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Looking for ideas for State of Vermont incentives for EV owners

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I'm meeting with my Vermont state representative soon to discuss various ways that Vermont could provide incentives to EV owners. Given that the state has a budget deficit right now, this will probably NOT be in the form of an income tax credit. However, as our friends in California have shown, there are many other perks that could be implemented to encourage EV ownership. For example...

Free/Priority parking at state facilities, parks, airports, etc.

Special EV license plates

A front license plate exemption

Free charging stations

Car registration discount


I'd like to hear your ideas and suggestions, even if you are not from Vermont.
 
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A six pack of Ridge Runner for residents buying an EV or anyone from out of state giving a Vt resident a ride in an EV? :tongue:

Actually, the biggest thing I'd think would be incentives for charging stations. If you include tourists, put some at vacation destinations like hotels, ski resorts, B&B's etc. Such incentives might actually help generate taxes for Vt. or possibly part of the charging fee could go to the state directly.
 
No toll roads or HOV lanes up here, I'm glad to report. Another thought that comes to mind is providing tax incentives to businesses that install charging hookups.
That depends on how much state tax such businesses pay. A lot of Vt businesses are pretty small and doing something with the sales tax sounds tricky.
How about some kind of low interest loan and/or the state working out a group buy and install to get the up front cost down for businesses? Perhaps Coulomb could be persuaded to make a deal if the state bought 100 chargers.
 
You might point them to look at what their neighbors are doing :

It is not often that I find that our government has its act together, but with regards to the EV policy, Québec is doing good with almost half of Canada's EV sales, for 23% of the population.
It is easy to understand when you consider that it basically amounts to nationalizing the fuel station, since Hydro-Quebec is state owned.

Here is the EV incentives program for individuals, business and dealers : Electric Vehicles - Site of the Government of Québec
Here is Québec's action plan regarding electrification : Electric Vehicles - Action Plan
Here is Hydro-Quebec's backed, provincial charging network : Electric Circuit



There should be interest from the Utilities company, they might have more leverage than governments, no?
At the state level, how about a simple web site to start ?
 
Todd I spent some time talking with Karen McNeil of the VT Public Service Board over the weekend. I told her the biggest thing would be a special electric rate for nighttime EV charging. With the impending roll-out of smart meters, this would be easy to implement. We currently have no incentive to charge at night unless we sign up for Time of Use rates, which at least for us would cost more. Her response was that the utilities have to come up with the idea first, or the legislature, and then her department would approve it.

I also told her that installing a bunch of 30A charging stations is mostly a waste of time and money. The only exception might be at hotels or ski areas so tourists can use them. Tourists generally aren't Vermonters so it wouldn't help adoption rates in VT very much. I might use them at ski areas cuz the parking will be closer to the lift, but rarely because I have plenty of range. So their only help would be for our tourist industries. I did say that 70A chargers might be useful so we can make longer trips easier. We need some in Southern VT, and possibly northern VT for Canadian travel.

Priority parking would be nice but frankly I'm worried about a backlash. Not sure how special EV plates would help us unless they allowed us other perks. Sales/Use tax exemption on cars and/or charging infrastructure would be REALLY nice but like you said we've got a tight budget right now.

As far as I know there's no EV parking at Burlington Int'l Airport for long-term parking. They need to change that. I've all but stopped flying from there because of it. Maybe I can park at your house next time? :tongue:

I also told her that somebody from Economic Development should contact Tesla to lobby them to install a SuperCharger in WRJ instead of W Leb. She didn't even know what a supercharger was but knew about Chademo DC charging.

A use tax discount might be palatable instead of a complete exemption. Please mention that to your legislator. And remind him or her about the benefits that VT would get from EV adoption - much easier to meet the renewable targets set in the recent energy bill, cleaner air, quieter downtowns and roads, less pollution from waste motor oil, underground gas/diesel tanks and the associated regulation/enforcement.

What we really need is a smart guy with a production studio to help make a movie that would educate other Vermonters about the best kept secret on our roads - EVs.:wink:

Thanks for doing this Todd.


I'm meeting with my Vermont state representative soon to discuss various ways that Vermont could provide incentives to EV owners. Given that the state has a budget deficit right now, this will probably NOT be in the form of an income tax credit. However, as our friends in California have shown, there are many other perks that could be implemented to encourage EV ownership. For example...

Free/Priority parking at state facilities, parks, airports, etc.

Special EV license plates

A front license plate exemption

Free charging stations

Car registration discount


I'd like to hear your ideas and suggestions, even if you are not from Vermont.
 
Let me know if I can help at all on the wholesale power side. That's what I do for a living (e.g. Entergy and Hydro Quebec are among my clients). Retail rate design isn't my strong suit, though I'm more than happy to work on that side. I know more than a few senior staffers who support the VT PSB.
 
Let me know if I can help at all on the wholesale power side. That's what I do for a living (e.g. Entergy and Hydro Quebec are among my clients). Retail rate design isn't my strong suit, though I'm more than happy to work on that side. I know more than a few senior staffers who support the VT PSB.

Thanks for your offer Robert. Can you give us some examples of things you might be able to do to help? Or think of things we should be asking for from the legislature or PSB or utility (GMP)?
 
FYI There is a "discounted" registration for electric vehicles in VT. It isn't much cheaper, but I know when I registered our cars, the "electric" category was less than the regular car category (for both one and 2 year registrations).
 
Henry,

Thanks for your input. I will certainly mention the idea of a legislature-mandated nighttime electric rate to my state representative. Your other suggestions are excellent as well. As Elon pointed out, Vermont is a state that can take advantage of EVs, without having a measurable effect on power plant emissions.

What is your thinking regarding WRJ vs. West Leb for a Supercharger? Wouldn't West Leb offer more in the way of nearby services? I imagined that most of the Tesla traffic would be on I-89, i.e. Montreal to Boston.

- - - Updated - - -

FYI There is a "discounted" registration for electric vehicles in VT. It isn't much cheaper, but I know when I registered our cars, the "electric" category was less than the regular car category (for both one and 2 year registrations).

Strange. The discount is $1. ($69 vs. $70/yr) Not sure what they were thinking there.
 
My low-cost suggestions for states to help encourage PEV ownership:
- Allow legal enforcement of plug-in electric vehicle parking spaces.
- Allow resale of electricity for plug-in electric vehicle chargers.
- Allow state/municipal employees who are PEV owners to pay for installation and use of chargers in employee parking lots.
- Match federal deductions when assessing vehicle value for annual excise taxes (not sales tax, that helps offset the lost fuel taxes).

That's about it.

Oh:
- Actively push the use of TOU tariffs for electricity with the ultimate aim of eliminating flat rate tariffs entirely.
- Change building codes for new-built multi-household or business sites to pre-plan for installation of chargers at all parking spots. (They don't have to install chargers, just ensure it's designed so that it's easy to add them later.

Plus, Robert is smarter than I:
- Require HOAs / condo associations to allow installation of separately metered EV charging points.
 
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FYI There is a "discounted" registration for electric vehicles in VT. It isn't much cheaper, but I know when I registered our cars, the "electric" category was less than the regular car category (for both one and 2 year registrations).

All I got was $1 off for the clean air fund. Did you get more discount than that?

Robert the HOA/Condo requirement to allow people to install chargers is a good idea. I hadn't thought of that.