Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department made a change to the federal tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs) that changes the list of eligible vehicles for 2023. This is the second big update to the federal tax credit this year, following the January decision to postpone the implementation of the complicated battery and mineral requirements in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

With winter in full swing, let’s talk about the change in range for electric car drivers. It’s no secret that cold temperatures reduce the range of a vehicle, whether electric or gas-powered. Recently, we hosted two webinars on the topic – one focused on winter driving in general and one focused on winter road trips. What better way to spend time indoors in the freezing cold today than catch up on the recordings?

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently filed the regulations needed to adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) regulations. As we’ve written before, these regulations are crucial for Massachusetts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030. Now, there’s a chance for YOU to support these key rules, either by testifying in person before DEP on January 30 or submitting written comments by February 9. Here’s all you need to know to act.

Way back in the summer of 2021, the electric utilities in Massachusetts – Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil – proposed bold new electric vehicle programs to the Department of Public Utilities (DPU). For the next year, the DPU engaged in a formal process to weigh the utilities’ proposals. Green Energy Consumers served as an official “intervenor” in this docket, which means we advocated for what we thought the DPU should approve. Now, finally, a year and a half later, the DPU has issued its order, unleashing hundreds of millions of dollars for electric vehicle charging infrastructure over the next four years via Make Ready programs and rebates for charging installation (those are two separate but complementary things, as we’ll talk about below!).

When we talk about the environmental benefits of electric vehicles (EVs), we get a lot of questions about the lifetime greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of EVs vs internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. Electric cars don’t have tailpipe emissions when running on electricity, but battery manufacturing is an energy-intensive process. So how does the math work out? According to this report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), EVs have far fewer global warming emissions over their lifetime than ICE cars.  Inthis blog, we'll break down the research from UCS and explain how EVs are cleaner and produce less total GHG emissions.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed into law by President Biden in August 2022 fundamentally changed the structure of the federal tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs). Now, we’ve learned that the U.S. Treasury is delaying implementation of one key piece of the IRA, which means more vehicle models than expected may be eligible for incentives for a short time at the beginning of 2023. 

Rhode Island has led the nation in the electric sector, with the first offshore wind farm in the country off of Block Island and the groundbreaking law to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2033. Unfortunately, concerning the transportation sector, the state is lagging behind several states. This year, we are advocating for Rhode Island to adopt a key set of regulations coming out of California: the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) standards. 

A note from Green Energy Consumers Alliance: We are big fans of electric school buses. You might've read our recent blogpost about the electric school buses coming to Massachusetts and Rhode Island thanks to new grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Today, we're excited to share a guest blogpost from Block Island about their new electric school bus, which was donated by the Solar Initiative (not funded by the EPA). Many thanks to Cindy Davis of the Solar Initiative for this post!

Earlier this summer, we wrote about applications being open for the Clean School Bus Program. Now, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced who got awarded – and school districts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are on the list!

GECA staff and partners with an electric school bus in Beverly, MA.