Whether it’s to reduce one’s carbon footprint, avoid fluctuating gas prices or just because they seem cool, EV sales are expected to set another record in 2024.
Data from IEA.org shows a 60% increase in EV sales in the U.S. in 2023, rising to 1.6 million vehicles sold compared with about 1 million in 2022. And in Bloomington-Normal, EVs are a particular point of interest.
That’s why, on Saturday, the EVTown Steering Committee and The Electrifiers hosted a town hall and exhibit all about electric vehicles at the McLean County Museum of History.
EVTown is, according to its website, “a broad-based effort to establish Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, as a model electric vehicle community.” The Electrifiers are a Multicultural Leadership Program team under the Multicultural Leadership Institute.
Ten panelists helped break down information regarding EVs for a group of about 30 attendees. The first panelist to speak was Tessa Ferraro, an associate planner for the Town of Normal, who gave a brief history lesson about the start of EVs in Bloomington-Normal.
“The original EVTown started all the way back in 2010, when Mayor Chris Koos brought together a group of local leaders, both from the private and the public industry, to start preparing our area for the transition to electric vehicles,” said Ferraro.
She said the goal of EVTown was, and still is, to get more EVs on the road, educate the public, and create a strong network of accessible charging stations.
“When 2014 came around, EVTown kind of fizzled out until 2017 when Rivian moved to town, and they purchased the Mitsubishi manufacturing plant,” Ferraro explained. “And so this really sparked a lot of interest in EVs once again.”
That interest resulted in more sales.
“Just to put it into perspective for you, in 2018 there were about 180 electric vehicles registered in McLean County. And today there are 1,440. So, that number has really grown and has been steadily increasing at a faster rate each year,” said Ferraro.
Rivian and Tesla are often portrayed as competitors. But the two showed solidarity at the town hall, with one representative from each echoing thoughts of togetherness.
Alyssa Krull is the general manager of Tesla in Bloomington. She said Tesla and Rivian, as well as other manufacturers, have the same goal in mind.
“We’re all in it for the same reason. We want to bring sustainability,” said Krull.
Rivian public policy lead Maura Freeman expanded on that.
“At Rivian, we do not believe in competition. Our CEO and all of us at Rivian believe that in order to address this massive, looming climate crisis that we’re in, I can’t compete with Alyssa. I can’t compete with Tesla, I need Tesla to succeed. I need Ford’s Mach-E and Lightning to succeed,” said Freeman.
“I need there to be as many EV options as there can be so that there are more sustainable options, so we can reduce our impact on the climate, so we can have a sustainable future.”
That future is threatened by greenhouse gas emissions that further propel climate change. Speaking as a panelist at the town hall, Ecology Action Center Executive Director Michael Brown cited a local 12% increase in emissions from transportation from 2008 to 2015. He said now it’s at 21% and remains on the rise.
Brown said EVs can be a part of the solution.
“We really need to look at our transportation sector and how we can improve that so we can reduce our local contributions toward global climate change,” said Brown.
The onus doesn’t fall solely on car owners. Public transportation is important, too.
David Braun , general manager of Connect Transit, also spoke at the town hall, noting just over a quarter of Connect Transit’s large buses are electric. He also said there’s an order for 10 more electric buses for the Connect FLEX service.
As Connect Transit continues to electrify its fleet of buses, Braun said he recognizes there’s risk that comes with it. What if the power grid goes down and buses can’t be charged? Braun said they’re working on a solution.
“We recognize that if the grid ever went down for any reason — of course, we are in a tornado area — we would need some sort of capacity to get through until the grid is back up and running. So, we’re looking at building a micro grid on our site in Normal. The micro grid will be a solar grid that charges the battery, and then that battery will charge our buses when they need to be charged,” said Braun.
Braun also said Connect Transit is working with Heartland Community College to train “heavy-duty mechanics” to work on EVs outside of cars and trucks, like buses.
After the town hall meeting ended, attendees were able to view numerous EVs, including those from Rivian, Tesla and Connect Transit. Test rides and drives also were available.
