Picture this: You lease or purchase a new or used vehicle, fill out a form, mail it in and get a rebate up to $1,000 from an oil company if you’ll buy their gasoline.
Never happen.
However, if you’re a JEA electric service customer who purchases a plug-in electric vehicle, the utility will give you a cash rebate up to $1,000 through its Drive Clean program.
Since the program began in September 2014, 49 rebates have been approved: Five $500 rebates for vehicles with batteries of less than 15 kilowatt hours capacity; 45 rebates have been issued for vehicles with capacity more than than 15 kilowatt hours, which have greater driving range than vehicles with the smaller batteries.
Rebates are offered to encourage more people to switch from gasoline or diesel vehicles to electric, which yields a reduction in carbon emissions, said Dan Copeland, JEA customer solutions field representative.
Also, since most owners recharge at home when they are through using their vehicle for the day, they buy the power during lower demand times.
“It’s nice to fill in the off-peak voids. It gives us better asset utilization in the middle of the night,” said Copeland.
JEA employee John Brown works Downtown and commutes about 60 miles roundtrip each day from his home in Orange Park. He usually recharges his Nissan Leaf at one of the five charging stations inside JEA’s parking garage for a $10 a month payroll deduction.
“I plug it in in the morning and it’s charged by noon. It’s perfect for me,” he said.
For those who don’t always want to recharge their vehicle at home, JEA offers two charging stations, one at its Downtown office building at 21 W. Church St. and another at the Gate convenience store at St. Johns Town Center.
Owners may recharge the battery in about 30 minutes for $3.50.
The chargers were donated by Nissan, which manufactures the Leaf electric vehicle.
They are managed by a company that allows customers to register an account to pay for their charges or they may pay with a smartphone app or over the telephone with a credit card.
The chargers are compatible with virtually all electric vehicles manufactured the U.S., Asia and Europe. Only the Tesla vehicle requires an adapter, which must be provided by the owner, Copeland said.
He said motor vehicle records show about 700 electric vehicles are registered in Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties. The most popular is the Chevrolet Volt, followed by the Tesla Model S, the Nissan Leaf and the Ford C-Max Energi.
While electric vehicles represent only about 3 percent of the passenger market, their popularity is growing and transportation planners are anticipating increasing demand for charging stations.
With a $300,000 federal grant from the Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement Program, the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization is installing in Duval County 27 charging stations in partnership with JEA.
Installation began in October and is scheduled to be complete in January.
Assuming more funds become available, the organization plans to install more charging stations within JEA’s service area, Copeland said.
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