CT Gov. Lamont says electric cars ‘a must-do’ in push for special session

Gov. Ned Lamont told environmentalists Tuesday to lobby their state legislators to push for stricter standards on car emissions in order to improve the environment and combat climate change.

During a speech at the Connecticut Science Center in downtown Hartford, Lamont told the large crowd that he favors the stricter California standards on vehicle emissions that are being debated behind the scenes in the legislature. Leaders are discussing whether to hold a special session next week to vote on the issue, but no date had been publicly announced as of Tuesday evening.

Democratic lawmakers are calling for a plan that all new car sales in Connecticut starting in 2035 would be electric and plug-in hybrid. But Republicans have raised multiple questions, saying that Democrats are moving too quickly without enough public input and no legislative hearings as the complicated bill has not been finalized.

“This is no time to turn back now. Right, Connecticut?” Lamont asked as the crowd applauded. “I need your help to remind the legislature it’s worth doing. I remind everybody in this room, we’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do. … Make it affordable. Make sure it’s realistic for people. Affordability is very important in a state like this. The hybrids — it’s going to save you money, not cost you money. Don’t let them tell you otherwise. Don’t let them say we’re outlawing gas cars.”

He added, “What the state’s going to look like over the next 10 to 15 years, you’re a big part of that. … I love the crowd here. I just want you to make sure that you weigh in with the legislature. Tell them this is not a nice-to-do. This is a must-do. Push back on the things that are not true.”

Lamont spoke at the 2024 environmental summit of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, which is among the top environmental lobbying groups at the state Capitol.

Lamont supports the clean-air standards of liberal states like California as more drivers are increasingly buying electric cars. Republicans, meanwhile, say Connecticut should join 32 other states that follow the federal Environmental Protection Agency standards that are less strict than those in California and nearby states like Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and Rhode Island.

The controversial proposed regulations on electric vehicles have caused a firestorm of protest among Republicans who say it is impractical to require all new cars sold in Connecticut to be zero-emission electric because the state does not have enough electric charging stations and the costs are too high.

House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, said that Tuesday there are two different ways of addressing the issue — creating options for two different bills. No final decisions had been made early Tuesday.

“The good news is that to build charging stations is a lot cheaper than to renovate the XL Center,” Ritter said, referring to on-and-off plans to upgrade the Hartford civic center. “The numbers are not going to pop off the page. It’s not going to be $100 million. It’s a very reasonable amount of money that we think would make a big difference over three years, and more importantly, it’s going to go into communities that are rural and urban and poorer.”

Legitimate concerns have been raised by critics about the affordability of the switch to electric cars, Ritter says. The state, he said previously, should help subsidize the cost of expensive electric buses in struggling cities like Hartford and Bridgeport.

When asked Tuesday if he expects any Republican support in the House, Ritter said, “I do not. I suspect this will be one where we can’t bridge the divide.”

Earlier Tuesday, when asked about public input, Ritter told reporters, “I think the public’s weighed in pretty good. I think we’ve heard them loud and clear.”

But Senate Republican leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford says that a public hearing is necessary on an important issue.

“When we got out from under the Capitol Dome, what we heard from working and middle class and urban and rural families was: EVs are not for everyone,” said in a recent television interview. “These concerns are legitimate. We need a public hearing process to make sure we have an informed choice.”

Legislators have raised questions about costs, charging stations and infrastructure, among others. But for some legislators, a key issue is also that the electric batteries sometimes catch on fire and have been difficult to extinguish.

Electric car advocates, however, say that the fires are highly unusual and the batteries are less likely to catch on fire than conventional batteries. The problem, though, is extinguishing the blaze once it starts.

Free market solutions

Some lawmakers say that the free market will not solve all problems, and the state should provide more funding to cash-poor cities to build charging stations in impoverished areas. While having a charger at home would be helpful to a Tesla driver in Darien, it would not help thousands of others across the state, lawmakers said.

While electric cars have generated headlines and conversations at the state Capitol, they still represent only a tiny fraction of the automobile market.

Out of more than 3 million vehicles registered in Connecticut as of July 2023, only 36,000 were electric, according to state statistics. The cars include such brands as Chevrolet Volt, Honda Clarity and Toyota Prius Prime. Connecticut has a goal of 125,000 to 150,000 electric vehicles by 2030 – which is lower than some optimists had originally hoped.

The issue of electric vehicles vaulted into the spotlight recently when the legislature’s 14-member Regulations Review Committee was scheduled to vote on regulations saying that new cars sold in Connecticut starting in 2035 must be zero-emission vehicles. But some committee members raised concerns, and Lamont withdrew the proposal. Now, the full legislature will examine the overall issues as they intend to take action in the 2024 legislative session.

The Regulations Review Committee is a relatively little-known panel that often focuses on the arcane nuances of complicated state laws. The committee, for example, is also looking into the regulations of municipal dog pounds.

If the committee had accepted the new regulations, they would have become enacted and would not need further action by the full House of Representatives and Senate under the legislative rules, officials said. Now that the regulations have been withdrawn, they have been sent back to the General Assembly for further discussion.

The committee has seven Democrats and seven Republicans — meaning that one Democratic defection could block the regulations that were being pushed by Lamont and the state’s environmental protection department.

More charging stations on the way

A major issue that has raised concerns is whether the state will have enough charging stations and the proper infrastructure to generate all of the electricity that will be needed to charge car and truck batteries.

In 2021, officials announced that Connecticut would receive $53 million over the next five years from the federal government for advanced, fast-charging stations in an effort to cut air pollution.

The funding is part of the $1.25 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed both chambers of Congress. All seven members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation voted in favor of the package, which President Joe Biden signed. Under an 80-20 matching grant, Connecticut will contribute $10.6 million to the federal funding for a total allocation of $63.6 million in a move that the state environmental commissioner describes as “a game-changer.”

The federal money is designed for charging stations to be built statewide within five miles of busy interstate highways, including Interstates 84, 95, 91, 395, and the Merritt Parkway, officials said. The federal money, for example, could not be spent in rural towns in northern Litchfield County or eastern Connecticut until the entire highway network is completed.

The “superchargers” along the highways, known as Level 3, are more powerful and effective than the slower, less-expensive chargers, known as Level 2, that drivers might find at their local town hall. While the numbers increase on a regular basis, Connecticut has more than 1,700 Level 2 chargers and more than 400 of the faster Level 3 chargers.

Lamont is not giving up, as he told environmentalists at the Science Center.

“With your help, we’re going to get it done,” Lamont said. “I want you to hold our feet to the fire until we get it done.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com