Editor’s note: This is part of WYPR’s ongoing coverage of the environment in Maryland known as Climate Change In Your Backyard.
If you’ve been thinking about buying an electric car but have been holding off because of the high cost, state officials are hoping they can entice you to take the plunge. A lot of Marylanders need to go electric for the state to have any chance of meeting emissions goals the Maryland General Assembly passed last year. The Climate Solutions Now Act calls for the state to reduce greenhouse gasses by 60% before the end of the decade, by 2031.
In order to do that, Michael Powell, who serves on the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, said we have to do something about cars and trucks spewing carbon dioxide.
Powell said transportation by far accounts for the largest source of greenhouse gasses in Maryland.
“If you don’t deal with transportation, you might as well fold your tent and go home,” Powell said. “It is the big gorilla in the room that we have to deal with. The greenhouse gasses from transportation are nearly twice that from all the power plants in Maryland and the power plants that we import power from outside of Maryland."
The climate change commission makes recommendations to the state on how it can meet its goals.
There are more than 5.2 million registered vehicles in the state, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. About 60,000 of those are hybrid or electric cars. That’s just over 1%. The state has a goal of 300,000 zero emission vehicles on the road by 2025.
Powell said the state isn’t offering people enough financial incentives to turn in their gas-burning cars for pricier electric vehicles.
“You clearly save money over the long run, right? There are no oil changes. There’s no transmission fluid. There’s no transmission. There’s no fan belts. Brakes last longer. But the upfront costs can be as much as $40,000 more than a comparable vehicle," he said.
The average price paid for an electric vehicle in the summer of 2022 was $66,000, compared to $46,000 for a gas-powered vehicle, according to Forbes Magazine.
While the state has a tax credit of up to $3,000 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, that fund is tapped out until the next fiscal year which begins in July 2023. Some electric vehicles also qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit.
The climate commission is recommending that the state provide low interest loans to lower the monthly cost for people who buy zero-emission cars.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in August found that while a majority of Americans like the idea of incentives, they are divided over whether they will consider making their next car an electric vehicle.
Charging stations, and lots of them, are key to getting more electric cars on the road.
Baltimore County Del. Dana Stein, a Democrat who is vice-chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee and serves on the climate commission, expects there will be legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session to try to incentivize owners of large apartment buildings to install car charging stations.
“If you don’t live in a home or if your employer doesn’t have a charging station then it’s hard for someone who has an EV to get their car charged,” Stein said.
Local governments also are installing charging stations. Baltimore City has 41 charging stations available in city-owned parking facilities. Jenn Aiosa, Baltimore County’s chief sustainability officer said there are already 32 electric charging stations on county property with more to come.
“Hoping that we can encourage more folks to think about making the switch themselves if they know there are publicly accessible chargers in the places where they want to go,” Aiosa said.
Del. Stein said another expected initiative in the 2023 legislative session would have Maryland join other states like California, New York and New Jersey in adopting the Advanced Clean Truck Rule. It would require manufacturers of heavy duty trucks to gradually increase the percentage of their vehicles that have zero-emissions.
Stein said the more states there are signing on to the clean truck rule, the more economical it becomes for manufacturers to produce them.
“This is another recommendation from the climate change commission, recognizing that we really need to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles,” Stein said.
Gov.-elect Wes Moore also will decide whether to put the state back on track to comply with a 2007 law requiring it to follow California’s emission standards. That compliance was paused by the outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan administration.
At its December meeting, climate change commission members were told by its chair, Suzanne Dorsey, that climate change “brings with it a keen sense of urgency.”
Dorsey said it also offers the opportunity “to imagine a different future and then build that future.”
