Brett Williams, CSE’s Senior Transportation Principal Advisor, was selected to speak at the Connecticut EV Roadmap technical meeting on February 8, 2019. Hosted by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the goal of the meeting was to better support the development of a self-sustaining EV market in Connecticut and inform policymakers and other stakeholders about the state’s progress thus far.
During his portion of the presentation on accelerating EV adoption, Brett shared some of the lessons CSE has learned from administering the Connecticut Hydrogen and Electric Automobile Purchase Rebate (CHEAPR) program, as well as statewide EV incentive programs in Massachusetts (MOR-EV), New York (Drive Clean) and California (CVRP). He said, “The data are showing the importance of policy support, whether that's incentives or whether that's education and outreach or whether that's other mechanisms to help folks get over those barriers, are actually increasing, and that's good because we're actually making inroads into the true mainstream market”.
Brett’s comments provided an update on the EV market, the impacts of the CHEAPR program and Connecticut’s unique approach. He presented program metrics, summarized the state’s innovative dealer sales incentive and highlighted how CHEAPR’s base MSRP cap has reduced free ridership (i.e. the EV buyers that would have purchased their vehicles even if no incentive existed). Survey data indicates that 63% of CHEAPR rebate applicants would not have purchased an EV without the incentive program, which is higher than the results of other state EV incentive programs administered by CSE.
