Above photo by Paul Braren

Successful EV Showcase with Hotel Tours

Thanks to everyone who made this a successful event, with numerous EVs, including Lucid, Rivian, Tesla, Ford, Kia, Chevy, Polestar, and others.

The Westport Police brought their Tesla Model Y patrol car that went into service January of this year.

Tours of the hotel were given. This is the first net-zero hotel in the country, LEED Certified Platinum, Passive House Certified. The hotel has no fossil fuel connection. It is powered by solar, augmented with battery storage. Air-source high efficiency heat pumps provide the heating and cooling. The lighting is high efficiency Power over Ethernet. The elevators have regenerative braking. The kitchen uses induction. The envelope is so tight that if you are in a guest room, about one-tenth of a from I-95, it is totally quiet.

There are over 1000 solar panels on the hotel roof and the solar canopies. There is a bank of Tesla V3 Superchargers and, under the canopy, 12 level 2 chargers with J-1772 connectors. There is already in place infrastructure to install another 12. The level 2 chargers are part of the EV Connect network, though they can also be activated with a ChargePoint account.

This event was jointly produced by the EV Club of CT and the CT Tesla Owners Club. We thank the Tesla Club for its partnership.

Net-Zero Hotel Marcel Gets Electric Shuttle Bus

Ensconced under the solar canopy in the photo, in front of level 2 J-1772 chargers, is an electric shuttle van from Maxwell. The shuttle seats 14, including the driver. This is a battery electric van, i.e. 100% electric. Maxwell has been manufacturing these at its Southern California facility since 2019. It sports a 74 kWh battery, a range of 150 miles, and can take a DC fast charge using a CCS connector.

It is owned by the recently opened net-zero Hotel Marcel, and is ready to provide guests with an emission-free and quiet ride to downtown New Haven, the Yale campus, Tweed Airport, or the nearby Amtrak station. The hotel can use it to transport wedding parties, and it has the range to reach Westchester and Bradley Airports.

Electric vans are projected to be a high-growth segment. Amazon has ordered 100,000 delivery vans from Rivian. FedEx is testing 150 electric delivery vans in Los Angeles, purchased from BrightDrop (General Motors.) There are reportedly around a half-million of this category of passenger van, now ripe for moving to electric.

The existing, quaint rules need updating. As part of the registration process, the vehicle had to pass an emissions test.

We are not aware of any other electric shuttle vans in the state. If you know of any, please tell us in the comments.