Applicants Will Have To Wait

Good news/bad news. Demand is strong but the funding isn’t there to fully meet it.

A crush of applications for incentives for DC Fast Chargers, the high-powered chargers that can recharge an EV to 80% inside of 30 minutes, most frequently located along highway corridors, has caused the program run by Eversource and United Illuminating to become fully subscribed just six months after its inauguration. This is a  9-year program that runs in three 3-year cycles. So the funds depletion could last until 2025.

Eversource and UI have requested additional funds, so there could be funds available sooner, but it is too soon to know details. Eversource and UI advise that if you had planned to submit an application to follow through with that submission. They continue to evaluate applications and this will establish your place in the queue.

There is still a substantial amount of funding available for level 2 (240 volt) chargers and grants are being made on an ongoing basis.

This does not affect the residential incentives program (which does not included DCFC).

CHEAPR Follow-UP

The increase in the MSRP cap is fully implemented. Vehicles with an MSRP of up to $50,000 are now rebate-eligible.

There are some vehicles that are eligible that are not yet on the list of eligible vehicles on the DEEP website. We have gotten a few inquiries about the Ioniq 5 in particular. DEEP is aware of that one and it will be added soon. If you are shopping for an EV and you don’t see it included where you think it should be, let us know and we’ll pass the info along. This applies not only to newly introduced models but also a new model year of an existing vehicle.

$50K MSRP Cap Effective July 1

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

May Rebate Data

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

Home Charging Incentives Come With Unexpected Cost

When Eversource and United Illuminating began offering incentives to offset the cost of buying and installing a level 2 home charging unit, the incentives also include up to $200/annually for participation in the managed charging program. (Participation in the managed charging program is mandatory if one takes the incentives for charging hardware/installation.) The only current version of managed charging that is operational at this time is the demand/response program, where during designated high-demand times occurring from June through September, the utility can throttle the rate of charge which would roughly lower the speed of the charge to the equivalent of a level one trickle-charge for the duration of the event.

Of course, at the point at which this program was inaugurated, there were already over 21,000 EV owners and some number (we don’t know how many) of installed home chargers. The majority of these EVs (based on number of registrations) are eligible to participate in the demand/response program without having an approved charger by using telematics. This way, the utility controls the rate of charge directly with the vehicle.

Through the work of Roger Kappler and Will Cross of the Tesla Owners Club, and Paul Braren of the EV Club, we have learned that the utility “wakes up” the car to check charging status on a frequent basis, as often as every 30 minutes. What is really strange is that this checking is happening all the time (24/7/365) and not just during designated demand/response periods, hence the”vampire” charge. The car is using power even though it is sitting there doing nothing. Like your cable box (or sentry mode if you are a Tesla owner). Roger estimates that the charge is the equivalent of .5-1% per day, which at 20 cents per kWh, works out to about $70 annually. The program pays a one time $100 enrollment incentive for telematics plus the above-noted $200 for demand/response. This passive electric use takes quite a bite out of that. If the vehicle isn’t plugged in, then it contributes to range loss.

Per Roger, Eversource has reported that it will be fixed but that it could take as long as 6 months.

The detailed Facebook post can be found here. (Note: This is a closed FB group.)

This does not apply if you are using an approved smart charger as far as we know. (We’re checking.)

This is not occurring with UI customers (according to UI). If any UI customers notice this, please leave a comment!

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.

CHEAPR Board Meets Following Passage of Public Act 22-25

Following the passage of SB-4/Public Act 22-25, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the CHEAPR board met on June 16th. The legislation made extensive changes to the state’s purchase incentive program, which we have detailed in earlier posts such as this one. Now comes the time for rule making to fill in the gaps and the implementation logistics. Though the legislation has an effective date of July 1, the fact is this will be a work in progress for the rest of the year. So with that preamble, this what we know to this point as well as our thoughts about changes we would like to see that follow the new legislation

MSRP Cap and Other Changes

• The MSRP cap increase to $50,000 is the easiest to implement and it should happen at some point over the summer. We will update everyone when that is the case. (Update: This is now in place and updated on the CHEAPR website.)
• The enhanced funding from the additional clean air registration fees and proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative proceeds begins next year. However, the program has been so under spent, and there is still an implementation period, it is unlikely to deplete funds before the new funding stream begins. DEEP is currently sitting on over $5MM of funds, well above current needs. New expenditures flowing from program changes will be folded into the program as they are ready between summer and the end of the year. It is our bet that the year will end with a surplus.
• DEEP is preparing an RFI for the new e-bike incentive with projected implementation by the end of the year.
• The income limited (Rebate+) incentives will be transitioning from an after the fact reimbursement to a pre-qualification/voucher program. This is great news. It requires a new process be developed and implemented, which will take at least until Q4, though technically, the eligibility requirements will have been changed before then. In other words, some of the folks becoming newly eligible could access the incentive but would have to float the cash.
• Expanded eligibility to municipalities, businesses, non-profits, and tribal entities are designated as “mid-term” changes and will likely happen in several month’s time.

This graphic from DEEP indicates which new EVs will be rebate-eligible as a result of the change in the MSRP cap. Keep in mind that eligibility is determined by the base price of a particular trim level. Ordering options does not disqualify a vehicle from being eligible. Buying a trim level with an MSRP above the limit would. Almost all vehicles nowadays have multiple trim levels. Although we don’t recommend doing this, if you pay a dealership premium over MSRP, that does not count towards the cap. The graphic is based on registrations from 2021. It will not pick up the newest vehicles which doesn’t mean they are not (or should not be) included! If you encounter a problem in obtaining a rebate for which you should be eligible, please let us know.

Rebate Structure

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!

The photo at the top is from the kickoff event for a cross country electric drive. The two women attired in pink are Daphne Dixon, Executive Director of Live Green CT, who is making the drive, and Alyssa Murphy, also of Live Green, who is accompanying her. Ford has loaned a Mustang Mach-E for the trip that will conclude in Sacramento, where Dixon originally hails from, after stops in CT, NY, PA, MD, DC, VA, WV, KY, TN, AR, TX, NM, AZ, UT, and 8 cities in CA, 27 cities in total.

Range anxiety isn’t completely a thing of the past, but it is much less of a concern than it used to be with longer range battery packs and more public charging stations. There will be continued improvement on the charging access front in the coming years with Infrastructure Bill funds and state incentives. Of course, there is no time like the present to make this drive with unusually high gas prices causing more people to look seriously at EVs.

Speakers, from left to right, are Marriott Dowden of United Illuminating, Jim Motavalli who is an automotive columnist and author, Barry Kresch of EV Club CT, Matt Macunas from CT Green Bank, and Charles Rothenberger of Save the Sound.

D-Day for the trip was June 6. It concludes June 27th. Clean Cities chapters will be organizing press events at each stop. You can follow their progress on the Life on the EV Highway Facebook page. As Dixon said, she is “hoping to reduce range anxiety one state at a time.”

Treading Water – Awaiting New Program Implementation

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

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

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

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.