EV Rate Design from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) that directs the utilities to offer a range of subsidies for residential, Multiple Dwelling Units, commercial, fleets, and municipalities. These include subsidies for the purchase and installation of level 2 or level 3 chargers and discounts on electric rates.
• Many automakers offer some level of free charging with the purchase or lease of a new EV. They vary a lot and are either miles or time-limited. There are also numerous options for free level 2 public charging.

A written summary of the PURA program is here.

Link to the blog post with the latest CHEAPR rebates is here.

We have been receiving positive feedback. The webinar was recorded and is now available on our YouTube channel.

Aptera to Visit CT

This is still tentative but we think it will happen. This will be a cool event, so we thought we’d tease it.

Aptera is a 3-wheeled vehicle with integrated solar. Due to its lightweight design and low drag coefficient, the trim level with the largest available battery pack has a range of 1,000 miles for about $46,000. The solar array can charge 44 miles on a sunny day.

The event is anticipated to occur in mid-2021. It is a test drive event so it will be outdoors. Masking and social distancing requirements will probably still be in force at that point, but it worked out well for the Polestar event a couple of months ago.

Further information will be posted when available.

Proposed Carbon Tax with Consumer Dividend

Join us on January 14th at 7 PM for a presentation by Dr. Roger Kuhns about a carbon tax proposal and dividend being advocated by Citizens Climate Lobby.

Dr. Roger Kuhns, CT State Coordinator for the Citizens Climate Lobby, is president of SustainAudit, LLC, and founder of the publishing/film company musicTOears Press. He has over 40 years of professional experience in geology, sustainable practices and environmental science, renewable energy, sustainable urban agriculture, and is a writer, award-winning filmmaker, and monologuist performer.  He has integrated the environmental sciences, engineering, natural resources, community enrichment and economics into sustainable development work and strategic planning for changing and learning organizations.

A Zoom link will be sent to our email list. If you would like to join the list, please use the contact form on the website.

Polestar Test Drive Event

A picture-perfect Indian summer day set the scene for an EV Club event sponsored by Manhattan Motors, the regional dealer for the new Polestar brand. Polestar is Volvo’s racing brand but has now been spun off as a standalone brand selling high-end EVs.

Polestar vehicles are manufactured by Geely, the parent company of Volvo. There are two Polestar vehicles, the Polestar 1, a plug-in hybrid, and the Polestar 2, a battery-electric vehicle with 233 miles of range and a 0 to 60 MPH sprint in under 5 seconds.

The Polestar 2 starts at about $60,000 with a performance version that sneaks past $70,000. The Polestar 1 starts at $155,000 and there are a few interior options that can add another $5000.

Both of the Polestar models have all-wheel drive. Delivery of these vehicles will begin within a month.

The Polestar distribution model is different than a traditional automobile company and different from Tesla. It sells through dealerships but only has 4 licensed dealerships in the country, 2 in the San Francisco metro area, 1 in Los Angeles, and one in New York City. The company has a “concierge”-style service model and the vehicle is delivered to the consumer’s residence. Unlike with Tesla, they can deliver a vehicle to a CT address because they are a dealership, meaning that Manhattan Motors buys the vehicles from Polestar.  For servicing, Polestar’s sister company is brought into the process. Volvo dealers will be able to service these vehicles. The concierge model extends to service. The car is retrieved from and returned to the customer, and a loaner is provided.

Polestar advises that there will be a subsequent version of the Polestar 2 with a smaller battery pack and without all-wheel drive at a lower price point. No ETA at this time.

Polestar 2 to Spend an Afternoon in Westport for Test Drives

A jazzy new entry in the luxury EV space, the Polestar 2, is being brought by Manhattan Motors to Westport on Saturday, November 7th at 12:00 PM. Test drives will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

Judging by the form-factor, it looks like a sport sedan. But it has a hatch and ample cargo space so that it feels like it is fitting in-between a sedan and a crossover. It is clearly targeting Tesla, along with the Jaguar iPace and the Audi eTron.

Location: TecKnow in Bedford Square, Westport

The location will be outside the TecKnow store at Bedford Square, 12 Elm Street in downtown Westport. If you come to the event, please leave the circle area for the Polestar. There is free parking across the street in the Baldwin lot.

Polestar is not exclusively an EV brand. The Polestar 1 is a sporty ICE vehicle Porsche competitor that starts at $155,000. The vehicles are manufactured in China by Geely, which is also the parent company of Volvo. The car shares some architecture with Volvo but is a more futuristic, high-tech brand.

A Polestar 2 base trim level will set you back $59,900, and a loaded vehicle gets to about $72,000. According to the manufacturer website, the EPA rated range is 233 miles delivered from a 78 kWh battery pack.

We have had one club-member do a test-drive to this point. His succinct evaluation: “Impressive.”

Center for Latino Progress presents Multimodal Transit Summit on November 23rd, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM

This worthwhile summit explores sustainable and equitable transportation policies for a post-pandemic world. It is a full-day deep-dive. Local leaders, legislators, transportation professionals, engineers, among others come together for this program. There will be some EV-related content, specifically a panel in the evening portion on the CT CHEAPR purchase-incentive program.

This is the link to register: Multimodal and Transit Summit – Registration

Individual registration fees are $45/professional, $25 student/non-profit.

Upcoming Meeting to Feature a Speaker From FreeWire

There is a virtual club meeting via Zoom scheduled for October 27th. John Erdman, Head of Strategic Accounts for FreeWire, will be speaking to us about their latest charging solutions. John joined FreeWire this past August after having spent 9 years with ChargePoint.

One of the new mousetraps developed by FreeWire is a level 3 charger with a self-contained 160 kW battery that continuously draws power at the rate of 20kW per hour. This avoids the power consumption spikes typical of level 3 chargers, which are what cause facility owners to be subject to utility demand charges. We have seen first-hand in CT how that has become a major obstacle to expanding EVSE infrastructure.

We will also be providing an update on the latest information regarding proposed changes to the CHEAPR EV purchase-incentive program. Some of the proposed changes, which we have blogged about numerous times, such as here and here, are controversial and, as of this writing, have still not been resolved. It is possible they will be by the 27th.

If you are interested in joining us and do not receive the club emails, please fill out the website contact form.

We look forward to virtually seeing many of you.

Numerous EV Models Appear in Parade

30 EVs participated in this parade, a joint effort between the EV Club of CT and the Sustainable Fairfield Task Force. Parade participation was capped at this number to avoid being overly disruptive to local traffic

There was one novelty vehicle, a 1903 Baker replica. In its day, the Baker was quite the speedster, topping at about 48 MPH. It is a reminder that electricity was the dominant mode of energizing cars around the turn of the previous century.

The parade followed a roughly 25-mile route, beginning at the Westport Metro-North Depot, where the proceedings were kicked off by Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe. The route headed north up Imperial Avenue, jagged over Jesup to then proceed up Main Street, looping around Avery and Myrtle, and taking a left onto the Post Rd. heading East. There it stayed until hitting downtown Fairfield, where it veered off to Old Town Hall and concluded with  a second brief ceremony with Fairfield officials.

Throughout the event, masking was required and social distancing was observed.

Escorting the parade was the Westport Police Tesla Model 3 that has been fully outfitted as a police cruiser.

Deliveries of the newest Tesla Model, the “Y”, have been coming into CT, and this was one of 4 appearing in the parade.

This Toyota Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid, is one of four plug-in vehicles currently in use by the Westport Police and it was the rear bookend of the parade.

EV Parade to be Part of Green Wheels Expo

The EV Club and Sustainable Fairfield Task Force have partnered for National Drive Electric Week events, including an EV Parade. (The parade is currently fully subscribed.)

Parade Details:

Date: Sunday, September 27th

Time: Check-in is at 9:30 AM. The parade begins at 10:00 AM. It will last for approximately 1 hour.

Route: It begins at the Westport Metro-North Depot, New Haven-bound side. The route goes north through downtown Westport, then east on the Post Road, and ends at Old Town Hall in Fairfield.

We wish to thank all of the public officials who are supporting this event. Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe will give remarks pre-rally at the train station. Fairfield Selectwoman Nancy Lefkowitz will speak at the parade terminus at Old Town Hall. Westport Chief of Police, Foti Koskinas, will provide the parade escort in the Tesla Model 3 police cruiser. Two other WPD cars, a BMW i3 and a Toyota Prius Prime, will also be along for the ride. WPD and the Fairfield PD have worked together to coordinate.

There will also be virtual events, including an interview with EVangelist Jay Leno (yes, that Jay Leno!).