Post by Barry Kresch

Top photo courtesy of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department

Police Look to EVs for Fuel Savings and Performance

The public safety world is on a roll when it comes to electrification. Drive Electric Colorado hosted a virtual panel this week about the electrification of police vehicles and got 138 attendees, indicative of the high level of interest.

Along with yours truly, the panelists were Chief Foti Koskinas and Officer Charles Sampson from Westport, Chief Robert Kalamaris of Fairfield, Detective Sergeant Clay Leak of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office in CO, and Chief Jeff Christiansen of Linn Creek, MO (near the Lake of the Ozarks). Sgt. Leak and I were the ones who have been compiling data, while the others spoke of their purchase, customization, and service use experiences. Boulder has acquired a Tesla Model Y. Linn Creek has a Tesla Model 3.

Westport Acquires Third Tesla Patrol Car

Westport, of course, was an early adopter, having purchased a Tesla Model 3 in 2019, followed by a Model Y in 2021 (which is still in the customization process but should be entering service in July), and, drumroll, the town has purchased a second Model Y. This brings the total number of plug-in vehicles in the Police Fleet to to 7. Chief Foti said that the police department has decreased its gasoline consumption by 18% over the past 7 years as a result of incorporating electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient ICE vehicles, such as the Ford Interceptor Hybrid. Emergency Medical Services in Westport are run by the police and they are looking into an electric ambulance.

Westport was the first department to enter into an NDA with Tesla so that they and their vendors could work with Tesla to do some recoding to take advantage of the native tech and wire most of the accessories directly into the large battery. Unlike some other departments, they did not need to add a second 12-volt battery for this purpose. Due to this, Westport had an easier time with the law enforcement customization than the others, but growing pains are part of the game. It was mentioned that Tesla has now created an internal team devoted to law enforcement so perhaps others will be going this route as well.

The Model Y is a pricier option than the Model 3. The advantages cited were the extra room for drivers, cargo, a prisoner cage, and the higher ground clearance. At 6.6 inches, it isn’t that high but a bit more than an inch higher than the 3. Regarding the cargo area, the car was praised for its efficient use of space with the trunk, sub-trunk, and frunk.

Westport has a municipal directive to buy electric whenever suitable vehicles are available. Not an ordinance, but it gets the job done.

There were some complaints about having enough seat room for fully equipped officers, though not that severe. On the other hand, most of the officers were blown away by how much fun the vehicle is to drive.

It was mentioned by the officers on the panel that several members of their respective forces bought an EV for personal use after having had the chance to drive the Tesla at work.

Which EVs Could Be Patrol Cars

While all of the panelists were pleased with the performance of their Teslas, coupled with its high safety rating, robust charging network, and 8 year/100,000 mile battery/powertrain warranty, there were several other options that were in the consideration set.

• Ford Mustang Mach-E – $56K for the 270 mile range AWD model
• Rivian R1S – Range of 260 – 320+ (according to the Rivian website) and starting at $72.5K
• Audi e-tron – 222 mile range, $67K for base AWD model
• Jaguar I-PACE – 234 mile range, $70K for base AWD model
• Ford F150 Lightning – 4 trim levels starting anywhere from $40K – $91K. Range from 230 – 320 miles.

Community Relations

The Teslas have been an astounding success in terms of community relations. Chief Foti expounded on this for the EV Club when he spoke to us a couple of years ago, informing us that he has received hundreds of inquiries from all over the world. Detective Sgt. Leak of Boulder, in his presentation, described their Model Y as a “great success, huge ice-breaker, tons of community engagement.” They put a QR code on the car which takes people to an informational website. It is a little hard to see, but the QR code is visible in the photo on the bottom right. It is at the rear of the vehicle to the right of the license plate.

Concluding thoughts

• Adopting EVs is proving to be a rousing success for police departments around the country.
• The Teslas have been a huge hit. Other vehicles are in the pipeline and it will be interesting to see the comparative reports going forward.
• Going electric, just like with consumers, has a higher acquisition cost but saves money. That is punctuated with gas prices at current levels.
• Hybrids are also a money-saving option, but not to the same degree as electric. And they, like any ICE, will spend more time out of service than an EV.
• There are other police use cases besides patrol vehicles and an array of available vehicles that can be matched as appropriate.
• The community relations aspect has proven to be an unplanned benefit.

More photos of the Boulder MY below. We’ll publish photos of the Westport vehicle and hopefully video as well.

Registration Flow Fixes Made

If you have been thinking of registering your EV or charger for the incentives offered through Eversource and United Illuminating, but have been hesitant due to reports of the not-ready-for-prime-time registration funnel, the corrective website development work has been finished and it should be good to go, whether registering a new charger or going the telematics route.

As reported to us by Eversource and UI (the EDCs, a.k.a. utilities) early in the year, due to the finalization of the program occurring around Thanksgiving of 2021, and its starting point of January 1, 2022, there was insufficient time to properly build out the website. This is further complicated by there being 3 parties involved as the EDCs outsource the management of the program. After they presented to the club in January, a number of members tried to register regardless and encountered all sorts of adventures, including finding themselves on an out of state EDC website.

If you register, you will notice that you will be taken from the EDC domain to an EDC subdomain on the vendor’s domain. Your EDC account number will serve to link you. Pro tip – when you enter the account number, don’t leave spaces. If you do, the registration won’t take and the site isn’t clear regarding what isn’t working.

Have a graphic of your vehicle registration for uploading.

Keep in mind the charger incentives apply only to approved charger units and, similarly, telematics applies to approved vehicles. See this page, which has info for both Eversource and UI.

Feel free to let us know about your experiences. We can forward reports of issues to the EDCs.

This takes you to Eversource Connected Solutions. This is the page for UI residential.

EV Drivers Could Relieve the Burden of High Gas Prices in Delivering Food to the Needy

Food Rescue US is an organization that reduces food insecurity by transferring excess food from grocers and restaurants to social service agencies that feed people in need.

Using an app, volunteer drivers “rescue” food from donors. A typical rescue takes 30 minutes to an hour.

The problem in our time of burdensome inflation is that the organization has been losing volunteers due to the expenses caused by record high gas prices. EVs can affordably fill the bill.

Food Rescue US is active in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New London Counties, as well as West Hartford.

Arrangements are flexible and volunteers can make as few or as many trips as they choose. If anyone can spare some time to help the hungry, please register at this link: https://bit.ly/EVfoodres

Your time and good will is appreciated!

Godot Is Soon To Arrive

This is the level 3 version of a post about out-of-service level 2 chargers from April 21st.

Level 3 chargers have been sitting lonely, forlornly, and non-functionally at several of the service areas on our major highways. And its been that way for roughly 4 years. We now have the background and going forward plans. This post refers to the non-Tesla chargers.

The chargers at the service centers we are aware of, specifically the I-95 service center in Darien and the Merritt Parkway northbound service center in Greenwich, were originally installed by Eversource/DEEP working with the Department of Transportation in 2016. They have been out of service (“decommissioned”) since 2018. I’m sure there is detail we don’t know since those chargers were barely ever operational.

New Level 3 Fast Charger Installations

The state leases the service centers to a company called Project Service, LLC, based in New Haven, which also manages them. PS responded to our inquiry, saying that they are working with a new partner to install new DCFC equipment at their plazas. There are 6 sites where work is underway and installation is expected to be complete sometime during this summer. The 6 service areas are I-95 Fairfield (both directions), I-95 Madison (both directions), Merritt Parkway New Canaan (southbound), and Merritt Parkway Greenwich (northbound).

There are also Tesla chargers at PS service centers. These have been operational and are in the process of being upgraded.

DOT Survey

A larger, separate initiative, deploying the funding that is coming from the federal infrastructure legislation is being managed by the Department of Transportation and is in the planning stages. These funds are going to support level 3 chargers along major highway corridors. Public input is being sought as plans are further developed. There is currently a survey live on their website here. (It is a very high-level survey that takes 2 minutes.) The link will remain live through June 3rd.

Omnibus Transportation and Energy Committee Bill Includes Support for EVs

Aside from SB-214 that would enable direct EV sales, there was another significant bill that advanced to the full chamber in SB-4 which passed by a committee vote of 23 – 11.

CHEAPR

Changes to the state EV purchase-incentive program, CHEAPR, are one aspect of the bill.

• The MSRP cap for eligible vehicles is raised to $50,000.
• The budget of the program is being increased, though an exact amount is not specified.
• Changes are coming to incentives designed for income-limited individuals that will broaden eligibility and raise the incentive. The current formulation has had a very low take-rate. If a way can be a found so that it can be cash on the hood as is the case with the standard incentive, that would also help. There are incentives for both new and used EVs.
• There will be an e-bike incentive of $500 for individuals who are income-limited or live in an environmental justice community. Eligible bikes have a price cap of $2000. (There is some discussion regarding whether that cap is unrealistically low.)
• Currently, CHEAPR incentives are only available to residents. This bill expands it to include businesses, municipalities, non-profits, and tribal entities. It entitles them to up to 10 rebates in a single year with a total cap of 20.
• The CHEAPR Board is changing. The specifics of who is eligible to be appointed are being modified. The board is losing some agency and becomes an advisory board.

DEEP released a discouraging stat that only 34% of eligible vehicles are being sold with a rebate. This number starts with June of 2021, so the lifetime cap would not be an issue. There could be a few reasons for this, but at the risk of being IFO, this is a point of sale rebate and the point of sale is the dealership. According to the Center for Sustainable Energy, the consultant that runs the program for DEEP, Tesla has the rebate integrated into its checkout flow. The dealers should do the same, and in general be more proactive about educating customers about the program.

These are some of the other items in SB-4:

• Right to charge language that would make it easier for residents of multi-unit dwellings to be permitted to install a charger.
• A requirement that any state funded project not contribute to emissions, either directly or via an offset.
• Mandates to increase the electrification of the state vehicle fleet until it covers 100% of the fleet by 2030.
• Funding for the installation of EV charging stations in the rural areas of the state that are not likely to benefit from the Infrastructure Bill funding, which focuses on major highway corridors.
• School bus contracts would be permitted to be extended to 10 years from the current 5, making the numbers pencil out for electric.
• A prohibition on purchasing/leasing diesel transit buses beginning in 2024.

Passing out of committee is just the first step. However, SB-4 has 56 sponsors and is thought to have a high likelihood of becoming law.

SB-214 Passes with 21 Votes

SB-214 has passed the Transportation Committee by a vote of 21-14. To see how individual members voted, check out the tally on the committee website.

Legislators are offered time to comment before the vote is taken and several took the opportunity.

Representative Devin Carney (R) (Ranking Member), who is a no vote, said that there is no longer a need because dealerships are now selling EVs, a change from several years ago. He opined that Tesla is a legitimate company, but that other, newer entrants like Rivian and Lucid, with their difficulties in ramping production, are not, and thus do not deserve this “carve-out.” He also objected to characterizations made of the legacy companies that they don’t care about the environment, and cited some of the challenges of sourcing the materials necessary for battery manufacturing from places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D), a longtime supporter of direct sales, said this year’s bill was an improvement over past bills. (The bill is restricted to battery electric vehicles and is no longer just a Tesla bill). Steinberg notes that the dealers say that direct sales will hurt their businesses but that the data from states where direct sales is legal just don’t support that conclusion. He thinks the entire auto purchasing relational experience will change, that it’s about competitiveness, and that this bill supports consumer choice. Interestingly, he said that he would support a bill that goes further than this one and do away with the franchise laws entirely.

Representative Stephen Meskers (D) said he was a yes because “at some level, the markets should decide.” His main concern was about whether this would extract profits from the state and vowed to engage with Tesla and the other companies to push them to maximize their investment in CT, including vocational-technical training.

Senator Henri Martin (R), voting no, complained that he doesn’t understand why this bill keeps coming back year after year. He feels that this bill does not protect consumers, questions whether there will be adequate servicing facilities, and that it comes down to having two sets of laws.

The actual committee vote was more bipartisan than the above comments might indicate. However, as best we know, last year there were no Republican votes in the Senate for this bill (since the bill didn’t get called, there was no recorded vote). That is something we hope to see change.

Bills similar to SB-214 have made it out of committee in the past but haven’t made it across the finish line. The Senate is the next stop for SB-214.

We think that Representative Steinberg is spot on. This industry is changing but it needs to change faster. Consumers overwhelmingly support this legislation. Now is the time to tell your legislators that you support the free-market and consumer choice, and that the current, antiquated laws are holding back EV adoption.

You can use this page to find your state senator and representative.

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.

United Illuminating CT EV Charging Program FINAL 02182022

Recovery Induced Rebound in EV Sales

After a truly dismal, pandemic-influenced 2020, where EV registrations increased by an anemic 18.2%, there has been a rebound in 2021 to an increase of 54.9%. CT now has 21,382 EVs, up from 13,800 one year ago. Of course, the pandemic is still with us, but the brief, severe recession is over. Demand has been sharply stronger. If anything, the current numbers are supply constrained.

Newly Registered Vehicles

Keep in mind these are net registration numbers and that there is always turnover in the fleet. If we look at the number of new EVs registered in 2021 vs 2020, the trend is steeper with a 121% increase.

There was an administrative extension of registrations in 2020 that may have caused the Jan ’21 number to be somewhat overstated.

This increased rate of growth is good news, but on a more cautionary note, it puts the state at only 4.3% of the way toward its 2030 goal of 500,000 registered EVs.

The underlying detail of these numbers, which allows us to chart fuel type, make, model, city, etc. is not yet available. We expect it within the next couple of weeks. Nationally, the big sellers have been the Tesla Model Y and 3, Mustang Mach-E, VW ID.4, and Toyota RAV4 Prime. There were several important introductions that happened too late in the year to have much of an impact, such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Mercedes-Benz EQS, GMC Hummer, and Rivian R1T and R1S. Of course, GM suffered a serious blow with its large recall and manufacturing interruption of its Bolt and Bolt EUV. The Honda Clarity PHEV ceased to be produced in 2021, though there is reportedly some dealer stock around.

By Analiese Mione

But I love my car. I have heard that refrain so many times when speaking to everyday people about driving electric. Now you can keep the car you love and nix the emissions and costly maintenance with an ICE to EV conversion.

ICE to EV Conversions

This is neither a simple nor inexpensive operation, at least not yet. A visit to Inductive Autoworks in Tolland, CT to attend a VIP tour of their new EV conversion facility provided a wide eyed, in depth look at what’s involved. Dive into the video below for a quick overview and read more below about how Inductive Autoworks is bringing EV technology into the mainstream.

Appearing right to left in the video below are Jonathan Untied, co-founder, President and Chief Software Engineer; co-founder, Lead Electrical Engineer Dennis Manning, and co-founder, Lead Mechanical Engineer Joe Monasky.

Strip Out the Engine

Step 1 is to remove the gas engine, gas tank and clutch, if it has one. Inductive Autoworks’ triumvirate of founding engineers said this is the easy part and their shop does it fairly quickly.

Put in a Motor, Battery and other EV Conversion Components

Step 2, better yet phase 2, is to add all the EV components and connect them. EV conversions are custom engineered, take time and cost more than you’d think. Think of all the parts of an EV that don’t exist in an ICE vehicle. All these need to be added including an electric motor, battery to charge the motor, on board charger, charging port, and battery management system. Learn more about batteries and other EV conversion components, and how to get them talking to one another, in the photos above and videos below.

Want to take a deeper dive into all the critical EV parts and how the Inductive Autoworks team collaborates to design, create and install them so you can drive your favorite car as an EV? Watch the beginning of the video below from fellow EV Club of CT member Paul Braren who attended their pm open house. Watch the whole video to visit each display station including the CNC and converted EV.

But for the classic car lover in particular, conversions are THE solution to keeping the car running in an environmentally friendly way. For the ROI types among us, factor into your spreadsheet the cost savings from not maintaining a combustion engine (who loves ordering rare and expensive parts from Germany?), switching to electric vs gas (50%+savings), and the priceless improvement in performance. We do want to see your analysis! For now, there is no word on whether CHEAPR incentives will apply to conversions.

Building an EV Conversion Brain Trust

Wondering about car insurance for a conversion? We are too, so more on that coming soon, but rest assured Inductive has registered and insured converted vehicles like the Mazda RX-8 below. Each time Inductive does a custom conversion for a particular ICE make and model, like the Mazda RX-8, the design and fabrication specs gets stored in a module they can reuse to convert another vehicle at a much lower cost.

Custom Machined Parts

Custom parts are designed on a computer and fabricated in house on the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine, thereby ensuring accuracy and consistency while ruling out human inefficiency and error. The next time they have to machine the same part, they call up the design and reuse it at marginal expense to the customer.

Watch the video below to learn about their protyping, testing at the test bench, get a closeup of the Mazda RX-8 conversion and test Leaf used to evaluate how they can swap out spent batteries for new ones. The tricky part is getting the car to accept the new part, and that’s a software problem. Good thing they have a software engineer on the team.

Driving the Evolution to EVs

The team is also working towards offering kit conversions for DIYers, but this is an evolution. If you’re looking to get a new battery for your spent 2012 Nissan Leaf for example, reach out because battery replacements are part of the evolving EV ecosystem they’re building. And yes, old batteries will be used for stationary storage.

Interested in an EV conversion or other EV services? Reach out to Inductive Autoworks at inquiry@inductiveauto.com or +1 860-222-0915 and let them know the EV Club of CT sent you.