To EV Or Not To EV: Is There An Electric Vehicle Backlash In CT?

CONNECTICUT — Has the EV backlash hit Connecticut?

American motorists are not quite as revved up about a combustion-engine-free future as they once were, the Wall Street Journal notes. Recalls of the Ford F-150 Lightning truck have seen the auto icon shift production into neutral, and rental car leviathan Hertz announced in January it had decided to sell a third of its United States electric fleet and reinvest in gas-powered cars.

In December, Gov. Ned Lamont withdrew regulations that would have required all new vehicles sold in Connecticut to be emissions-free by 2035, once it became clear the initiative lacked sufficient support within the Regulation Review Committee, according to a Hartford Business Journal report.

EV enthusiasts in the state capital are still optimistic, but deep concerns remain over the affordability of electric vehicles, the capacity of the state’s electric grid and the availability of chargers.

In January, Republican lawmakers proposed their own EV migration plan, which was modelled on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s less restrictive guidelines.

This week, state lawmakers held a public hearing on House Bill 5485, which would establish the 40-member Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council. That group would be tasked with the assessment of both the state’s electric grid, charging infrastructure and auto industry. The proposed legislation would also revise existing state-sponsored EV rebates to allocate more funds towards low to moderate income households, and incentivize the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, particularly in rural areas.

The Public Hearing Wednesday was only the opening fireworks, as the Hartford-watchers expect the bill to be hotly and roundly debated through the remainder of the short 2023-24 legislative session.

In its prepared testimony submitted to the Transportation Committee prior to the Public Hearing Wednesday, The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut told lawmakers “the largest source of carbon emissions is from the transportation sector, but momentum in decarbonizing this sector has slowed considerably.” The environmental advocacy group urged legislators to make a “clean transportation sector” a priority.

Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding painted the proposed legislation as a Trojan Horse.

“This is an EV mandate,” he said in a news conference before the public hearing. “The only difference is, they want to wait until November, after the election, to tell you they are going to do this.”

In a joint statement, Harding and House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora said the legislative council created by the bill would only be “a public relations tool designed to shoehorn our state into California’s radical emissions standards. It isn’t a catalyst to develop solutions to citizens’ common sense concerns about cost, charging infrastructure and freedom of choice.”

State Sen. Roland Lemar, the Democratic chair of the Transportation Committee told WFSB the Republican leadership was “fearmongering and attempting to manipulate public opinion on this issue.”

What’s the opinion of the Patch Public? Is Connecticut moving too quickly to embrace electric vehicles, or are we dragging our feet? Do the benefits of cleaner air outweigh the costs? Enough for a state mandate?

Let us know your thoughts in the survey below, and Patch will publish the results in a week or so.