Delaware clean-fuel vehicle buyers offered subsidies

Delaware residents and businesses can get financial help to buy cleaner-fueled vehicles under a new program announced Thursday by Gov. Jack Markell.

The Clean Transportation Incentive Program will provide rebates or grants to support electric or alternative-fuel vehicle purchases and installations or investments that expand clean-fuel refueling networks.

The program will make available up to:

• $2,200 for purchase of a new battery or plug-in hybrid vehicle.

• $1,100 for new or retrofitted propane or natural gas vehicle or retrofitted electric models.

• $20,000 per vehicle for purchases of new, dedicated natural gas fuel systems for tractor-trailers or other heavy vehicles.

• $500 to help buy and install electric vehicle charging equipment.

Information on the program is available from the state Division of Energy and Climate at (302) 735-3480 or dnrec.delaware.gov.

During an announcement at Sheridan Nissan near New Castle, Markell described the initial $2.7 million effort as "the next natural step" in Delaware's effort to curb pollution linked to climate change.

"It's particularly important that we take steps that clean up the environment, but that also are good for the economy," Markell said.

Seven Delaware auto dealerships already have partnered with the state to promote and assist the program, which is open to Delaware residents, businesses, nonprofits organizations and government agencies at all levels.

Delaware set aside a portion of receipts from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, to finance the program. Nine Northeast states now participate in RGGI, which became one of the nation's first regional efforts to reduce power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, a principal gas associated with human-caused climate change.

Plants currently purchase credits for each ton of CO2 released annually, under a plan that gradually reduces maximum emissions. Auction proceeds go to states for programs to support energy alternatives and efficiency, pollution reduction and low-income energy assistance, among other goals.

Willett Kempton, a University of Delaware professor and researcher who directs the school's Center for Carbon-free Power Integration, said the incentives could help speed up adoption of electric vehicles. Though still a relatively small share of the state and national fleet, numbers have been growing exponentially, he said.

Equivalent costs for electric vehicles are about a dollar a gallon, Kempton said, but battery costs push sticker prices far above conventional fuel cars.

"This will help make it more affordable to buy electric cars as well as infrastructure" for refueling stations, said Kempton, who has pioneered efforts to develop networks that can turn widely distributed battery-equipped vehicles into storage systems that can feed electricity back to the power grid when needed.

"The bottom line is, more of these vehicles on our roadways will benefit Delawareans with cleaner air, decreased emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles and reduced long-term environmental and health impacts," said David Small, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, largely through fossil-fuel burning, have been directly tied to rising atmospheric temperatures worldwide. Increased heat, in turn, threatens to change global climates in disastrous ways, ranging from increased and worsening heat waves and flooding to rising sea levels that could jeopardize huge population in coastal cities.

"Science tells us that climate change is real, that human activities are causing it and we must act now to avoid devastating consequences," said Bill Early, deputy administration for the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 3 office in Philadelphia.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at (302) 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com