Hartford Business Journal

10 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 16, 2025 Michael Frisbie and Abdul Tammo, co-owners of Noble Gas Inc. The company has pared back plans for EV chargers at its new stations because of state and federal subsidy cuts. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Powering Down With $3B in federal funding frozen, charging station projects across CT mothballed, scaled back Verna said the potential tenant was relying, in part, on the subsidies and backed out of the project after the federal funding was frozen. "After speaking with the Realtor, everything just went cold, which is fine," she said. "It's maybe a blessing," she continued. "If government incentives were needed to keep a market strong, then it would have been risky to put a tenant in there that was surviving only because of subsidies or incentives." She added that she thought the Miles Drive site was a great location for the project. "EV is not charged right now," Verna said. "It's unplugged, for the moment. I'd love to plug it back in." 'We just pared back' So would Michael Frisbie. He and his business partner, Abdul Tammo, own Hartford-based Noble Gas Inc., which operates 13 gas stations across the state and is developing four more. EV charging stations are planned for each of the new sites. In February 2024, the town of Orange approved a Noble Gas proposal for a nearly 8,400-square-foot facility off of I-95 that would feature an EV showroom with charging stations, and include a gas station, convenience store, ice cream stand and drive-thru coffee and sandwich shop. Noble Gas also is opening a station in Windsor that was supposed to feature up to 20 EV chargers. Its new gas stations in East Hartford, Hamden and Newington will each also have a few EV chargers. Frisbie, though, said the Orange and Windsor projects have since changed. "We just pared back in Windsor so that we don't have as many, but we still have some," he said of the EV charging stations. Instead of 20, the facility has four. "When, hopefully, the subsidies open up again — which I think they will at some point — then we are already posi- tioned to be able to add on," he said. As for the EV showroom and service center, "they're on hold for the moment, until such time as (the subsidies) come back," Frisbie said. "We will have EV The blueprint for a defunct plan to build a major EV charging station development in Wallingford, at 1 Miles Dr. By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com I n June 2024, the town of Wall- ingford unanimously approved a special permit and site plan for a privately developed facility that would be devoted exclusively to charging electric vehicles (EVs). At the time, the project was touted as the first of its kind in the U.S. The plan submitted by Gem Prop - erty Group LLC intended to develop a 2.04-acre vacant lot just off Exit 15 of Interstate 91 at 1 Miles Dr. The proposed facility was approved for up to 38 EV charging stations, 36 of which would be beneath a canopy. There would be no gas pumps, just EV charging stations. The project also proposed a 3,000-square-foot retail building for a convenience-style store to provide packaged food, beverages and other items for people waiting while their vehicles charged. A year later, anyone driving past that property can see it remains undisturbed, covered in tall grass and with no visible signs of site-preparation work. In an exclusive interview with Hartford Business Journal, the devel - oper said the EV project is now dead, primarily because of, well, climate change — that is, changes to the regulatory climate. Following the election of President Donald Trump and his administra - tion's subsequent decision to freeze more than $3 billion in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding, as well as the state legis- lature's decision to reduce similar EV support, the Wallingford project is not the only significant charging station development in the state to be canceled or scaled back. That will slow down the state's efforts to expand charging infrastructure, which is seen as crucial for the broader adoption of electric vehicles. 'Unplugged' for the moment Elizabeth Verna, a principal with Verna Builders & Developers, said her family runs Gem Property Group and has owned the Wallingford property on Miles Drive for more than a decade. A year ago, she said she was bullish about the EV charging station develop- ment. Now, her family is considering alternatives because interest in the facility has evaporated.

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