Photo of Baldwin Parking Lot in downtown Westport

No More Free Juice

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. It was not expected that taxpayers would fund free charging forever.

Baldwin was the catalyst, but the policies described below are intended to apply to all town-owned parking areas, and going forward planning for parking includes consideration for EV charging.

The Board of Selectwomen today approved a charge of $.35 per kWh.

Baldwin is a timed lot, and the 3-hour limit applies to the EV spaces as well. There will be a 15 minute grace period before the vehicle is assessed an idling charge of $10/hour, billed in 15 minute increments.

If a vehicle pulls into one of these spaces with a near-depleted battery, 3 hours will not be enough to fully charge it. If the vehicle has an onboard charger of around 11 kW, some back of the envelope calculations indicate that it will be able to get about 30 kWh of charge, equating to roughly 130 miles of range, for a cost of $10.50.

Chargers at the town’s two train stations are exempted from any idling charges.

The charging spaces are for EVs that are charging only. Aside from combustion (ICE) vehicles, it is not permitted for an EV that isn’t charging to use one of these spaces. Citations will be given. We don’t know what the penalty will be, but currently if an ICE vehicle parks in an EV space at the train depot, a $25 fine is assessed.

The new policies will go into effect in January. Free juice reigns for the holiday.

12 chargers, 80-amp units (powerful for AC), have been installed at Baldwin with infrastructure for 12 more for when the time comes. The incentives available through Eversource provide for this kind of future-proofing. The chargers have J-1772 connectors.

Contretemps

Whenever public chargers are installed, it seems to generate some level of controversy.

We hope that nobody thinks installing public chargers is a bad thing. Given the importance of EV adoption in reducing greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and ongoing consumer concerns about range anxiety, public chargers are needed. These can be the powerful DC fast chargers, usually located along highway corridors, but also the less expensive level 2 AC chargers, such as those in Baldwin, in locations where there is more dwell time.

EVs currently account for about 7% of all vehicles registered in Westport. While Westport residents will no doubt use the chargers, it would be a mistake to think that all shoppers/diners are from Westport and that everyone in Westport has access to home charging.

Prime Access

These chargers are located near the front of the lot. It is common to see EV chargers located in what might be considered the prime spots for a parking lot or a building. We have heard the term “elitist” used to characterize this practice. The much more pedestrian explanation is proximity to the power source. Installing the chargers at the back of the lot would require more trenching and would be more expensive. (In a new-build situation, it is much easier to do this.)

In the EV community, most would prefer if the chargers could be located toward the “back of the lot.” Less tsuris.

Ongoing Evaluation

Since being energized, the chargers have been busy. Who doesn’t like free? Topping off may become a less frequent behavior when there is a fee that is higher than charging at home, plus an idling fee. These chargers are connected via the EVConnect service, as all town chargers either are or will be, and charging data, along with consumer feedback, will be used to inform future charger-related decisions.

Charging per kWh

As noted above, the fee is based on the kWh consumed in a given charge. Public EV chargers typically charge either using this method or by the minute. We think a per kWh fee is inherently fairer. You pay for what you use and slower charging vehicles are not penalized.

2023 was a notable year for the club as it produced a fully subscribed symposium and began a partnership with People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE).

Northeast Electrical Vehicle Symposium

The EV Club produced its first conference, along with an EV showcase, in conjunction with the CT Tesla Owners Club. It was fully subscribed and is planned to be an annual event. It was hosted at the zero-emissions, LEED Platinum Hotel Marcel in New Haven, and covered topics ranging from the Advanced Clean Cars regulations to electrifying one’s home, EV incentives, utility programs, local EV-friendly zoning and a keynote from You-Tuber Out of Spec Dave. Recap here.

PACE

We have been working increasingly closely with the PACE (People’s Action for Clean Energy) organization. Our collaboration began with data, as we contributed the vehicle data we obtain to the data they use to analyze municipal energy use. This is a service that PACE offers free to any municipality – they’ll quantify energy use and show where there are opportunities to decarbonize.

We are aligned on policy as both organizations support direct sales, regulations for clean vehicles, the Energy Data Bill of Rights, and expanded distributed and shared solar.

We support each other’s events. This allows each of us to improve coverage throughout the state.

PACE offers a number of services for communities, including supporting HeatSmart campaigns for heat pump adoption, help with solar canopy siting, and data on building efficiency.

Finally, PACE has also been giving the club some financial support. We may be a volunteer organization, but we do have expenses! They also accept donations on our behalf. Go here. After clicking on an amount, you will go to a page that allows you to designate how you would like the donation to be used. Choose “create your own,” and type in “EV Club.”

First Responders

The EV Club continues to support our first responders when they hold EV training events. This year we worked with Fairfield, Windsor Locks, Northville, and Middlebury.

Incentives

Incentives are now more numerous, more complex, and a moving target. We decode them and keep up to date with changes for the federal and state EV purchase incentives, as well as the charging incentives offered by the utilities. This is our incentives page. We have worked with a number of individual members to sort through these and help with questions. We also had the opportunity to speak at length with Eversource regarding how to operationally improve the consumer experience with respect to incentives and dealing with voltage sags and transformer sizes that could limit solar production.

Our near term outlook is that the Foreign Entity of Concern rules, the first half of which take effect in January 2024, will cause a reduction in the number of incentive-eligible EVs.

The other important near term item is the transfer option. This enables the consumer to obtain the incentive as a point of purchase rebate rather than a tax credit. The consumer has an option to do one or the other. Aside from getting the incentive sooner, it also enables people who do not have the tax liability to burn off a tax credit to be able to utilize the incentive.

EV Showcases

We continue to support as many EV showcases as we can by helping to publicize the events, and recruiting owners to exhibit their vehicles. We encourage all EV owners to participate in these as it is a great way to discuss the virtues of driving electric and leave out the politics. We also supported and participated in events by Electric Car Guest Drive in New York.

The Club itself staged 2 showcases, one in May and a second in September as part of the Symposium. We were happy to include a Tesla Model Y patrol car owned by the Westport Police. We thank the CT Tesla Owners Club for working with us on these and for arranging for Tesla to give test drives.

If you would like us to post your showcase event, please see this post about the information we need.

Speaking Engagements and Tabling

• Stonington Energy Fair
• Fairfield Warde High School
• Interreligious Eco-Justice Network Forum on Advanced Clean Cars II, Greenwich
• Central Connecticut State University

Zoom Meeting Presentations

• SPAN – smart panels – what they’re about and what is involved in installing one in your home
• Renowned teardown artist and automotive engineer, Sandy Munro, tells it like it is
• IRA deep-dive into the EV incentives

Policy/News

• Rivian, after fending off a dealership lawsuit, has broken ground on a service center in Shelton.
• First Tesla Magic Dock in CT.
• Participation continues with the national Electric Vehicle Association Policy Committee.
• The last couple of years have been difficult regarding state level environmental legislation. Advanced Clean Cars II is stalled. It is possible it may come back but not certain. We continue to support a direct sales bill and the Energy Data Bill of Rights.
• EV Club CT had a presence at the Cybertruck Reveal Event.
• EV Club is happy to work with municipalities on EV charging, such as the new installation of 12 level 2 chargers (80 amp) in Westport.

EV Club Invited to Grand Opening of Tesla Sales and Delivery Center

This is the facility that is being built on tribal land at the Mohegan Sun Casino complex. The event is 12/20 and registration is here.

Much of the reporting in the mainstream press about this facility labels it as a loophole or a way to skirt the law. We believe this to be a mischaracterization. Tesla is following the law. Federally recognized tribes hold sovereign power on tribal land. It is up to the Tribal Council to approve such a facility and they don’t run scared from dealerships.

Data

We were able to bring the EV Dashboard back, tracking the level and characteristics of EV adoption in Connecticut. Access to data was granted courtesy of Atlas Public Policy, but sourced from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Continued tracking of EV rebates by dealership, which is our proxy for which dealers are EV-friendly (applicable, obviously, only to those that sell CHEAPR-eligible vehicles). This typically gets updated around March of each year – it depends on when the data get published by DEEP.

Videos!

Find them on our YouTube channel

• New electric police patrol cars in Westport and Wethersfield (Tesla Model Y and Ford Mustang Mach-E, respectively)
• Owner video – Andre and his Polestar 2
• Fairfield First Responder EV training
• Sandy Munro and Corey Steuben riffing about all things EV and batteries (Meeting recording)
• Inflation Reduction Act Deep Dive (Meeting recording)
• Tesla Magic Dock Closeup
• Smart Panel discussion with SPAN (Meeting recording)
• Hotel Marcel Tech Deep Dive – Bruce Becker, Paul Braren, Will Cross

Global Temperature Rise is Already 1.2 degrees Celsius above baseline

The reporting coming out of COP 28 is that the mean temperature is already 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline and headed to exceed the critical 1.5 degree threshold by the end of this decade. With 10 months of data in hand, 2023 has already been declared the hottest year on record by a margin comfortable enough to be “safe” regardless of what happens in November and December. There is urgency here. It is not just about whether change will happen but how fast.

Transportation Is Low Hanging Fruit

We have to decarbonize everything, but some sectors of the economy are a heavier lift than others.

• Extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering it in concrete: hard
• Producing enough green hydrogen to power heavy industry: hard
• Aviation: hard
• Ground transportation: relatively easy.

In Connecticut, the transportation sector is the responsible for a larger amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than any other at about 38% of the total, as reported by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). EV models are becoming more plentiful all the time and generous incentives are available for purchase and charging.

Advanced Clean Car Regulations II

Connecticut, which has been following California vehicle emission rules for ~20 years and is a signer of the Zero Emissions Vehicle Memorandum of Understanding, has been going through the process of adopting the second phase of the California standards. The first phase expires in 2025.

These regulations, which apply to all classes of vehicles (the earlier regulations only applied to light-duty vehicles) would dramatically lower GHG, as well as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. Aside from climate benefits, there are significant public health and economic benefits. CT suffers from terrible air quality, and we have the asthma rates to prove it.

A more detailed description of ACC II benefits with data are in this earlier post.

The regulations would require the phasing out of the sale of new internal combustion (ICE) light duty vehicles (and reducing the proportion of ICE heavy duty vehicles) by 2035. A portion of the EVs are permitted to be of the plug-in hybrid variety. ICE vehicles already in the fleet are not banned, nor are sales on the secondary market. It does, however, provide opponents a convenient line of attack as a “ban on gas cars.”

Phase 2 of Advanced Clean Car Regulations Blocked by Legislative Regulation Review Committee

Against this background, the legislature has blocked ACC II. The final step of the approval process, the step that follows legislative authorization, DEEP rule making, public comment, DEEP response, and a determination of legal sufficiency by the Attorney General’s office, is for a bipartisan legislative committee to make a determination regarding whether the regulations comport with legislative intent. The remit of the committee is narrow, but a GOP-led effort took it upon themselves to decide to overrule what had been authorized.

The bipartisan committee is made up of 8 members of each party, unlike the legislature as a whole where the Democrats hold a 2:1 edge. The regulations needed at least a tie vote to pass but all of the Republicans were against it and two Democrats, reportedly Senators Osten and Hartley, were wavering with at least one being a likely negative vote. With prospects cloudy, the governor pulled the regs before the vote.

It’s Not Over

The legislature could still authorize it. Democratic leadership will take the temperature of the caucus early in the coming week and then decide whether to raise it before the full body. The outlook isn’t particularly encouraging at this point.

Freedom!

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, an opponent of the regulations, as reported in the CT Mirror, said,  “This is about protecting the residents of Connecticut and providing them choice.”

It feels good to know we are now protected, that we have the freedom to breathe dirty air, the freedom to do nothing to mitigate climate change, and the freedom to signal that new green economy jobs should go to other states.

In effect, Mr. Candelora and his colleagues are saying, “Let the market drive EV adoption,” a.k.a. the “business as usual case.” The point of policy is to accelerate the curve faster than BAU. A GOP flyer labels this the “ban without a plan.” This removes the context because, in fact, there is a plan. These are a few points regarding objections raised about the grid, charging infrastructure, and EV costs.

Grid

• As we move to a carbon-free society where everything is electric, it will be necessary to upgrade the grid. That is why DEEP and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) have a grid modernization docket.
• EVs are relatively grid-friendly since so much of the charging is done at night, during off peak times. This is a slide from the presentation that United Illuminating gave at the Club’s Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium in September illustrating the benefits of off-peak EV charging:
• There is already a program in place that incentivizes Eversource and UI customers with home charging to charge during off-peak periods.

Charging Infrastructure

• There are over 700 public charging stations with over 2000 ports in CT, per the Department of Energy for the roughly 35,000 EVs, of which about 23,000 are fully electric. (And, yes, we know that vehicles transiting the state need to charge as well.) But, we’re not starting from a bad place. The number of chargers needs to grow along with the increase in EV adoption, and the chargers have to be available throughout the state.
• The federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act was passed about 2 years ago. Between the federal funds and state matching funds, there will be over $60 million invested in public EV charging stations. There have been no shovels in the dirt as yet, as the process took a while to get finalized. DOT expects installations to begin in 2024.
• There are incentives for the purchase and installation of EV chargers for both residential and commercial customers, developed by PURA and available through Eversource and United Illuminating. Some of the municipal utilities are offering incentives, as well.
• EV chargers are eligible for grants from the pool of Volkswagen “dieselgate” settlement funds.

EV Costs

• It is true that the purchase price of an EV is higher than a comparable internal combustion (ICE) vehicle. But it’s not that much higher, at least according to recent data published by the Kelly Blue Book:

These prices do not take into account incentives. At the present moment, assuming all qualifications are met, a buyer of a new electric vehicle can get a $7500 federal incentive and a $2250 CT incentive. CT also offers a higher incentive for lower income buyers. See our incentives page for more detail.

• Including operating and maintenance costs, in other words, the total cost of ownership, EVs are more economical relative to ICE. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council: “Bottom line: You can bank on saving across the life of your electric vehicle.” According to Money Magazine: “Upfront costs may be higher for EVs, but these cars are also much cheaper to operate and maintain — and the savings can add up. Over the life of your car, you will often spend less by buying electric.”
• EV prices will definitely come down going forward. The technology continues to advance across the board, but two reasons in particular are battery costs and scale.
  • Bloomberg New Energy Finance states, “BNEF expects average battery pack prices to drop again next year, reaching $133/kWh (in real 2023 dollars). Technological innovation and manufacturing improvement should drive further declines in battery pack prices in the coming years, to $113/kWh in 2025 and $80/kWh in 2030.” $100 per kWh is considered cost-parity with ICE.
  • Outside of Tesla, none of the manufacturers have thus far fully benefited from scale economics. That will change. These proposed regulations will accelerate that change.

Flexibility

Moving to EVs, let alone decarbonizing the economy overall, involves a complicated policy landscape at the federal, state, and even municipal level. Everyone recognizes this. In fact, in the FAQ document prepared by DEEP, it is stated,  “If we get to a point where it appears that the technology or the infrastructure deployment is such that we would not be able to meet the standards, the standards will change to help suit our needs. This has happened on several occasions in the past with the California standards.”

The vision of a hellscape where many cannot afford a car, and those that can will get stuck is simply not going to happen.

We would like to call out a very good myth vs reality opinion piece published in CT News Junkie, written by Rep. Christine Palm.

You Can Help

Without these regulations, we are back to a world where we really do have no plan, where we are back to passing non-binding resolutions that don’t deliver results.

You can help. Reach out to your legislator and tell them you support adoption of ACC II.

The big environmental advocacy groups, such as Save the Sound, CT League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club are telling folks to reach out to Democrats since it is assumed there will be no Republican support and the Dems control the legislative agenda. We would encourage contacting your legislator regardless of party. CT participation in the original California standards had near-unanimous bipartisan support. There was some Republican support for these latest regs. It is unfortunate that clean vehicles and the environment have become part of the culture war.

Policy Matters

As a closing note, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported this week that the Inflation Reduction Act is responsible for about $100 billion of newly announced investments in EV and battery plants. ACC II is complementary policy that will enable manufacturers to scale more quickly and for consumers to make use of the output of these new manufacturing facilities.

CT air quality is not in compliance with federal standards. Electrifying transportation is the easiest way for us to get there. If these regulations ultimately do not get enacted, the way forward will be harder, and in all likelihood, we will face a future remain out of compliance indefinitely.

Tesla Delivers First Cybertrucks

Bruce Becker, sustainable architect and senior correspondent of the EV Club of CT was an invitee to the Cybertruck reveal event in Austin, Texas and has sent some photos our way.

Tesla made a small number of deliveries today. We don’t know if any of the CTs are destined for CT. The Cybertruck and its distinctive, angular, polarizing design were originally teased in 2019. Production is now beginning in small quantities. Elon Musk stated in the most recent earnings call in October that the vehicle presents a manufacturing challenge with its flat, stainless steel panels and unique platform. Tesla reports plans to scale to 250,000 by 2025.

Orders are now being taken with a $250 refundable deposit. Pricing was posted today in the Tesla configurator. The vehicle comes in 3 trim levels, starting at $60,990 (RWD, 250 miles), $79,990 (AWD, 340 miles), and the “Cyberbeast”$99,990 (AWD, 320 miles, 0-60 in 2.6 seconds).

The Cybertruck is Tesla’s first high voltage vehicle (800-volt architecture), so charging should be extremely fast. It also has a plugout feature to power a home or another vehicle. We will keep a lookout for an appearance at the Tesla facilities in Milford or Uncasville.

At this time, the Cybertruck is not listed as being eligible for the federal incentive. Mostly, this is irrelevant at present since few will be placed in service this year. However, the vehicle is manufactured in Austin, Texas and it uses the 4680 battery cells made at the same plant, so it is likely to qualify. Also, you will notice that the price of the middle trim level is conveniently set at $79,990, or $10 below the cap in the Inflation Reduction Act for light trucks. Taking this into account, it may be just a matter of time until the vehicle is officially declared eligible. (The lowest-priced trim level will not be delivered until 2025 at the earliest.)

Photo above is a Rivian R1S from the EV Club EV Showcase Event at the Hotel Marcel in New Haven

Rivian Fends Off Dealership Lawsuit

The electric vehicle manufacturer, Rivian, which currently produces the fully electric R1T pickup truck and R1S sport utility vehicle, is finally able to move forward with its proposed Connecticut service center. The Town of Shelton originally granted Rivian an approval to build a service and delivery center at 2 Mountain View Drive in October 2022. T D Properties, owner of 329 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton, along with Mario D’Addario Buick, Inc., a dealership that does business from that premises, sued Shelton to stop the service center.

The Usual Dealership Obstruction Playbook

We’ve seen this movie before. When a company that employs a direct sales model seeks to open a service center, the dealerships do all they can, including going to court, to obstruct it. Direct sales is not legal in CT and the dealers further attempt to make it as inconvenient to service the vehicles as it is to buy them. In so doing, the dealers seek to restrict competition and consumer choice.

In the case of East Hartford, the dealers successfully bullied the city into rescinding an already granted permit for Tesla to build a service center. The dealers showed up in force for a hearing regarding a proposed Tesla service center in South Windsor, and the town did not grant the permit. (Tesla is now building a large sales and service center just over the state line in MA, and is building a sales and delivery center on tribal land in Uncasville.)

Shelton and Rivian fought the lawsuit and won every ruling. The case has been extensively litigated with numerous motions filed, along with an appeal. The court gave a final ruling denying the plaintiff’s appeal on October 18th. This is the case detail page of the court docket.

Under Construction

Rivian has moved quickly to break ground. Originally, it had hoped to open its doors in the summer of this year. Starting around now, an optimistic time frame would be the second quarter of 2024. When we have more definitive information, we will provide an update.

We look forward to welcoming Rivian to Connecticut!

Enfield is Host to First CT Magic Dock Superchargers

The first CT Magic Dock chargers come to Enfield, located in Freshwater Commons, 65 Palomba Drive. This is off Route 190, just east of I-91.

There are 12 superchargers, all equipped with the Magic Dock adaptor that enables EVs using CCS connectors to charge. They are 250 kW units, V3 design. If you see an EV straddling 2 spaces, it doesn’t mean it’s an anti-Tesla thing. The V3 chargers have relatively short cords that create challenges for some EVs and may cause them to angle park.

If you zoom in really closely on the photo above, you can see the adapter where the cord connects to the unit. A close-up photo and more detail about how these adaptors work can be found in our earlier post.

IRA Incentive Update – Transfer Provision Goes Into Effect in January

A Tax Credit Becomes a Point of Sale Rebate

The transfer provision of the federal IRA EV incentive is scheduled to go into effect in January. This provision meaningfully improves upon a tax credit:

• The incentive becomes a point of purchase rebate.
• It can be used by people even if they don’t have the tax liability to be able to use a tax credit.

The IRS published a draft of its rulemaking on October 6 and plans to issue final rules shortly. Much of the rulemaking has to do with implementation details. This is a summary:

• The IRS will be launching a new website called IRS Energy Credits Online and dealers must register with this site to participate. Consumers can only obtain the incentive from a registered dealer.
• Participating dealers will use the site to verify a vehicle’s incentive eligibility, register the sale, and indicate whether (or not) the buyer elected the transfer option.
• For buyers choosing to transfer the credit to the seller, the dealer must reduce the invoice amount by the full amount of the available incentive.
• Dealers must provide written documentation to the customer regarding the vehicle’s incentive eligibility.
• Once the sale is registered, the IRS will issue payment to the dealer within 72 hours. (When the transfer was initially announced, dealers were concerned about the potential to incur significant carrying charges.)
• Dealers get repaid whether or not they have tax liability to absorb a tax credit.
• Consumers must attest in writing that they are eligible for the incentive. This mainly applies to the income caps. A buyer must fall within the caps for either the year they make the purchase or the prior year. If that turns out not to be the case, the consumer must repay the incentive to the IRS.
• Incentive payments do not count as income for either the dealer or the consumer.

This is a link to the IRS press release.

New Webinars Announced for Program Updates

The incentive program from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) that is administered through the state’s two largest utilities, Eversource and United Illuminating gets evaluated every year. Since the program has started, there have been some modifications introduced at the beginning of each year.

Eversource and UI have announced webinars to explain the changes for 2024. The webinar for residential is on Wednesday, Oct. 25th, and for commercial, it is Monday, Oct. 30th. Registration links below.

• EV charging programs for single family homes
  • Wednesday, October 25^th from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
  • Register here

• EV charging programs for business, communities and large multifamily residences
  • Monday, October 30^th from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
  • Register today

The residential program offers an incentive of up to $500 toward the purchase of a 240 volt charging station and up to $500 toward offsetting the installation cost involved in bringing a 240 volt line from the panel to the garage. There is also a managed charging component, which pays consumers for allowing the utility to throttle charging during peak demand periods. If one takes the incentive for the hardware, participation in the managed charging is mandatory. It is most likely that any upcoming changes will have to do with the managed charging component of the program. It is possible there will be some new approved equipment.

Advocacy Alert: Reach Out To The Legislators on the ACC II Legislative Review Committee

Contact information is provided at the end of this post.

What follows is a not so brief background that could easily be a lot longer. There is also be an upcoming webinar, produced by the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network. Scheduling and registration link here:

Clean Cars, Clean Trucks, and the Fight for Clean Air

Monday, October 30 – 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

REGISTER HERE – https://cleancarscleantrucksandthefightforcleanair.eventbrite.com

ACC II Is Follow-on to California Emission Standards

When the federal Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, it recognized that California had already established its own regimen of emissions standards. California, particularly the Los Angeles area, had already been grappling with smog for a long time. And so California was given a waiver to continue to establish its own standards, which were more stringent than the federal standards. That is the overly-simplistic history of why there are two standards.

Many states, including Connecticut, have followed the California standard for tailpipe emissions, which became the de facto standard for manufacturers. It was easier for them to live with the more stringent standards than to have different vehicles for sale in different sets of states.

The acronyms that you hear around this are ACC (Advanced Clean Car) regulations and CARB (California Air Resources Board), the state agency that sets the California standards. The first set of ACC regulations addressed light-duty vehicles for model years 2015 – 2025. This follow-on set of regulations, known as Advanced Clean Cars Two or ACC II, begins with 2026, although the CT version would start a year later due to the current timing of enactment. The CT version is the CA version. The choice is binary: use the weaker federal standards or the more stringent CA option.

Why Do We Need This?

It’s obvious, right? Just look at the chart at the top (data from NASA, published by Axios). But, aside from global warming, there are local concerns.

• Air quality in CT is terrible. The state receives failing grades from the American Lung Association and fails to meet federal air-quality standards.
• The transportation sector accounts for about 38% of greenhouse gas emissions but also a significant amount of Nitrogen Oxides, a component of smog, and particulate matter. These contribute to cardio-pulmonary disease, cancer, low birth weight and birth defects.
• ACC II applies to all vehicles, in other words, trucks as well as cars. The pollution profile varies for different classes of vehicles, but it’s all bad.
• This is an important environmental justice measure. Pollution and its public health consequences fall disproportionately on disadvantaged communities.
• The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, DEEP, analyzed the impact of ACC II on CT and modeled enormous reductions in greenhouse gasses and pollutants as described in the table below.

Health Benefits

According to the American Lung Association, CT can expect the following health-related benefits from cleaner air.

• $11.5 billion in monetized health benefits
• 1,060 premature deaths avoided
• 22,900 asthma attacks avoided
• 120,000 lost work days avoided

Wide Support

It may not come as a surprise that the EV Club supports this, along with other Connecticut EV Coalition members including Save the Sound, Acadia Center, and the Sierra Club, along with numerous other environmental organizations.

Charles Rothenberger, climate and energy attorney at Save the Sound and manager of the Connecticut EV Coalition, spoke at our September 9 Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS) on this timely topic. “Two decades ago, Connecticut became a leader on cleaner transportation by adopting the Clean Cars I standards. Now it’s time to take the next step in achieving the kind of emissions reductions that the best available science tells us are essential for the health of people and the planet. Taken together, the regulations introduced today will provide long overdue updates to our vehicle standards, placing Connecticut on the path to transforming and modernizing the transportation sector and providing substantial environmental and health benefits for the citizens of Connecticut.”

The most controversial part of the regulations is the requirement that manufacturers no longer produce ICE vehicles as of 2035 (light-duty). Everything has to be a plug-in vehicle, though up to 20% of the plug-ins can be PHEV.

The automotive industry is lining up behind these regs. A number of manufacturers have already announced they are transitioning their fleets to electric roughly in this time frame. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade association for the legacy manufacturers, has endorsed it, as has the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association.

The dealers seem to be taking a more neutral position. Their job is to sell what the manufacturers produce. However, the National Automobile Dealers Association states on its website: “Electric and hybrid vehicles are here, and America’s vast franchised dealer network is eager, excited, and essential to the successful deployment to the mass retail market. Dealers are all-in on EVs and are investing billions of dollars in their stores and staff to improve the purchasing experience and reduce barriers to electric-vehicle ownership.”

These regulations are needed to make a meaningful dent in our toxic, climate-warming emissions. The goals in the Paris Agreement of 2015 feel increasingly out of reach absent decisive action.

Its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” To limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030.

ACC II provides a lengthy time horizon during which there is a gradual transition to zero-emission vehicles. Importantly, they provide a degree of certainty regarding marketplace conditions to the manufacturers, as well as manufacturer incentives for the building of affordably priced EVs.

ACC II Nearing the Finish Line, But a Potential Hurdle Remains

The CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) received legislative authorization on a bipartisan basis to develop the rule making and conduct the required analysis. That part is finished. There has been a public comment period with a response from DEEP. The Office of the Attorney General has signed off on the regulations. The final step before going to the Governor is for the Legislative Regulation Review Committee to sign off on it. The committee is composed of 14 legislators with equal representation from both parties. The committee’s assignment is to review the regulations for adherence to legislative intent (which they clearly do). Now, some members of the committee are signaling that they may try to block the regulations and the Republican caucus is taking steps to make a public case. Here’s but one example.

If you clicked through to that article, you can see the FUDsters are out in force. And even though this originates with the Repubs, don’t make the mistake of thinking the Dems are immune to the pressure. We will be publishing additional content to address some of the questions being raised about the grid, the cost of EVs, and the economic impact. There’s a lot to shovel. The regulations require a minimum of a tie vote to be enacted.

Please Take Action to Let Regulation Review Committee Members Know Why ACC II Is Positive for Connecticut

We ask your help to support the passage of these regulations. Contact as many of the committee members as you can using their information is below, asking them to support ACCII. You are welcome to use the bullet points above as a guide to your messaging.

2024 Model Year For New Electric Midsized SUV

The vehicle is at Key Chevrolet in Middletown and they are the ones who told us it is the first electric Chevy Blazer to come to the state. As of this writing, the vehicle is available for sale. Test drives are offered, as well.

The Blazer is built using GM’s new Ultium battery platform. It sports an 85 kWh battery pack, EPA rated for 279 miles of range and a 98 MPGe. The sticker notes a fuel cost savings of $5750 over 5 years when compared to the average vehicle MPG of 28 (which is the standard comparison that the regulators require) when driven 15,000 miles per year. The costs of gasoline and electricity obviously affect this. In CT, we are on the higher side of both of these.

This vehicle has a base MSRP of $58,820 and is equipped with the RS Convenience and Driver Confidence Package, a $2620 option that includes adaptive cruise control, HD surround vision, and a number of other comfort and safety features. Add in the destination fee of $1395 and the total is $60,215. GM has a standard 8 year/100,000 mile battery warranty. The dealer advises they are not marking it up over sticker.

The Blazer is equipped with 2 screens, one in front of the steering wheel for the driver information and one in the center. The 2-screen setup is a nice feature.

The onboard charger is 11.5 KW, which is the same as most Tesla models. AC charging is steadily getting faster across the industry. When plugged into a 240 volt charger capable of at least 48 amps, you should get around 45 miles per hour of charging. For DC fast charging, Chevrolet claims it can handle current of up to 190 kWh, good for 78 miles in 10 minutes.

Buyers get free home charging installation from Qmerit (terms apply).

This vehicle is currently eligible for the full $7500 federal purchase incentive. It is not eligible for a CT CHEAPR rebate.

If any of our members get one of these, please reach out to us!