Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday announced a $1 million fund to give Connecticut businesses and residents incentives up to $3,000 to buy or lease an electric or fuel cell vehicle.
The amount of the incentive depends on the battery capacity of the vehicle. A Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, or BMW i3 will fetch $3,000. A Chevrolet Volt and Ford C-Max will fetch $1,500. A Toyota Prius Plug-In will fetch $750.
That comes on top of the $2,500-$7,500 federal incentive that drivers of such vehicles receive.
The $1 million for the fund comes from the settlement the state received from the 2012 merger of Boston utility NStar with Hartford-based Northeast Utilities, which is now called Eversource Energy.
The incentives will be given until the $1 million runs out, Malloy said. At that point, the fund may or may not be replenished.
The program comes as Malloy and the legislature struggle to work out a billion-dollar deficit in the upcoming state budget. None of the money from the state budget would go to that program.
Malloy has made an effort to expand the use of electric and fuel cell vehicles in the state. This includes $400,000 in state money to help pay for the installation of 160 electric vehicle charging stations. Connecticut currently has 349 publicly available charging stations.
