Electric Vehicle Federal and State Incentives

Vehicles:  Beginning January 1, 2024, new electric vehicle purchases are eligible for a tax credit of up to $7,500 at the point-of-sale.  Previously, buyers applied for a Clean Vehicle Tax Credit as part of their annual tax return.  Visit the US Department of Energy’s Fuel Economy Tax Center here for breakdown of the amount of tax credits available for new and pre-owned purchases before and after 2023. Connecticut residents are also eligible for a state rebate for new and used, owned or leased hydrogen or electric vehicles through CT DEEP’s CHEAPR program. This is also a point-of-sale program effective March 29, 2023.  To learn more, including requirements, amount of rebate and a list of eligible vehicles visit here. If you live in an Environmental Justice Community, you may qualify for additional incentives.  To view Stamford’s Environmental Justice Communities, visit this interactive map accessed here.

Charging Station State and Utility Incentives

The State, Eversource and United Illuminating all offer incentives to residential and commercial users.  The Statewide Vehicle Charging Program, which began in January 2022 and will run for 9 years, covers a variety of charging needs across five market segments listed here.  For more information and links to state and utility programs, visit here.

Benefits

In addition to contributing to GHG emission reductions, switching to electric vehicles can lead to a wide variety of benefits including reduced vehicle maintenance and fuel costs, increased jobs, health benefits and safety, to providing a source of electricity during extreme weather conditions. 

Benefits can include:

• Reduced GHG emissions – by at least 60% of carbon emissions over a vehicle’s lifecycle, and reductions of 92% of VOCs, 23% of NO_X and 11% of PM_2.5 if states and localities shift to electric vehicle fleets;

• Reduced fuel costs – by as much as 68% and between more than $550 and about $950 per vehicle type for every 15,000 miles traveled in CT;

• Reduced maintenance costs of 37% and $.03 per mile;

• Increased energy security and reliability – by reducing dependency on volatile fuel prices.

• Increased safety – less fatal rollovers and fewer vehicle fires;

• Job creation - adding up to 2 million jobs;

• Increased public health – saving 150,000 lives, avoiding 2.8 m asthma attacks and deterring health care costs of $1.3 Trillion;

• Multiple cities and states have replaced retiring vehicles and transitioning fleet vehicles with electric to help meet climate goals and environmental stewardship obligations.

• EVs can strengthen resiliency by providing mobile emergency energy if equipped with bidirectional charging.

Limiting global warming to under a 1.5 °C increase -- needed to stave off the irreversible and worst consequences of climate change, cannot be met without deep decarbonization in the transportation sector. 

• The transportation sector accounts for about 30% of the nation’s energy needs. 94% of fuel used in transportation is petroleum based – gasoline and diesel.

• Transportation accounts for about 28% of GHG emissions – the largest industry share, and 70% of petroleum consumption according to the US Department of Energy and the US EPA. More than 94% of fuel used for transportation is petroleum based – gasoline and diesel.This resulted in 1,476 MMmt of CO₂ in 2022 according to the US Energy Information Administration.

• Rapid electrification in the transportation sector globally could result in an 80-90% GHG emission reduction by 2050 according to the IPCC.

• Transitioning to all new sales of light and medium duty vehicles by 2030-2035 would decrease ground transportation carbon emissions in the US by 93% by 2050 (compared to 2020 level [i] according to a study by UC Berkeley

• Lifecycle emissions estimates of an electric vehicle. [ii] are less than half that of a gas-powered vehicle, even when taking into consideration that manufacturing of EV batteries. Emission were estimated at about 160 grams per mile and about 380 grams per mile respectively primarily due to tail pipe emissions, according to an argonne National Laboratory GREET model estimate, cited by and utilized by the US EPA (see chart below)

• Lifecycle emission reductions for light duty EVs can be up to 64% according to a 2022 study conducted by Ford and the University of Michigan.

• Replacing retiring state and city fleet vehicles with electric vehicles could result in a 63% reduction in GHG emissions over the next ten years, equating to a reduction of 26 million tons of carbon dioxide according to a US PIRG June 2023 Study.

• Shifting to electric fleet vehicles reduces not only carbon emissions, but also other pollutants contributing to poor air quality.US PIRG estimates a 92% reduction in VOC, a 23% reduction in NO_X and an 11% reduction in PM_2.5 when shifting state and city fleet vehicles to electric over the next 10 years.

REDUCED FUEL COSTS:

• The US PIRG study estimated the greatest savings to states and local governments when converting fleets to EV would be the 68% reduction in fuel costs.

• Consumer Reports reported fuel savings by state. In Connecticut, they estimated a fuel cost saving of $561 when comparing gasoline powered car versus an electric car for every 15,000 miles driven. For Crossovers/SUVs and pickups, Consumer Reports estimated a $732 saving and a $942 saving respectively (See also chart below). These figures were 28% lower than the national average.

• Two recent Consumer Report studies found that maintenance and repair costs of EVs are 50% lower than that of ICE [iv] vehicles. Consumer Reports also found that the repair and maintenance costs of EVs are about $4,600 less over the lifetime of the vehicle than that of gas – powered vehicles. This is primarily due to fewer moving parts susceptible to breaking, less heat resulting in less wear and tear, and no routine maintenance needed such as oil changes, spark plugs or engine tune-ups. The same was true for per mile maintenance and repair costs which equated to $0.03 per mile for battery-electric vehicles and plug in hybrids, while for ICEs the cost was $0.06 per mile.
• In addition, a US PIRG June 2023 study showed that states and local governments would save $10.8 Billion in lifetime costs when converting to all electric fleet vehicles with a 37% reduction in maintenance costs.