CONNECTICUT & THE EV

State’s Utilities Eager To Power Electric Cars
Brad Kane, July 18, 2010 (Hartford Business Journal)

"As Connecticut’s status as one of the leading electric car states revs up…the ultimate winners will be…Northeast Utilities and United Illuminating, who have worked hand-in-hand with the governors’s office to make the state appealing to electric car makers…The utilities will bank nearly $40 per month for every electric car charged…

"The biggest win for the utilities and Gov. M. Jodi Rell came when GM announced the state will be among the first markets to receive its inaugural electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, in 2011…[T]he state continues to grow the number of electric vehicle charging stations…"

click to enlarge

"The Volt operates on a 16-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that takes about eight hours to charge from a 120-volt outlet. The battery gives the car a range of 40 miles before the gas-powered engine generator takes over…Charging the car every day will use roughly 250 kilowatt hours per month. At 15 cents per kilowatt hour, an electric car driver will pay $37.50 every month…[This] is much cheaper than [the]…$150 [for gas] to drive the same distance each month…

"GM choose Connecticut as one of the first four electric car markets — Texas, New York and New Jersey are the other three — because the state had a distinguished interest in the Volt…Connecticut also will be an excellent proving ground to showcase the Volt’s capabilities in cold weather…Even if 100,000 electric cars are introduced tomorrow — equal to 5 percent of the state’s 2 million registered vehicles — the increase on the power grid will be 1 percent…[which] happens fairly frequently…when people flick on their air conditioners upon returning home in the evening…"

click to enlarge

"Power companies’ push for electric vehicles goes beyond dollars and cents…Northeast Utilities ratepayers want new technology focusing more on renewable energy producing fewer carbon dioxide emissions, and the company wants to accommodate its customers…[And] customers’ fuel source will shift from oil to whatever generates the electricity on the power grid…In Connecticut, 57 percent of electricity comes from cleaner energies — natural gas, nuclear power and hydro…The state also is launching initiatives to rely more on renewable energy sources…

"The role of the governor’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council is to ensure the state had the infrastructure and contingencies in place…The Electric Drive Transportation Association…is launching a Web site in September to educate consumers…GM still hasn’t identified the dealers in Connecticut that will carry the Volt in 2011, although dealer training already has begun on how to service the vehicle. The cost hasn’t been announced either, although the Volt will be priced competitively with the electric Nissan Leaf, which is tagged at $33,000…"