When it comes to small but powerful impact, we often think of businesses like Belmont Light, a non-profit municipal utility in Belmont, Massachusetts, that distributes electricity to the local community. The charity has played an important role in promoting EV use by installing charging at its employees' workplaces and numerous public charging stations throughout the city.
Belmont Light offers on-site employee charging, subsidizing e-commuting costs for employees who drive all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. At their facilities, the charging ports have a dual purpose – to charge the crew and the ships – as they convert their commercial vessels from conventional to electric. Their employees have expressed their satisfaction with their EV system, which has recently been revamped while pursuing and earning their money. EV Adoption Leadership (EVAL) certification..
As Belmont Light pursues EVAL Gold certification, the process helped them renew and refine their internal EV systems. According to Energy Specialist Kevin Bleau, EVAL's technical services have helped the utility:
- Re-engage their employees with e-travel needs through surveys, posters, and email campaigns
- Conducted internal testing that resulted in improved chargers and service panels
- Plan their future EV charging plan with buy-in from the top team
The utility is keen and aspiring to EVAL Platinum certification as it looks to complete more electrification projects in the near future.
Outside of their location, Belmont Light has installed a public fast charging station in a downtown parking lot and Level 2 chargers at a local hospital. They will power eight Level 2 community chargers at the high school next month and will supply the new library with chargers once the building is complete. Additionally, the utility offers EV benefits to their customers, including discounts on the purchase of home charging equipment and incentives for EV charging during off-hours.
As an employer that provides on-site workplace charging and installs public chargers in the community, Belmont Light has learned valuable lessons from the process of donating/installing EV infrastructure:
- Research incentives – there are some great incentive programs out there
- Hire professional installers so you don't have to rewire
- Buy EV chargers from reputable manufacturers
- Evaluate the customer service department of your EV charging dealers – you're going to need them
- Plan your EV charging rates carefully: peak/off-peak, kWh/time/low cost
With 32 employees and five volunteer board members, Belmont Light is a small utility leading efforts to embrace EVs and reduce transportation pollution in their Northeast corner. You, too, can pursue an EVAL certification and access helpful resources that will help you implement creative and efficient zero-emission transportation systems.
Start your EVAL certification process on Aug. 30 and will be featured in Plug In America's exclusive charging features in the workplace this summer! Plus, EVAL certification is currently free, so there are no out-of-pocket costs.*
For questions about EVAL certification or workplace charging, contact Rosa Mitsumasu Scotti at rmitsumasu@pluginamerica.org.
*EVAL certification is free until October 2024.