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As always, there’s a lot going on in the Electric Vehicle world! From electric school buses to another successful National Drive Electric Week, we’re recapping all of your favorite EV info for you below:
Electric School Buses are Already Here!
The new all-electric school bus on MDI. Photo credit: News Center Maine
Mount Desert Island High School officially has an all-electric school bus in its fleet, the first in Maine. Making national news, the high school – which is solar powered – used money from the Volkswagen settlement fund to purchase the bus. NewsCenterMaine has the full story . Beverly, MA will also soon have electric school buses!
“‘The kids aren’t breathing the diesel exhaust, I’m not breathing the diesel exhaust. I am coughing less than I used to,’ said Van Gorder. ‘We estimate we are going to save about $5,000 a year in fuel, $2000 a year on standard maintenance, no oil changes, no filter changes.'”
Electric Vehicle Charging Grants for South Portland Businesses
South Portland has announced a Level 2 EV charging grant program for businesses and commercial properties located within its city limits! This is a great opportunity for businesses – check out our webpage on it and see if your business qualifies!
New Chargers in Maine and New Hampshire
In the last two months we’ve installed a variety of Level 2 Chargers across Maine and New Hampshire. For CMP’s Make Ready pilot program, we’ve installed chargers at Wells Library, Falmouth Police Department, Oxford Casino, and the Town of Lisbon.
In New Hampshire our new chargers in the Green Street Community Center Lot in Concord have been a huge hit. Here’s Senator David Waters charging his car before going into work at the state Capitol:
National Drive Electric Week 2021
Andover’s Ride & Drive gets festive with pumpkins, apples, and Sunsquatch.
National Drive Electric Week (“NDEW”) took place from September 26 – October 3 this year, with events held at over 200 locations across the United States and Canada. We attended events in Beverly and Andover, MA, Exeter, NH, and South Portland and South Paris, ME. These events give consumers first hand exposure to the benefits of driving electric as well as allowing them to talk with actual drivers about their real-world experiences. They are fun and educational, and they convince people the future is electric. NDEW was created by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association, with the support of national sponsors like Nissan, Wells Fargo, and ClipperCreek EVSE and local sponsors like Revision Energy, CMP, and an array of volunteer organizers.
Yankee Ford’s Mustang Mach-E at the South Portland Ride & Drive event.
This was our sixth National Drive Electric Week (“NDEW”) event in South Portland since 2013 and 8th overall in the Portland area. This year had 8 vehicles in the ride and drive rotation, 6 from private owners and two from dealers – Berlin City Toyota (Rav4 PHEV) and Yankee Ford’s Mustang Mach-E. Josh Baston, ReVision’s EV Charging Project Manager, volunteered his Tesla Model 3 and allowed folks to drive it! He loves sharing his car! Chuck Hayward, ReVision’s new EV charging designer, toured the event to learn more about driving and charging. We had Mayor Misha Pride speak about South Portland’s One Climate Future efforts, Mollie Siegel from Efficiency Maine Trust talk about their incentives for cars and charging, and Keith Carson, Evening Meteorologist for Channel 6 spoke about his Kia Niro ownership experiences. We had over 200 people attend and gave out at least 100 ride and drives among all the cars!
Look for Drive Electric Earth Day in April for the next big ride and drive opportunity. Go to www.driveelectricweek.org to learn more.
ReVision Energy’s Director of EV Innovation Barry Woods speaks at the South Portland event.
Granite Outdoor Alliance Q+A with Barry Woods
A huge thanks to our partners at Granite Outdoor Alliance (GOA) for inviting our Director of EV Innovation Barry Woods to participate on their recent panel “Who’s In Charge? EV’s Future in NH.” You can watch that recording here to learn about New Hampshire incentives, local charging stations, and more.
