For every 200 new car registrations in Maine, around 13 of them are for electric vehicles. 

This is up from 2020, when fewer than three out of every 200 newly registered cars were either battery powered or plug-in hybrids. But the state wants to see that number climb even higher. 

The state’s newly updated climate action plan, known as Maine Won’t Wait, set a goal of having 150,000 light-duty electric vehicles on Maine roads by the start of the next decade. This year, there were fewer than 17,500. 

With a ways to go to achieve that goal, the climate plan outlines ideas for encouraging people to ditch their internal combustion engine vehicles for those that produce no or low tailpipe emissions. However, one of the incentives the state has used in recent years to promote that transition has run dry without any current plan to bring it back. 

“To further increase the number of EVs on the road, Maine must continue to offer attractive EV rebates and expand the dealer network offering rebates, especially in rural communities,” the climate action plan reads. 

But those rebates will need more money to continue. In mid-November, Efficiency Maine had to stop issuing rebates — except for those designated for low-income customers — because it exhausted the $13.5 million it had to fund the program since it started in 2019.

That money came from a variety of sources including payouts from multiple legal settlements and money allocated by the Maine Legislature, said Executive Director Michael Stoddard. The 2022 state budget included $3.5 million for the program. 

State policymakers are considering next steps to provide incentives for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, said Jackie Farwell, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and Future, which is directed by Maine Climate Council co-chair Hannah Pingree. The next session of the Legislature, during which lawmakers will need to pass a new biennial budget, will start in early January with Democrats in control of both chambers. 

“The ambitious but realistic EV goals in the updated climate action plan are built upon comprehensive modeling that incorporates a range of factors, including, but not limited to, the availability of rebates,” Farwell said. 

She added that as the state expands its charging infrastructure, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are becoming more popular in Maine. Both vehicle types can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially in a sprawling, rural state like Maine, where transportation accounts for nearly half of carbon emissions.

Given that, a draft report from the Governor’s Energy Office outlining how the state can meet its clean energy goals said that electrifying transportation is “essential for meeting Maine’s clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals.”

About the state EV rebates

Efficiency Maine’s EV rebate program offered up to $2,000 for the purchase of a new battery electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid to Mainers of any income. The rebate amount increased to $7,500 for low-income consumers and included an option to get some money back for purchasing a used hybrid or electric vehicle.

In order to receive the low-income rebate, the purchaser must be part of a household currently receiving other benefits, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or MaineCare. 

There was also previously a third rebate category for moderate-income households that included individuals making less than $70,000 and couples earning less than $100,000 a year, but that also has been cut. 

Rebates for low-income drivers will continue because the money earmarked specifically for those hasn’t run out yet. One of the $5 million settlement awards specified that a quarter of the money be used for low-income rebates. 

More low- and moderate-income drivers have accessed rebates in recent years, but they still only accounted for 17% of state EV rebates in 2024, according to the state’s updated climate action plan. The vast majority of EVs were purchased by higher income households. 

The life of the rebate program was always dependent on the demand, Stoddard said. Efficiency Maine forecasted the funding would last through June 2025, but he said demand accelerated in the past six months so the money went faster than expected. 

Stoddard posits that this could have happened because electric vehicles have become increasingly affordable and more models came onto the market, giving drivers more options to weigh against traditional gas-powered cars. 

Future of EV rebates in Maine

Going forward, Efficiency Maine has proposed what Stoddard described as a “modest budget” for EV rebates in its three-year strategic plan that still needs approval from the Public Utilities Commission. The proposal gradually increases from about $2 million next year to $4 million in fiscal year 2028. 

A 2021 clean transportation roadmap from the Governor’s Energy Office and the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future estimated that a low-income EV rebate program would require $11 million to $28.8 million per year through 2032.

If the rebate program is replenished, Stoddard said he expects Efficiency Maine to place a greater emphasis on low- and moderate-income customers who may face more barriers to purchasing an electric vehicle even as sticker prices come down. 

“I think our programs, if they are able to continue in the future, will become more focused on specific segments of the marketplace that are slower to adopt this equipment,” Stoddard said.

Rebates aren’t the only option

Incentives can be helpful in getting people to start using new, unfamiliar technology. As for the EV rebates, Stoddard said they have encouraged car dealerships to add more electric vehicles to their inventory and stirred up interest in early adopters to try these new cars. 

But state rebates are just one tactic, Stoddard said. There are other financial incentives such as federal tax credits and the functions of a free market bringing down the sticker price to make electric vehicles more comparable to their gas-powered counterparts. 

Federal tax credits offer up to $7,500 for some new battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. However, there are eligibility requirements and income caps. There are also smaller federal tax credits available for the purchase of used electric vehicles. 

Maine’s climate action plan says the state should explore other means of making electric vehicles more affordable, such as broader access to financing and other tax incentives. 

Additionally, Stoddard explained that some consumers may also need the assurance that there will be sufficient fueling capability, so developing a network of public chargers can help people feel confident that they could travel around the state as they please with an electric vehicle. 

Maine has more than 500 public charging locations with more than 1,100 individual charging ports, according to a map from Efficiency Maine. Although most of them are concentrated in the southern part of the state, there are public chargers along the northern and eastern borders. 

The state is also investing more than $50 million to install 700 new charging ports by 2028. 

Peter Anastos, the co-founder and owner of Maine Course Hospitality Group, at the company’s office in Freeport. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

Decades after they met while baking Twinkies at a Massachusetts factory, Peter Anastos and Paul Lohnes have built something of a hospitality empire in New England.

Their company, Maine Course Hospitality Group, owns and manages nearly two dozen hotels in the region (plus a couple in Florida and North Carolina). Most are Hilton and Marriott franchises, including Courtyards near the Portland International Jetport and in the Old Port, as well as Hampton Inns in Waterville, Augusta, Bath, Freeport and Thomaston.

Now, Anastos and Lohnes are launching their own hotel brand in the hope that it will spread across the country.

Called HomeAwhile, the concept is to provide apartment-style rooms that combine the best features of Airbnbs – welcoming spaces with kitchens and sometimes laundry machines – and hotels that offer housekeeping, on-site staff and a more predictable overall experience.

“We’re trying to build something that’s a little better, a little nicer, at an affordable price,” said Anastos, 76, who lives in Yarmouth.

The first HomeAwhile is under construction on Payne Road in Scarborough and is set to open in 2026, with 109 rooms. Though it is billed as an extended-stay hotel for long vacations or business trips, the minimum stay is one night.

“It will be more like an apartment than a hotel, with services available à la carte,” said Jonathan Bogatay, company president. “If you want housekeeping services, we can provide them. If you don’t, you can be on your own.”

A rendering of an apartment-style room in the HomeAwhile hotel being built in Scarborough near The Maine Mall. Courtesy of Maine Course Hospitality Group

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The so-called aparthotel model has been trending in overseas cities like London and is gaining traction in the U.S. During the last year, Marriott International opened an aparthotel in Puerto Rico and announced plans to develop several similar properties in the Midwest.

Maine Course hopes HomeAwhile can seize on the interest by targeting travelers with low- to mid-range budgets. That’s also why the company’s leaders believe the Scarborough location can succeed at a time when hotels are multiplying in Greater Portland.

“People are looking for comfort and affordability,” said Bogatay, 60, who recently joined the company after leading a Wisconsin-based chain. “We want to get both of those right.”

HOW IT STARTED

Son of a baker, Anastos has lived in Maine since the 1980s. He left the Hostess factory to paint and renovate houses in Massachusetts, then moved north to invest in and eventually acquire the Muddy Rudder Restaurant and the Freeport Inn, both Route 1 tourist landmarks.

By the 1990s, he owned seven Ground Rounds, including restaurants in Portland, Auburn and Bangor, and he had formed the Maine Course partnership with Lohnes, who had become a rising real estate developer in the Boston area.

Anastos and Lohnes sold their restaurants and initial hotel properties in the early 2000s – including the Muddy Rudder and Freeport Inn – to build franchises under the banners of major chains. Anastos was later appointed to the Maine Housing Authority board in 2011 by former Gov. Paul LePage. He ruffled feathers by criticizing the agency’s spending decisions and pushing it to consider the per-unit cost when funding affordable housing projects.

In launching its latest HomeAwhile venture, the group said it will save money upfront by using its regular general contractor and project partner, Mark Woglom of Opechee Construction Corp., in Belmont, New Hampshire, who has built several chain hotels and knows where improvements can be made.

Maine Course also will save money because it won’t have to pay a franchise fee to Marriott or Hilton, which adds as much as 12% to monthly costs. The overall savings will allow the company to charge $115 to $125 per night instead of $160 or more.

Kevin Pagnano, corporate director of operations and Jonathan Bogatay, president of Maine Course Hospitality Group at the site where the group is building its 26th hotel, an unusual long-term stay property that may serve as a model for a national chain. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

Lee Speronis, professor and director of the School of Hospitality, Sport and Tourism Management at Husson University, said he believes it will succeed as a practical and affordable answer to Airbnb and other online rental options.

“Maine Course has a proven track record,” said Speronis, who is also chair of the Maine Tourism Association and a Hospitality Maine board member. “They give their employees opportunities to succeed and they’ve had great success as a company that way. If you work hard, you can move up.”

The company also tries to give young people a reason to stay in Maine, he said. It provides internship opportunities for hospitality students at Husson and other schools and often hires them after graduation for management positions. CEO Sean Riley produces a podcast with Southern Maine Community College students to highlight how industry leaders built their careers.

‘BE THE BEST PART OF SOMEONE’S DAY’

The company’s executives say prioritizing employee satisfaction alongside guests’ needs is one of the key reasons the company has grown slowly and steadily since its founding nearly 40 years ago.

Riley, a former teacher who joined the company in 1992 as general manager of the Freeport Inn, still makes a point of connecting with staff members at all levels, even now that the company has 800 associates, including 70 salaried managers. He writes 50 to 70 birthday cards each month that are sent to employees and he calls each hotel every Thanksgiving and Christmas to thank the managers for working on the holiday.

“It’s a simple thing, but it shows we care,” said Riley, 68. “We believe if we take care of our people, then they will take care of our guests.”

Sean Riley, the CEO of Maine Course Hospitality Group, started working for the company in 1992 as a general manager of the Freeport Inn. Before that, he was a teacher. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

On a more concrete level, Maine Course pays competitive wages in a tight labor market and provides health benefits, paid time off, a company-matched retirement savings program and a pathway for advancement, he said.

Kevin Pagnano experienced the Maine Course approach when he was hired in 2008 to run the Courtyard Marriott in Bangor. He had worked for Marriott International for 17 years, including at hotels in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida.

Pagnano grew up in Maine and wanted to move back here to raise his family. He had heard about Maine Course and thought he could help the company expand. Meeting Riley was memorable.

“Our interview was about 10 minutes of work talk and the rest was about who we were as people,” Pagnano recalled. “He wanted to know who I was.”

Since 2010, Pagnano has been a corporate director of operations, overseeing direct sales and revenue management strategies for growth. But his work remains grounded in his customer service experience, starting in 1988 as a bellman at what is today the Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks near The Maine Mall.

That’s where he got his first hands-on lessons in how to lead a hospitality team. Fresh out of SMCC’s hospitality program, he remembers watching the general manager clearing snow from guests’ cars early one morning.

“I watched him for a while, then I thought, maybe I should be out there doing that,” Pagnano said. “He never asked me. He just set the example.”

Now, Pagnano, 57, is a leader in a work culture that recognizes its employees have challenging lives. It means accommodating reasonable flex time for family needs and personal crises, he said, and holding baby showers and graduation parties to celebrate individual accomplishments.

“It’s how we build teams, but it’s also the right way to treat people,” Pagnano said. “I had a boss once who told me, ‘Never forget you could be the best part of someone’s day.’ That includes our employees.”

At the same time, he said, Maine Course has high-performance standards, especially when it comes to addressing guests’ concerns.

“We tell our teams that every problem has a solution,” Pagnano said. “If you don’t know how to solve it, find someone who does.”

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A man was arrested after crashing into another car driven by a pregnant woman in Falmouth, Maine on Saturday night.

Maine State Police say they responded to reports of a wrong-way driver on the Maine Turnpike at mile marker 43.

Authorities say they arrived to the scene of a head-on crash with a car that was driven by a pregnant woman.

The woman was evaluated at the scene and suffered minor injuries but was transported to Maine Medical Center as a precautionary measure, according to authorities.

The wrong-way driver, identified as 30-year-old Stephan Adams, of Windham, Maine, was found to be impaired during the investigation, according to police.

Adams was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and driving to endanger.