Vermont transportation officials report incentives spurred EV adoption but programs are largely exhausted

Andrea Wright, Environmental Policy Manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, and Patrick Murphy, State Policy Director at VTrans, told the House Transportation Committee on Feb. 5 that the agency’s electric-vehicle incentive programs have supported thousands of cleaner vehicles and steered most funding to lower-income Vermonters, but the programs have largely exhausted their budgets and future funding is uncertain.

Wright said VTrans has “issued over $27,000,000 in incentives” for more than 6,000 vehicles since 2020 and that the programs have enabled the purchase of “almost 4,000” all-electric vehicles and substantial numbers of plug-in hybrids, hybrid electric vehicles and e-bikes. She also reported nearly 18,000 EVs registered in Vermont in preliminary fourth-quarter data.

The incentives include several programs established since 2020. Wright told the committee that two programs — the new PEV program, Replace Your Ride and Mileage Smart — were closed to new applications on Oct. 8 because application volume accelerated in July and September and funds were exhausted sooner than anticipated. VTrans moved $415,000 from administrative and other program funds to ensure completed applications were paid, she said.

Murphy told lawmakers that the agency is tracking EV penetration against the…