Dan Esty, the state’s new environment commissioner, is fond of his third E.
In his speeches, the head of the Department of Environmental Protection and the appointed commissioner of the proposed Department of Energy & Environmental Protection always reminds his audience that the focus of the new agency will be strengthening the two Es in its name as well as a third E — the economy.
While the state develops new policies on energy and environment, Esty wants investment in industry, especially the clean technology he believes is the wave of the future.
James Bianco and his Control Module Industries in Enfield offer a glimpse of that future. The company, founded in 1969, provides electromechanical equipment.
Three years ago, Bianco decided to move into the electric vehicle charging business. Control Module Industries applied its expertise and equipment to the task and is providing overhead charging stations — an infrastructure Connecticut needs to fulfill its dreams of becoming a leader in electric vehicles.
The Control Module Industries technology is an important improvement because the company has retractable cords, said James Robb, senior vice president of enterprise planning and development for Northeast Utilities. Management of the electric cords around charging stations is a big issue, since damage can occur if the cords are left on the ground, especially in the cold or water.
Control Module Industries has installed three charging stations and has 10 more going out this year, including at Figaro Restaurant in Enfield. The company’s focus is pitching parking garages and hotels, places where people will park for extend periods of time and will need an electric vehicle charge.
The problem Bianco runs into in selling his charging stations is consumer return on investment. With modifications to wiring and infrastructure, a station can cost $14,000; but an electric vehicle owner isn’t going to use more than $1 or $2 of electricity. Other than goodwill created by reducing dependence on oil, a charging station owner isn’t going to make any money.
While Bianco doesn’t mind competing against the likes of Fairfield conglomerate General Electric — which has its own charging station business in Plainville — he says he can’t go up against California companies that are subsidized by state and federal grants.
At an electric vehicle forum on April 26 — where Connecticut officials researched ways to make the state an electric vehicle leader — Bianco said the government needed to level the playing field. He wants incentives for his customers to install charging stations and needs state help in securing federal grants.
“If we have a strong unified front here in Connecticut, we will get some of that money,” Bianco said.
Connecticut already is a leader in the emerging electric vehicle industry. Under former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the state launched an infrastructure initiative to make the state appealing to electric car manufacturers. Connecticut has 11 existing and 18 proposed charging stations.
Connecticut was one of the initial markets for the Chevrolet Volt, and is expected to be one of the first East Coast markets for the Nissan Leaf. In June, the state had 21 electric vehicles, mostly homemade. In the past 11 months, that number has grown to 70, mostly the Volt and the Tesla Roadster.
Despite the state’s early lead, clean energy industry forecaster Pike Research predicts Connecticut will fall behind the rest of the country as President Barack Obama carries out his initiative to have 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. Over the next six years, Pike predicts 2.1 percent of Connecticut cars will be electric, while the national average will be 2.4 percent.
But Esty and other state officials believe Connecticut has a big economic opportunity to stay ahead of the electric vehicle movement and become a leader in alternative transportation.
“It requires a commitment on the part of our state to be the leader,” said Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, the co-chair of the legislature’s Energy & Technology Committee.
When using oil for transportation, Connecticut pays the second highest prices in the nation for gasoline and diesel, behind West Virginia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest data release.
Connecticut pays more because the state gas and diesel taxes are higher than the national average, and because the state requires a reformulated gasoline that is cleaner but more expensive, said Laurie Falter, EIA economist.
Since state residents pay more than almost anyone else for gas, they know better than anyone the savings behind an electric vehicle, Fonfara said. Even before gas hits $5 per gallon, the opportunity will be ripe in Connecticut.
In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the state needs to create incentives for people to buy electric vehicles, said Kevin DelGobbo, chairman of the Department of Public Utility Control. California, for example, has a $5,000 rebate program for electric vehicles, on top of the $7,500 federal rebate.
DelGobbo said the state also needs to offer incentives for research and development in electric vehicle technologies. New developments, especially with batteries, will make the technology better and more affordable; and Connecticut still has an opportunity to get in front of the industry.
But the state really needs to step up development of the all-important electric vehicle infrastructure, DelGobbo said. Range anxiety is a top reason consumers are wary of electric cars, not wanting their battery to run out of juice with no way to charge it.
For every electric vehicle in Connecticut, the state needs 1.4 charging stations, said Michael Mahan, GE product general manager for electric vehicle infrastructure. Every electric vehicle owner will have a charging station at home, but there’s also a need for charging stations at workplaces, parking facilities, hotels and shopping centers.
The infrastructure is all-important when manufacturers choose markets to sell their electric vehicles.
“What we’d really like to see are charging stations where people will be making lots of stops,” said Stephen Marlin, driver relationship manager for General Motors Co.
Connecticut companies GE and Control Module Industries developed charging stations on their own, without any state incentives. But now state help is needed to install those stations throughout Connecticut, said Bianco.
“Wherever you go, you will need a place to charge your car, other than home,” Bianco said.
