Maine has ambitious electric vehicle goals, but sales aren’t growing fast enough

by Jessica Piper

WEST GARDINER, Maine — A regular gallon of gasoline was still priced at $4.14 at the Maine Turnpike rest stop in West Gardiner on Saturday.

But while dozens of cars pulled through the Citgo station over a few hours, the nearby electric vehicle charging station sat empty.

High gas prices in recent months have further highlighted the appeal of electric vehicles, which had already seen growing demand in Maine for several years. With the transportation sector accounting for more than half of greenhouse gas emissions here, broad adoption of electric vehicles is also central to the state’s climate goals.

Under Gov. Janet Mills, the state has set ambitious targets including having 219,000 electric passenger vehicles on the road by 2030 as part of an effort to reduce emissions 45 percent. Electric vehicle sales have shot up in recent years as the state has upped financial incentives and installed charging infrastructure.

But recent global supply chain problems have also forced Mainers into long waits for both plug-in hybrid and battery-electric cars, as well as traditional gas-powered vehicles. That is an annoyance for customers, but also poses a broader challenge as the state looks to increase the number of electric vehicles on the road here sixfold in the next few years.

“We’re in a really interesting and challenging dilemma in that we have these very aggressive EV and climate goals, and we have inflation and high gas prices, which would normally make EVs very attractive,” said Jeff Marks, senior policy advocate at the Acadia Center, an environmental nonprofit. “But then you have these supply inventory issues that are really holding things back.”

The number of electric vehicles registered in Maine more than doubled from 2018 to 2021, state data show. But the current total, around 6,000 cars, is still a far cry from the state’s 2025 goal of having 41,000 such cars on the road.

Electric vehicle purchases in Maine rose rapidly in the first half of 2021, accounting for roughly 3.7 percent of new passenger vehicle sales from January through June, up from 1.5 percent in 2020. But sales slowed in the second half of the year due to decreased inventory.

“There aren’t enough cars,” said Adam Lee, chairman of the board at Lee Auto Malls who is himself an electric vehicle owner.  “It doesn’t matter how many people want to buy them if we can’t supply the cars.”



The problem isn’t unique to Maine. Global demand for electric vehicles has driven up the costs of key minerals, such as nickel and lithium. President Joe Biden invoked a federal law month to boost domestic production of minerals needed for vehicle batteries, but the effects of that order will take time.

When the supply chain issues are resolved is “anybody’s guess,” said Molly Siegel, program director for Efficiency Maine, the quasi-state agency that oversees programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s very complicated, because the supply chain includes battery materials, minerals [and] chips, so it’s really hard to say when that will let up,” Siegel said. “It will eventually let up, but we don’t know if that’s going to be six months, or a year, or two years.”

While supply chain challenges are largely out of the state’s control, Efficiency Maine has been working to install charging stations on key travel corridors and offering grants to help businesses, municipalities and multi-family dwelling units set up charging stations. On Friday, Mills announced that Bangor will receive $50,000 to install additional public charging stations as part of a smattering of Earth Day grants to municipalities.

Efficiency Maine also offers rebates for purchases of new electric vehicles, reducing vehicle costs by up to $2,000 for most consumers, $5,500 for low-income families and $7,500 for municipalities and nonprofits.

Although supply chain issues may mute the short-term effect of these programs on electric vehicle sales, the greater charging availability could make electric vehicle adoption easier for consumers down the line. Such programs also aim to make access to electric vehicles more equitable.



Electric vehicle purchases have largely been concentrated in wealthier parts of the state. Among municipalities with at least 1,000 people, the towns of Cape Elizabeth and Cumberland had the highest concentration of electric vehicles as of 2020, state data show.

Helping low- and middle-income Mainers install home charging systems will be key to broader electric vehicle adoption, said Jonathan Rubin, an economics professor at the University of Maine whose research focuses on energy and transportation issues. He noted that Maine generally has an old housing stock, with many homes not equipped for rapid charging.

The rest of the article is at the following weblink:

https://bangordailynews.com/2022/04/24/news/central-maine/maine-has...

Emerald Robinson: The catastrophic failure of CNN+ in three weeks can only mean one thing: the American public has largely abandoned the corporate media as a reliable source of information.

https://emeralddb3.substack.com/p/goodbye-to-cnn?s=r

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Comment by Stephen Littlefield on May 8, 2022 at 6:20pm

https://flagandcross.com/alarming-two-electric-buses-spontaneously-...

Interesting article that doesn't back up the Mills regime!

Comment by Penny Gray on May 6, 2022 at 1:05pm

Ethically speaking, EV's are far, far from green.  Has to do with the mining of  lithium and other battery components. The batteries in EV's are dirty, dirty, dirty. And they catch fire.

Comment by Willem Post on April 24, 2022 at 10:18pm

Did any of you vote for the Dem/Progs that are screwing us?

You have another chance to vote in NovemberYou have to vote the bastards out.

They are on auto pilot, and actually believe their own nonsense.

They belong in a loony bin, not in GOVERNMENT 

Comment by Long Islander on April 24, 2022 at 8:24pm

Stephen, I couldn't agree more with your observation "This is the same game at a different time when the government back in the 70's were pushing electric heat with discounts and all kinds of unhealthy 'tricks' to make your house cheaper to heat pushed by the government and some paid for by the government!"

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on April 24, 2022 at 7:49pm

When government pushes the people to do something and uses tax dollars to set things up to force people to do as they want, you always have a certain percentage that will bob their heads and do it. I'm not one of them and I always look for the reasons and the advantages and drawbacks. EV's are a joke for most of Maine, and they are expensive to own and run, especially with the government forced increase in electric rates. This is the same game at a different time when the government back in the 70's were pushing electric heat with discounts and all kinds of unhealthy 'tricks' to make your house cheaper to heat pushed by the government and some paid for by the government! Now we have EV's and hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on charging stations in less populated areas at the expense of hard working citizens for vehicles that are too expense for them to buy and cost more to run than a vehicle that they already drive!! see the resemblance? Herding sheeple, there is no science there are no real facts just more government pablum and opinion in the form of propaganda!

Comment by Penny Gray on April 24, 2022 at 6:52pm

We're still aggravating the Bear, talking about bringing Sweden and Finland into NATO. Anyone else remember those drills in school where you hide under your desk to protect yourself from nuclear annihilation? That was the fear back then.  Now it's global warming/climate change/end of the Earth fear that's being hammered into the kids. Meanwhile, the frame on my 2007 GMC truck is getting shaky so I bought a Subaru Forester 2008 with 70,000 miles for five grand, put two grand into it to pass inspection. I'm still driving my truck (225,000 plus miles) and still need a truck to haul my dog trailer to evacuate my sled dog kennel in case of forest fire up here in the north Maine woods, but the GMC can do that in an emergency.  

As for EV's in northern Maine or any northern clime, let's see a realistic cost/benefit analysis, both economic and environmental.  Point being, is driving an EV powered solely by wind and solar ever going to be possible on a large scale?  Are we capable of providing all those big heavy batteries to power those vehicles? And if it isn't possible, what are we really talking about here?  

Tesla's might be great, but Elon Musk's Space-X rockets aren't powered by wind and solar.  Planet of the Humans was good, but how many people watched it? How many people HAVEN'T been greenwashed with political propaganda and the WEF agenda?  I respect this planet and tread as lightly as I can, but science based solutions to our energy dilemma are critical. Is there any hope?

Comment by Robert Powers on April 24, 2022 at 6:05pm

How about an EV to run in winter, full heat, defrosters, towing camper or snowmobile trailer, etc...away from urban areas, not along I95 areas....I guess we can carry  10KW gas generator to run most of the night (6-8 gallons of gas) to recharge your EV....SUV...

LGB-FJB and Janet Mills too!

Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on April 24, 2022 at 5:35pm
Thx for your comment! I don’t think electric cars are going to save the environment.. did anyone see michael Moore’s planet of the humans?
Comment by Willem Post on April 24, 2022 at 2:38pm

Increased interest rates, increased inflation rates, and increased materials scarcity and costs, will greatly increase the prices and availability of EVs and regular cars.

Two months ago, I went to the Subaru dealer to buy an Outback. 


There were only two Outbacks; one, about $37,000, was driven by the manager and had all the options, the other, about $33,000, was also loaded with options. I did not like the price and the color, but bought it anyway. CURSE, CURSE.

All this is the fault of the US pushing NATO to expand infrastructures, and lethal weapons and personnel, beyond east Germany, as promised in 1990, and then closer and closer, right next to Russian borders, aggravating the Bear, pushing it in a corner, until it attacked.

The US will fight until the last Ukrainian dies.

This is not about Ukraine, but about weakening Russia, and regime change.

However, China needs Russia, and will never allow Russia’s natural resources to fall into the hands of the West.

In the showroom were high-priced used cars, some 2 to 3 years old.

I checked out Tesla pricing:

Model 3, no extras, AWD, long range, $56,000, not including sales tax, dealer prep, and documentation 

Model Y, no extras, AWD, long range, $63,000, not including sales tax, dealer prep, and documentation 

DELIVERY IS ESTIMATED AT FIRST QUARTER  2023

All bureaucrats should check the car markets, before acting like idiots, by setting goals that cannot be achieved in Europe, as well as the U.S.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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