Hartford Business Journal

24 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | October 10, 2022 Extra Juice More charging stations, tax credits aim to help CT catch-up on lofty electric vehicle goals By Skyler Frazer sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com W ith more than $50 million in federal money coming to Connecticut to build out electric vehicle infrastructure, state officials and those connected to the EV industry hope the Nutmeg State will continue to inch closer to its lofty clean energy transportation goals. In September, the White House announced Connecticut's National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program plan had been approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The program was created to help fund states' efforts to build out their electric vehicle charging station networks over the next several years. The state Department of Transpor- tation is set to receive $52.5 million in federal funding over five years to add public EV charging stations along Connecticut's highways. In late 2019, the state announced an ambitious plan to have 500,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030. Near term, the state's goal is to have between 125,000 and 150,000 EVs on the road by 2025. So far, Connecticut isn't close to either benchmark, with just over 25,000 electric vehicles currently registered in the state. However, the number of registered EVs has more than doubled since 2019, and officials hope the addition of more charging stations, particularly along state highways, could help reduce driver range anxiety and spur greater EV adoption. "We need to increase the charging infrastructure, because I think we're playing catch-up at this point," said Barry Kresch, president of the EV Club of CT, an electric vehicle advocacy group. Kresch said adding more public charging stations is "critical" as elec- tric vehicles get more popular. More stations, more cars CT Electric Car Charging Systems, a subsidiary of Newington Electric Co., is celebrating its 10th anniver- sary later this month at its 72 Pane Road headquarters in Newington. The company installed some of Connecticut's first public electric vehicle charging stations, at West Hartford's Blue Back Square in 2012, and since then it has installed hundreds more in the state, both commercial and residential. The EV industry has shifted signifi- cantly in a decade. Ten years ago there were just a few auto brands that had electric vehicle or hybrid models; now nearly every car manufacturer is putting research and development into the sector, and some major car makers — like General Motors — have set ambitious goals to stop selling gas and diesel vehicles in the years ahead. "This isn't a flash in the pan anymore," said Ed Ingalls, owner of Newington Electric Co. and CT Ed Ingalls is the owner of CT Electric Car Charging Systems, a Newington-based company that has found a growing niche installing electric vehicle charging stations in Connecticut. Electric Car Charging Systems. "The electric car industry is not going away and it's getting bigger every year." Ingalls said most electric vehicle buyers also install a charging system at their home, a big part of his business that likely has growth potential in the years ahead. But more public stations could help quell range anxiety, or the fear that a vehicle might fully lose charge before reaching its destination. "They're going to put these car-charging stations all over, people are gonna feel a little bit more comfortable and think, 'Wow, there are car-charging stations everywhere. Maybe I will buy an electric car,' " Ingalls said. According to the federal govern- ment's Alternative Fuels Data Center, Connecticut currently has 1,318 EV charging stations spread across 487 public locations. Phase one of Connecticut's EV infrastructure investment plan, state officials said, focuses on adding up to 10 EV charging locations along the interstate system. Each location will consist of at least four individual public fast chargers with a minimum power level of 150 kilowatts per port. According to the state Depart- ment of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the state follows California's greenhouse gas emis- sion standards and goals for electric vehicle adoption. Connecticut signed onto the multistate Zero-Emission Vehicle Memorandum of Under- standing in 2013 regarding EV goals, which includes having hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles on the road by 2025 and 2030. "It was a stretch goal that took into account, at the time, the technology and regulatory framework that was in place and the credits that manu- facturers would earn by creating EVs," said Paul Farrell, DEEP's acting chief of the Bureau of Air Management. The state will continue to follow California's EV standards as they evolve, including a goal of becoming fully electric. Tracy Babbidge, DEEP's acting deputy commissioner for the Environmental Quality branch, said Connecticut is also monitoring new federal goals, like President Joe Biden's executive order that targets having 50% of the country's vehicles be electric by 2030. Manu- facturers are also increasingly setting their own goals for how many EVs they produce. "It's a much broader push that we're now seeing nationally," Babbidge said. Higher interest Jeff Aiosa, executive board member of the Connecticut Auto- motive Retailers Association, said electric vehicle interest is high. Aiosa is also owner and president of Carriage House Mercedes Benz of New London, so he sees the sales potential of EVs daily. "Almost 23% of new car buyers HBJ PHOTO | SKYLER FRAZER Barry Kresch

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