In just one year, more than 250 residential customers have claimed EV charger rebates, 200 of 500 BGE-owned public chargers have been reserved by governmental partners, and EV adoption continues to grow
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BGE’s EVsmart program is transforming transportation in Maryland, and since its launch in summer 2019 the suite of electric vehicle (EV) charging products and services has experienced growing interest and demand from customers.
“We’re providing resources and services to help people understand and make the transition to EVs, which can be daunting and may seem cost-prohibitive at first,” said Divesh Gupta, BGE’s director of strategy. “We’re proud of the steps we’ve taken during the program’s first year to help our customers go electric. From educational resources about EVs, chargers, and how going electric could benefit your commute and budget, to our public charging network that enables EV drivers to charge when and where they want.”
BGE’s CHARGING NETWORK
Among BGE’s EVsmart offerings is a new EV public charging network. When the charging network is completed, EV drivers will be able to charge their vehicles at 500 BGE chargers throughout the BGE service area. The EVsmart network will provide drivers flexibility to travel in Maryland without concern that they will run out of power.
More than 200 of the chargers have been claimed by governmental partners; BGE has already installed 61 of these stations, offering 109 charging ports. All charger sites will be located on government-owned property, such as libraries, parks and community colleges, for public use. State, county, and municipal government agencies are eligible to apply.
Drivers can use the new charging stations through the Greenlots mobile app and will pay 18 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to charge at a Level 2 charging station or 34 cents per kWh at the company’s Direct Current (DC) Fast Charging stations (rates are updated on an annual basis with the Maryland Public Service Commission). A typical EV driver spending one dollar at a Level 2 charger can expect to gain approximately 20 miles in range.
“We’re proud to partner with BGE on this industry-leading project that will serve as a blueprint for other utilities,” said Jeff Tolnar, chief commercial officer at Greenlots. “In just one year, BGE has installed over 60 high powered EV chargers throughout Maryland, significantly expanding the state’s EV charging presence and making public charging more accessible to residents at an unprecedented scale.”
CHARGER REBATE PROGRAMS
EVsmart offers two types of rebates for customers who install EV charging equipment:
- RESIDENTIAL – $300 rebate for residential customers who install an approved Level 2 charger at their single-family home.
- MULTIFAMILY PROPERTY – Up to $25,000 in incentives for qualifying property managers/owners or homeowner associations that install approved Level 2 chargers or DC Fast Chargers.
Chargers energized at Westwinds Apartments in June – an Annapolis-based multifamily building – marked the first that qualified for BGE’s rebates available to multifamily buildings. BGE is currently in discussion with more than 25 developers to expand charger access at these buildings.
“We are excited by our customers’ response to the rebates that are available for installing Level 2 chargers, ” said Kristy Fleischman Groncki, BGE’s manager of strategic programs. “Qualified smart chargers enable customers to take advantage of our new EV rate, which can save them money and strengthen the reliability of our electric grid.”
VEHICLE CHARGING TIME OF USE RATE
The Vehicle Charging Time of Use (TOU) Rate enables EV owning customers who also have a Level 2 smart charging station to benefit from a TOU rate for charging while the rest of their house remains on a standard electric rate. This can significantly lower electric costs for EV charging during off-peak hours (nights and weekends) and can ultimately save an average driver approximately $120 a year. BGE customers can sign into MyAccount to check eligibility.
ONLINE RESOURCES
To help sift through this information, BGE launched bge.com/electricvehicles featuring online savings calculators comparing EVs to gasoline-powered cars, information on EV incentives and promotions, and applications for BGE EV charger incentives. These webpages have been visited more than 100,000 times during the program’s first year.
WHAT’S NEXT
“We’re excited that we’ve emerged as an industry leader in the EV space,” said Fleischmann Groncki. “We fully expect that all 1,000 residential charger rebates will be claimed and all 500 BGE chargers will be sited by July 1, 2021. At that point, we’ll see what makes sense to continue the transition to EVs and best serve our customers.”
