The May ASHRAE meeting was held off site at Green Mountain Power’s office in Colchester. This event was a Show & Tell with multiple Electric Vehicles for our members to look through and ride in. GMP employees, ASHRAE members and Freedom Nissan all brought their own cars to share with us. There were even some exhilarating rides in a Tesla 3 that was high performance and included autopilot for hands-free driving.
We then had a presentation from Drive Electric Vermont who summarized the environmental and economic benefits of electric vehicles. There are multiple manufacturers making EVs and Plug-in Hybrids that can operate well in Vermont, even in our cold winters when the range is lower. The charging station network is increasing in VT and rates are financially stable compared to gasoline. There are substantial federal tax credits available that can be applied to new vehicle when buying or leasing.
Finally BED and GMP described their Electric Vehicle and Level 2 Charge Station incentives. BED has a cheaper electric rate for customers who wait to charge their EVs after the peak periods. GMP will be releasing a similar rate structure shortly. These electric utilities are incentivizing EVs in order to meet their Tier 3 fuel savings requirements.
Meeting Presentations:
20190501_ASHRAE_GreenMountainPower_EV_Presentation
20190501_ASHRAE_BurlingtonElectric_EV_Presentation
20190501_ASHRAE_DriveElectricVT_Presentationh