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Los Angeles to encourage EV ownership

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) announced this week the approval of the Electric Vehicle Home Charger Rebate Program. Known as “Charge up LA“, the goal of the rebate program is to provide rebates of up to $2,000 for 3,000 to 5,000 LADWP residential customers to install level 2 charging stations. The rebate amount will be determined by the type of equipment installed. To qualify, customers must participate in LADWP’s Residential Time-of-Use Rate which will provide a discount for charging during off-peak hours. This is similar to an experimental rate program being offered to San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) customers to charge their electric vehicles (EVs). We expect to see other utilities offer similar programs in the future.

For those that say that our electrical system is overtaxed as it is, and that EVs will just overburden an already stressed electrical grid, here is a comment from General Manager Ron Nichols of LADWP “We expect most of our customers to charge their electric vehicles at night and the result is a double win for the environment. We generate electricity with renewable wind power, and we store that renewable energy in car batteries that then powers Angeleno’s cars during the day.”

This program is not the first undertaken by the city to encourage EV adoption. In November 2010, the City of Los Angeles announced a program to help residential customers of the City of Los Angeles go from permit to plug-in for electric vehicle charging equipment in under 7 days, provided that the customers electrical system can support the electrical requirements. Forward looking programs such as this will go a long way toward incorporating the EV as a true alternative to a traditional gasoline powered vehicle.

This entry was posted in Battery/Charging Experience, Incentives, Industry News, Is the Nissan LEAF right for me?, LEAF 101, LEAF Acquisition, LEAF Information, LEAF Ownership. Bookmark the permalink.

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