Duke Energy’s subsidiary utility in Indiana has launched a host of two-year e-mobility pilot programs for both residential and commercial customers in that service territory.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has approved each of the four, two-year electric transportation pilot programs, each of which is designed to gain better understanding of the impact of increasing adoption of EVs, customer preferences and behavior.
“As the adoption of electric vehicles accelerates, pilot programs such as these give us the opportunity to gain critical knowledge around what an electric automotive future will require and ensure we’re planning the system to reliably meet our customers’ needs,” said Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar.
The two-year pilot programs are Off-Peak Charging Credit, Commercial Charger Rebate, Fleet Advisory and Electric School Bus.
The Off-Peak Charging Credit program is for residential customers with Level 2 EV chargers. It provides a quarterly bill credit for EV charging during periods of low energy demand. A $50 quarterly credit totalling $400 per customer will be available for two years.
Up to 500 participants will be accepted to the program on a first-come, first-served basis. The pilot will provide insight into customer response to price incentives for EV charging.
The Commercial Charger Rebate pilot program will provide an incentive to commercial customers to install EV chargers on their premises. This pilot, aimed at businesses, apartment dwelling units, and government or workplace fleet operators among other commercial customers, will provide insight into the needs of the customer segment and the impact on the electric grid.
Up to 1,200 charging stations will be installed and participants will get $500 per charging station. Participants will be required to install at least four Level 2 charging stations and a maximum of 20.
A total of 10% of the incentives will be for commercial entities situated in low-income areas.
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The Fleet Advisory pilot program will provide fleet managers the ability to evaluate economics and the logistical challenges of transitioning to EVs. Duke Energy will provide a comprehensive EV suitability analysis to these fleet managers. It intends to perform 45 such consultations over two years.
The Electric School Bus pilot program will provide partial funding up to $197,000 per bus and charging infrastructure for six electric school buses to school districts. This pilot will help gain insight into the ability of bus battery to supply energy to the grid. Half of this pilot’s participation will be for schools with a student population of over 30% receiving free or reduced-price lunches. The rest will be enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis.
The pilot programs launched on Oct. 1.
North Carolina-based Duke Energy also has EV programs in its home state, as well as South Carolina and Florida. Duke Energy is host utility for the T&D World Conference & Exhibition starting this Wednesday in Charlotte.
