Duke Energy doubles down on EVs with $76 mln in charger incentives
Duke Energy’s generous offer to subsidize the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in its home state of North Carolina means it will catch the upward trend of expansion for EVs nationwide.
Duke announced in April that it was offering $76 million worth of incentives to encourage North Carolina residents and public transportation agencies to take the plunge and bring more EVs to the roads and highways.
“North Carolina deserves a cleaner and smarter energy future … ,” said Lang Reynolds, director of Electrification Strategy at Duke. “This initiative will help accelerate public and private EV use while also reducing carbon emissions.”
Duke already has a similar incentive strategy worth $10.4 million consideration by regulators in neighboring South Carolina.
Duke, which called its proposal the largest investment in EV infrastructure in the Southeast,said its plan would add nearly 2,500 new charging stations around the state over three years. North Carolina currently has about 600 public charging stations servicing more than 10,000 all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road.
As the daunting campaign against climate change begins to shift its focus from power generation to vehicle emissions, EVs have clearly become a high priority. But a relative scarcity of charging infrastructure can make the decision to invest in a new EV a tougher call for consumers when compared to traditional vehicles that can pull into any corner gas station and top-off in a matter of a few minutes.
Moreover, new charger technology has slashed the time it takes to get an EV battery up to full power without overheating, but it can still take 15 minutes or so, better than earlier technology that gave drivers enough time to catch a movie or dinner while their EV recharged.
Experts say the obvious answer is charging at home, particularly overnight when waiting time isn’t so much of a critical factor. With its new incentives, Duke is opening a door that will make it easier, at least on the wallet, to install an efficient charging device in a residential garage. In a filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC), Duke proposed a three-year program offering rebates up to $1,000 for 800 residential customers who install a Level II charger at their residence.
A rebate would come in handy for homeowners since they would require the services of an electrician and possibly other contractors to install. The project means a separate 240-volt circuit with an NEMA 6-50 socket and 40 amps, which is the same type of wiring required for a kitchen stove or clothes dryer. Building codes would likely require the wire to be buried underground, and experts advise a cord long enough to reach a car parked in the driveway. Experts also advise first checking out the home’s overall electrical system to determine if it needs any additional upgrades to handle the new load. The finished product in the home would charge a typical EV in two-to-three hours and would be adaptable to newer generation chargers likely to be deployed in the coming years.
The utility also proposed heftier rebates of $2,500 for 900 qualifying charging stations installed by commercial and industrial customers, including city governments and universities that are transitioning to EV fleets.
Schools and transit agencies can also benefit from financial assistance provided by Duke to install charging infrastructure for electric buses. In addition, Duke told the NCUC that it planned to install on its own more than 800 public charging stations around the state.
But it is the residential charging infrastructure that is expected to produce the largest boom market in the near future due to the sheer number of private cars in the United States.
A report released in March by the Northeast Group, a Washington market intelligence firm that specializes in smart infrastructure, predicted Level II-type installations like the ones Duke is supporting would be highly popular, growing from around 3 million charging points currently to nearly 54 million worldwide by 2028. “Ultra-fast public charging is making the headlines, but the market will actually be concentrated in the residential segment as the EV market grows,” Steve Chakerian, senior research analyst, said in a release.
