The Energy Consumer's Bulletin- a New England energy news blog

Rhode Island Update: DRIVE EV & E-Bike Rebate Programs

UPDATE: The DRIVE EV and Erica Niedowski e-bike rebate programs have paused application acceptance until the week of September 18, 2023, due to funding issues.

July is a big month for Driving Rhode Island to Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE EV) announcements! Last July, Rhode Islanders were thrilled to learnthat the DRIVE EV rebate had been re-instated. This July, we learned that the program is taking a brief pause (as of July 11) before it resumes on August 1, 2023.

Tell Massachusetts About Your EV Charging Needs

Updated July 26 to add third public hearing and how to submit written comments!

Last year’s climate law in Massachusetts set up an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council (EVICC) that has been meeting since the spring to prepare a report on the Commonwealth’s electric vehicle (EV) charging needs. This month, EVICC is hosting three public hearings for residents to share their experiences and inviting written public comment.

Ford and GM Customers Will Soon have Access to Tesla’s Charging Network

Big news in the electric car world over the past couple of weeks! Tesla has struck a partnership with both Ford and General Motors to allow their vehicles access to Tesla’s network of over 12,000 (and counting) Superchargers.

Rhode Island Picks up the Pace on Clean Cars & Trucks

A little over a month ago we published a blog celebrating Massachusetts’ formal adoption of the Advanced Clean Cars II standard and pointing out that Rhode Island was slow-walking on the standard. We are happy to report that Rhode Island has since picked up the pace! Governor Dan Mckee has announced that Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) will adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) standards. This is great news – and a big thank you goes out to Governor Mckee and the RIDEM team, as well as to Senator DiMario and Representative Cortvriend for sponsoring legislation (S195/H6055) calling for Rhode Island to implement the standards. And thank you to all of you who submitted written testimony and showed up at the hearing in support!

Drive Green Resources Translated Thanks to QARI Drives Green

About one year ago, we published a blog announcing our new partnership with Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. (QARI). Since then, we’ve been hard at work, jointly hosting events about electric vehicles (EVs) and clean transportation and otherwise raising awareness about the benefits of EVs among the QARI community in and around Quincy, MA. A huge part of that work has been focused on making information about EVs accessible to people who do not speak English or are more comfortable learning in another language. We’re excited to share that our Drive Green website resources about EVs are now available in multiple languages thanks to this partnership!

Changes to Massachusetts Electric Car Rebate Program Expected July 1

Update from July 2023: We do not have a firm date by when to expect many of the changes described in this blog. The MOR-EV website says: “Rebates for eligible plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will be phasing out of the MOR-EV program. Eligible PHEVs purchased or leased on or before June 30, 2023 will have 90 days from the purchase or lease date to submit their application for a $1,500 rebate. PHEVs purchased or leased after this date will not be eligible for a MOR-EV rebate. Stay tuned for additional information about expanded MOR-EV programs to be launched during the summer of 2023.”

We will keep this blog updated as we learn more!

New List of Electric Cars for Federal Tax Credit

Earlier this month, we published a blog warning that the list of electric vehicles (EVs) that qualify for the federal tax credit would change on April 18, when the battery requirements written into the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) finally kicked in. The big day has arrived and we now know which vehicles meet the battery requirements, at least for now.

EPA Proposes Ground-Breaking New Vehicle Emissions Standards

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released historic new proposed emissions standards for vehicles, both light-duty and medium- and heavy-duty. To meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, the US as a whole must phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. So far, the US is not on track to meet this challenge, but these new standards would set the country on the path to meeting this goal. These proposed regulations are the strongest emissions standards ever proposed by the EPA and the federal government’s “most aggressive climate regulation” ever.

There and Back: A Cross-Country Camping Trip in an All-Electric Vehicle

My wife Mary and I just returned from a 2-month, 8,181-mile winter camping road trip, traveling from Massachusetts to California and back in our 2019 Kia e-Niro fully electric (64 kWh battery) crossover SUV. Along the way we spent 58 nights in a tent with our two dogs, mostly in the desert southwest, so calling it “winter camping” needs to be qualified. For most of the nights, the temperatures were well above freezing, though there were definitely a few chilly nights at the end of January when we began our trip, and a few more out west, especially when camping at higher elevations.

ACT School Bus: Accelerating School Bus Electrification in the Commonwealth

A note from Green Energy Consumers Alliance: We are BIG fans of electric school buses. We’ve written about them on our blog, we advocate for state policy to make it easier for school districts to get them, and we educate community members on their benefits. We are very happy to feature this guest blog from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center on its school bus program, ACT School Bus.

School bus fleet electrification projects are on the rise nationwide, and new federal and state funding programs offer an opportunity for underserved public school districts to be some of the earliest adopters of electric school buses in the United States. In 2022, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Clean School Bus Program, a rebate program that will provide $5 billion over the next five fiscal years (FY22 through FY26) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission vehicles. EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, along with other state and federal programs, has the potential to deploy thousands of zero-emission school buses each year. MassCEC has launched a program called ACT School Bus to help Massachusetts school districts apply for and complement federal funding for electric school buses. Keep reading to find out how your school district can take action!