Good morning,
We learned late last week that Delmarva Power is one of the companies suing the EPA over its fuel mileage standards.
The appeal is aimed at halting a decision by the department to halt mandates by the Obama administration to improve fuel mileage. Some say the milestones are too stringent and GM is clearly unhappy with the more stringent California standards that Delaware has also adopted.
Delmarva is one of the companies of Chicago giant Exelon, which joined West Coast utilities and electric vehicle maker Tesla. The appeal is further evidence that Delmarva and Exelon are embracing electric vehicles as an option.
As noted in the story below, Delmarva announced a program for customers with BMW and Nissan offers $10,0000 and $3,000 discounts respectively in addition to the $7,500 tax credit. A state program kicks in an additional $3,500 rebate until June 30.
When you crunch the numbers, the price of an all-electric Nissan Leaf is in the low $20,000 area with the BMW in the mid to low 30s. The Leaf sounds like a no-brainer if you have a company that wants to let its green flag fly.
The University of Delaware has a long-running program known as V2G that is moving toward commercialization. One day the program might allow you to store electricity from your solar panels and make money when sending excess electricity into the grid.
In an area where many of us pile up hundreds of miles a week on going to work or making sales calls, electric vehicles have their limitations. The new Leaf does have a range of more than 100 miles, above the shorter range of previous models.
The more expensive Chevy Bolt electric vehicle now has a range of 200 miles or so (the figure does go down at high speeds or in cold weather) and a price that drops to the mid to high 20s with state and federal rebates.
Tesla is beginning to crank out the long-anticipated and sleek $40,000-$50,000, Three model, while battling problems with assembly lines that need to run faster to meet hundreds of thousands of pre-orders.
Coming later this year is an all-electric Hyundai Kona, which will enter the popular crossover small SUV segment and comes with an advertised 250-mile range.
The rebates for the EVs draw the ire of the pro-coal lobby who see the program as a subsidy that is eventually borne by all taxpayers.
Then again, there seems to be a move afoot within the Trump Administration to subsidize coal-fired power plants and cleaner nuclear plants under the argument that we are facing an energy emergency.
Stayed tuned. This could get interesting. – Doug Rainey, publisher.
