NE Electric Vehicles (EV) Newsletter - May 2019 SAVE THE DATE!! JOIN US!! NEXT MEETING of NE EV Campaign Team: Saturday, June 22, 9:30 a.m. at 8521 S 101 St., La Vista, NE 68128 ********* IN THIS EDITION: * EV Team Splits Work into Project Teams. Join one!! * Earth Month Report. EV Team Exhibited at 4 Events. * Status of Legislative Bill on VW Charger Funding * OPPD Announcess Incentives for Buying EVs & Chargers. * NE Tesla Owners Organize at Omaha Cabella's Meeting * EV Team Schedules September Events for Natl Drive Electric Week (NDEW) * Volunteer to Visit Car Dealerships ********* Join an EV Project Team!! The NE EV Team is organizing its activities by specific project teams. Here are the teams you can join to help promote EVs in Nebraska: * steering committee - chair & project team leaders - coordinate teams, bi-laws, coalition * exhibits team - (w dealers) DEED. NDEW, WeatherFest, Hy-Vee, Malls, autoshows * booth team - (inside/outside) DEED, NDEW, WeatherFest, auto shows, farmers markets * parades team – at our own events (Earthdays & NDEW) and others'(St Pat's, Labor Day, etc.) * communications team: newsletter, website (WordPress?), Facebook, listservs * media marketing team - talk shows, social media, lte, op-ed, news releases * finances team - budget, fund raising, reimbursements, auditing & accountability Email Albert at albert.lierz@gmail.com and he will assign you to a team. We will still meet as one group at our June meeting before Project Teams begin meeting at separate times and locations. Most of the next meeting will be brainstorming in each of the above Project Team areas for 15-20 minutes to provide direction to each Project Team. “Meetings” can be entirely by email and phone as long as the team can work productively without face-to-face contact. Project Teams can also meet immediately after the regular monthly meeting of the entire group. ******** Earth Month Report We had EV exhibits (displaying EVs by owners) and EV booths at UNL Weatherfest (Lincoln - April 6), Earth Day Omaha (April 13), Lincoln Earth Day (April 27) and Sarpy County Earth Day (Bellevue - April 28). We had almost two hundred complete our questionnaire (on a person's requirements for them to purchase an EV). Almost two dozen EV owners signed up for our EV newsletter. Much info was provided. Sarpy County Earth Day was our largest display of EVs at any event so far (nearly 30). ******** Status of LB 678 (How to manage EV Charging Funds from VW Settlement) NOTE: The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (DE&E) is now the entity responsible for managing the Volkswagen Settlement money. This new department was recently created by merging the Department of Environment and Energy (DEQ) with the Department of Energy(DE). Senator Vargas' LB698 on the VW settlement had three parts: [1] create a cash fund dedicated to the VW settlement money; [2] increase the funding from 10% to 15% of the settlement dollars; and [3] to require all money be spent of Level II and Level III EV chargers (i.e., no Level I chargers). The Appropriations Committee created that cash fund which increases the Committee's oversight of the expenditure of those dollars. With respect to the other two goals of LB678 the Appropriations Committee expressed to DE&E two desires (read: the Committee will bring it up in next year's review of the DE&E budget) that both [2] and [3] be done. DE&E replied that "if demand was sufficient", then DE&E would do [2] and/or [3]. The Appropriations bill containing the above provisions has not yet passed. Consider visiting with your senator to support the increase to 15% and our campaign for EVs and charging stations. ******** OPPD Announces New EV and Chargers Purchase Incentives (digested from article in OPPD's "The Wire" by Jason Kuiper) May 17, OPPD will release rebates for each new all-electric vehicle purchase and ChargePoint Home charging stations. Rebates are open to all residents within OPPD’s territory. OPPD is again working with the Nebraska Community Energy Alliance (NCEA) to co-fund and distribute $500 rebates to customers who purchase ChargePoint EV chargers for their home via OPPD. Additionally, a $2,500 rebate is available after the purchase of a new EV and purchase, installation and registration of a ChargePoint Home charging station. There is also a $2,500 or $3,500 incentive towards the purchase of a new Nissan Leaf, and $1,000 purchase incentive at Audi Omaha for an Audi e-tron. The district plans to install six ChargePoint charging stations for use by the general public. Participants are required to share their charging data with OPPD for research and analysis purposes. OPPD is tracking and monitoring impacts to its distribution system for use in grid planning. Chargers have proven affordable. People are charging their EVs at home for, on average, $30 a month. ********* Tesla Owners Meet at La Vista Cabelas to Form an NE Chapter On Saturday, May 11 at 3 p.m. about a dozen Tesla owners met at the La Vista Cabelas cafeteria to discuss steps in incorporating their group and breaking out tasks. A drone was used to take their photos in 3D in the parking lot. More details and contact info will come in our next edition. ********* National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) Events Scheduled Our team has tentatively registered events for National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) in Omaha on Sunday, September 8 and in Lincoln on Sunday, September 15. The "Project Teams" will verify that last year's locations are still available and begin planning for the many details involved. These events are a colossal undertaking as they are comprised of many interelated activites and involve many EV and environmental groups. These events should include: parades, booths, panel discussions, exhibits of EVs by owners, test drives by auto dealers, awards, media appearances, etc. ******** Volunteer to break the barriers to electric vehicle adoption! What's it like to shop for an electric car in America today? Let's find out! <> for more info or to join this campaign. https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?city=Omaha&email=dcorbin%40me.com&fname=David&formcampaignid=7010Z000001aFVoQAM&id=7010Z000001aMp8QAE&lname=Corbin&phone=14026909134&state=NE&street1=1002+N+49th+St&zip=681322308