Electric Car Buying Made Easy

Above: Thad Curtz, center, organized a display of eight electric vehicle models, including his own Ford CMAX Energi plug-in hybrid, at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on April 14. His new nonprofit is called Electrify Thurston. 

Washington State Sales Tax Exemption for Electric Vehicles Ends May 31

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

If you’re looking for a new vehicle and sick of paying high gas prices, maybe you’re thinking of purchasing an electric car. 

If you're nervous because you don’t know much about them, and don't know the difference between a Chevy Volt and a Chevy Bolt, you’re not alone.

The electric car industry, still recovering from the days of “Who Killed the Electric Car,” now has several options on the market and local help is now available without the pressure and stress of walking into a showroom. 

Electrify Thurston, a new local non-profit created by Thad Curtz and Paul Elwood of Olympia, is educating community members about electric vehicles and hopes to increase the relatively small number of them currently sold.

The group also promotes residential, workplace and multi-family charging infrastructure. Future work could include the promotion of charging infrastructure at transit centers and parking facilities.

Curtz, a retired professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, recently organized a display of eight locally owned battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids at the South Sound Climate Action Convention, held at the Lacey branch of South Puget Sound Community College on April 14.

The display showcased the new Nissan LEAF, a new Chevy Bolt, a Tesla Model S, a Chevy Volt, a Ford CMAX Energi, and a Fiat500e.

Convention goers had the opportunity to sit in the cars and speak with the actual owners, all of whom were thrilled about their experiences driving them. Owners liked the significantly lower costs of driving on electricity and their low greenhouse gas emissions. They also praised the cars’ quick acceleration and their low maintenance costs. The cars ranged in size from tiny to a full sized sedan.

Perhaps the most common worry potential consumers have about electric cars is the possibility of running out of juice.

Curtz says this is not a problem. 

“Roughly 80 percent of electric vehicle owners charge their cars at home overnight or at work, on a regular outlet or a 220 volt charger,” he says. “The plug-in hybrid models mean you can have the best of both worlds, using battery power for local trips supplemented by a gasoline-powered generator for longer trips.”

Lowering Thurston County Greenhouse Gas Emissions

For climate activist-minded consumers, electric vehicles are a no-brainer, and part of the answer to reducing Thurston County’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

“Unfortunately, they don't reduce emissions here as much as they would in Mason County or Seattle, where almost all the electricity comes from hydro,” warned Curtz. 

In late 2017, a greenhouse gas emissions analysis was conducted by the Clean Energy Transition and Stockholm Environmental Institute for the Thurston Regional Planning Council. The study suggested that Thurston County should work with other jurisdictions to advocate for the successful decarbonization of Washington’s electricity grid. 

Although Puget Sound Energy’s plan to begin pulling away from coal over the next eight years is a promising sign, for many, it is not soon enough.

“About 34 percent of PSE’s electricity currently comes from coal. People in Thurston County drive, on average, 9,000 miles each year. The most efficient current gasoline car, a Toyota Prius, has an Environmental Protection Agency rating of 52 mpg, and produces 4,189 pounds of CO2 a year on local power....

“A Jeep Wrangler, one of the least efficient passenger cars, has a rating of 18 mpg, and produces 11,280 pounds of CO2,” said Curtz, citing estimates from the vehicle cost calculator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuel Data Center website.

Curtz says that driving a Nissan LEAF on PSE power rather than a Honda Accord saves two metric tons of CO2 a year, and even driving a LEAF rather than a Prius saves nine metric tons over the life of the car. 

Prices for new battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles start at about $21,000, so if a new car is beyond your reach, the market for used electric vehicles which are returned to dealers after two and three year leases is booming.

There are many advantages and reasons to lease a car.

Above: Olympia city councilmember Clark Gilman shows off his Fiat 500e at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on Saturday.

Thurston County Electric Car Drivers 

As of January, 1,015 were registered in Thurston County, about 3.6 percent of those in the state. 

Curtz is aiming to improve this number by working with local auto dealers to get discount prices on specific makes and models. Successful group vehicle purchases have been negotiated with impressive discounts in Colorado and Utah in collaboration with local universities, hospitals and local jurisdictions.

At the end of last year, the City of Seattle negotiated with Nissan to offer city employees a group discount of $10,000 on the 2017 Nissan LEAF, which has a range of just over 100 miles on a single charge.

Olympia city councilmember Clark Gilman purchased his two year old Fiat500e in November, a lease return, for $10,000.

A long-time avid bicyclist and bus commuter, Gilman at times needs a car to get between his jobs, meetings and activities. His electric vehicle, he laughed, is “one step up from a golf cart,” and goes 50 – 60 miles in winter between charges. As the weather improves, he anticipates that number to rise, and run between 80 – 90 miles. He charges it one or two nights a week and says he’s good to go.

“It’s been a blast,” said Gilman.

Above: The interior of Ingrid Gulden's 2012 Tesla Model S vehicle at the South Sound Climate Action Convention. 

Ingrid Gulden also invited the public to sit in her 2012 Tesla Model S vehicle. Sixty of the nearly 600 electric cars registered in Thurston County in 2016 were Teslas. 

“We love it and drive it to San Francisco four times a year,” she said. For long trips, Tesla provides support for finding chargers as part of its dashboard navigation software. Cold weather and winds affect the mileage, but a Tesla gets about 250 miles on a charge, she said.

So, if you’re in the market for an electric vehicle, now may be the time. 

New plug-in car purchases and leases are currently exempt from Washington's sales tax, but that will end next month. To avoid paying the sales tax, and save a couple of thousand dollars, you have to take delivery of the car by May 31.

The federal rebate, up to $7,500, depending upon battery size, will also phase out for each company after they sell 200,000 electric cars in the U.S. Curtz says General Motors and Tesla are the first companies expected to reach that point late this year.

Above: Thad Curtz leads a discussion about electric vehicle options before the group headed out to take a look at several on display at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on April 14.

Editor's Note, April 21: Article was corrected shortly after it was originally posted to reflect that General Motors and Tesla will be the first companies expected to sell 200,000 electric cars in the U.S. later this year, not in 2019. 

Editor's Note, April 23: Article was reposted because it apparently did not get delivered via the RSS feed.

For more information, go to electrifythurston.org. Their website includes answers to frequently asked questions, provides up-to-date information about electric vehicles available from Western Washington auto dealers, online referrals to local dealers with electric vehicles, and can provide information on installing residential charging equipment.

Witness to King Tide in Olympia

Above: A famous image painted on the side of Childhood’s End Gallery in downtown Olympia, Great Wave off Kanagawa, is a likely future for Olympia. A recent city study found that sea level rise will greatly increase wave hazards along Olympia’s shoreline in the future. Budd Inlet experienced an estimated 16.9 foot king tide on Friday. 

-January 31 Meeting of Elected Officials to Discuss Sea Level Rise Planning

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

While the Friday morning king tide was not as dramatic as in the past, the sight of high water steadily rising to the edge of the boardwalk at Percival Landing still provided an opportunity to witness the possible future of downtown Olympia.

Not as high as the predicted 17.3 foot level, tidal activity was somewhat uneventful and did not require the type of emergency city response seen for past events.

Still, Olympia area community members walked along Percival Landing and gathered at the Harbor House to witness the event.

Donuts, cookies and coffee helped foster a sense of camaraderie amid uncertainty.

Under a nearby shelter on Percival Landing, Eric Christiansen, City of Olympia’s water resources planning and engineering manager, observed the tide as it peaked at 8:40 a.m. 

The atmospheric pressure was a little above normal so it came in two to three inches under predictions, he said. Pending verification, Christiansen estimated that the tide rose to 16.9 feet.

“We’re fortunate – we didn’t see water in the streets or in the parking lots,” said Christiansen.

Above: The Capitol Building in Olympia, Washington is witness to the rising waters of Budd Inlet around the Oyster House restaurant in downtown Olympia on Friday morning. At far right is the nine story Capitol Center Building, also known as Views on 5th, currently proposed to be redeveloped and expanded. It stands in a flood zone.

Olympia, located at the southernmost tip of Budd Inlet, experiences one of the largest tide ranges in Puget Sound. Portions of the city’s downtown area and the Port of Olympia are built on fill, creating an estimated 4,000 feet of land north into Budd Inlet.

Many of these areas are susceptible to flooding, and in fact, are sinking. Add to that, Olympia is located in a region that is expected to see a ten to twenty percent increase in annual maximum precipitation by the end of the century.

In 2011, the City of Olympia funded a study to develop an engineered response to sea level rise. The study examined impacts to the downtown area for sea level rise amounts up to 50 inches. 

At 17 feet, water is seen in the streets of downtown Olympia, particularly on Sylvester Street near the Oyster House restaurant. Over 17 feet, water is seen in downtown area parking lots.

Interviewed by Little Hollywood last week, Andy Haub, City of Olympia water resources director, said that improvements were accomplished last year around areas that see the worst flooding such as the parking lot around Budd Bay Café on Percival Landing and around Olympia Supply on Seventh Avenue, which is a solid six inches below a 17 foot tide.

“The work at Columbia and Seventh Avenue has been completed. The stormwater pipe system in that area used to convey a lot of runoff from upland areas such as portions of the Capitol Campus to the low lying area by Olympia Supply. The flows would then struggle to get into Capitol Lake when lake levels were high. We needed to pump the flows, or risk flooding. Now, the upland area has been pipe directed to the outlet as a pressurized system. The flows can’t bubble up out of the street drains - it’s a sealed pipe system. We still need to pump, but only the minor flows in the immediate vicinity of Olympia Supply.  It’s a far more manageable and a far lower risk of flooding,” he said.

An open house and community workshop on January 18, 6:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. and will be held at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia Street NW, in downtown Olympia.

Haub referred to the city’s recently completed sea level rise response planning science review document which will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting of local elected officials on January 31.

The meeting for elected officials will be held at Olympia City Hall in council chambers from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Due to time constraints, public comment at this workshop will be limited to written form.

The document was compiled in October 2017 by AECOM, the consultant used by the City of Olympia, the Port of Olympia and the LOTT Cleanwater Alliance to identify climate hazards impacting the city. It focuses on the three primary climate hazards that will impact Olympia in the future: sea level rise, coastal storms and precipitation.

The document does not make recommendations on adoption of a specific climate change scenario and planning efforts into the city’s sea level rise response plan.

Asked what sea level rise projections the recently completed Downtown Strategy is based upon, Haub said that it doesn’t call out a specific projection.

“Our various planning work has relied on the same projections for several years now. It’s from the National Research Council’s study of potential West Coast sea rise. The numbers are pretty much the same, but we can also add in the likelihood that Olympia is subsiding at eight to twelve inches possibly by the end of the century,” added Haub. 

Besides other factors that make Olympia especially susceptible to sea level rise, the sinking of Olympia could contribute an additional four inches of sea level rise by 2030, six inches by 2050, and twelve inches by 2100, says the study.

Above: Thad Curtz, former chair of the City of Olympia's Utilities Advisory Committee, speaks with Judy Bardin, a former member of the city's Planning Commission, in the Harbor House on Friday morning. Olympia area community members gathered at and around the Harbor House to witness the king tide and catch up with each other in real time.

Editor's Note, January 7: The location for the January 18 sea level rise meeting has been corrected. It will be held at The Olympia Center.

Editor's Note, January 9: A sea level rise open house and community workshop will be held January 18. An elected officials workshop will be held January 31 in Olympia City Hall, council chambers, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The story has been corrected and Little Hollywood apologizes for the confusion. Meetings are often cancelled and locations changed. Go to the City of Olympia's sea level rise planning website for the latest information.

Little Hollywood has written many stories about previous king tides, storm surges, Olympia’s sea level rise planning, projections, and flooding in downtown Olympia. For more stories and photos, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine. To find stories on Facebook, go to Little Hollywood Media. 

Olympia Starts Sea Level Rise Planning

Above: Over 100 interested community members attended the City of Olympia's annual sea level rise report to the community, delivered by Andy Haub, the city's water resources director, at the Olympia Center on February 8. Olympia is starting a coordinated sea level rise response plan with the Port of Olympia and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance.

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

http://www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

“This is going to go on forever…this will be our future,” said Andy Haub, City of Olympia water resources director, about the city's planning for sea level rise. 

Speaking to the city’s citizen utility advisory committee on Thursday evening, Haub provided an update on the city’s sea level rise plan and the committee's role in its implementation. 

The citizen advisory committee is charged with overseeing the city’s sea level rise planning process.

Looking at a draft plan schedule that included typical public outreach tools employed by the city, the group was quiet and seemingly a bit daunted by the responsibility. 

When a member questioned how they should go about their role, Haub admitted that there is no clear recipe.

“You’ll have to use your collective judgement,” Haub said, acknowledging that sea level science is evolving, but there are strategies the city can draw upon from around the country and the world.

They agreed that the ultimate governance for the plan, whatever that plan turns out to be, needs to be carried through the whole process, and not left to the end.

At its regular Tuesday meeting, April 11, the Olympia city council is expected to sign an interlocal agreement with the Port of Olympia and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance for the planning and assessment of sea level rise issues.

The city, Port of Olympia, and LOTT all own properties and have responsibilities in the area where sea level rise is expected to inundate downtown Olympia.

An international engineering firm, AECOM, has been chosen to help the city determine the plan’s scope of work and ensure a robust public involvement process.

The scope of work will focus on the development of a sea level rise plan and provide recommendations for capital projects, funding needs, implementation schedules, and emergency response protocols.

The plan will include a full analysis of options for responding to various sea level rise scenarios over a 100 year time frame, and look for ideas from other areas of the United States and the world.

The city, port, and LOTT will divide the costs for consulting services. The port and LOTT will pay up to $75,000 each and the city will pay at least $75,000. Total costs for consulting are not to exceed $250,000 without further negotiation and approval.

According to science based research and multiple reports, there is no doubt sea level rise will impact downtown Olympia as we know it.

Thad Curtz, former chair of the Utility Advisory Committee citizen advisory committee, was one of several community members who expressed concerns on Thursday about the plan’s scope of work.

“The staff presentation said that we’re eventually going to have eight feet of sea level rise. We ought to be thinking about (a plan) with respect to earthquake risk. If we have four feet of sea water outside of whatever we build, and we have an earthquake that impacts a dike or whatever, we’re going to have very serious costs. We need to be planning to deal with that.

“We’re talking about restoration of Budd Inlet at the same time we’re talking about seriously altering the shoreline from Priest Point Park to West Bay. We also have the whole Capitol Lake process going on. Those planning processes ought to be related to each other.

“We [also ought] to have a conversation about setbacks. How much room do we need between buildings and the shore if we’re going to have to deal with eight feet? We can’t just talk about sea level rise as if it’s something by itself,” said Curtz, who said he intends to stay involved with the conversation.

Former city planning commission member Judy Bardin said that adaptation for sea level rise will be a huge and costly undertaking, noting that city staff estimates that sea level rise adaptation for downtown Olympia will cost in excess of $60 million, and the pumping system alone could be $37 million.

“If the public is going to be asked to pay for sea level rise mitigation in any way, they need to be brought into the conversation now, especially in the scoping of the plan…we need to involve our neighborhoods and the environmental community,” she said.

Helen Wheatley of Olympia asked staff and the utility advisory committee members to think of all people who are impacted by utility decisions and plans.

“It includes everyone from low income apartment dwellers, to treaty tribe members struggling to preserve and enhance salmon habitat in the face of over a century of catastrophic assaults on the ecosystem,” she said.

Wheatley urged that the plan take a “safety first” approach that considers the realities of who lives there, who will live there in the future, and how we live.

“Is it fair or right to drive people into the flood zone because they don’t own a house?” she asked.

“Sea level rise will not happen overnight, but its progression will be relentless. We can choose to transition ourselves into a newer city by moving uphill. How long we hang on to different parts of downtown will involve tough financial, emotional, technical, and political decisions,” said Walt Jorgensen of Tumwater.

Sea Level Rise Community Update

Above: In what has become a familiar scene, the city's public works team, with Andy Haub, City of Olympia water resources director, in yellow jacket, stationed themselves near the Oyster House restaurant on Sylvester Street in downtown Olympia on the morning of March 10, 2016, to monitor the surge from nearby Budd Inlet.

Haub gave his annual sea level rise update to the community on February 8 at the Olympia Center. Over 100 people were in attendance.

Haub described how the city is currently needing to manage four to five significant downtown flooding incidents per year. To add to that scenario, downtown Olympia appears to be sinking at the rate of one inch per decade. 

A situation of low atmospheric pressure creates exceptional high tides, turning moderate tides into high tides, and high tides into extreme tides.

“That whole dynamic is absolutely fascinating…the intensity of storms will increase. Our downtown streets are flat, not deep, so water will spread far,” said Haub, who has long reported that the city could manage one foot, or maybe two feet of water, but no more than that. 

Vertical gates, flood barriers, elevated landscapes, and the strategic placement of planter box barriers will only work up to a certain point.

“We’re planning for two feet of sea level rise by 2050, but with two feet of water flooding downtown every other day, it just won’t work for long,” he said.

Audience members were at all different levels of understanding about sea level science, and peppered Haub with questions about sea level rise projections for downtown, Budd Inlet flood dynamics, and the city’s plan in relationship to other plans, such as the multi-year, $250,000 study called the Downtown Strategy.

The Downtown Strategy has a 20 year planning horizon, leaving many to wonder why the city is encouraging downtown development, and how sea level rise fits in.

Although port commissioners and city council members were present in the audience, Haub stood alone, fielding questions while facilitating a complicated conversation during his PowerPoint presentation. Lacking support, he lost control of the meeting about 20 minutes into the program.

Frustrating some audience members, Haub unquestionably defended the city’s stance that downtown must be saved. Several audience members expressed their opinion that the best solution is to retreat to higher ground. Haub responded that a retreat is not consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

Haub did not have answers for many questions, including the impact of sea water salinity on downtown’s underground and above ground electrical systems.

“Downtown is vulnerable. We have to accept and acknowledge the risk. This plan will start addressing how we balance and manage new development. There’s a way we can do it, it’s just not cohesive at this point,” he said, adding that the city has a lot of investments in downtown Olympia, most notably the region's LOTT water and wastewater system, which is valued at $1.2 billion.

Above: During times of high tide and favorable atmospheric pressure, certain areas of downtown Olympia are inundated with storm surge from Budd Inlet, overloading storm water systems. The area on State Street in downtown Olympia near the former Les Schwab tire store building at 210 State Street experiences flooding several times a year. The vacant building lies mere feet from Budd Inlet and is now owned by developer Walker John, who proposes to turn the property into a restaurant and 40 unit housing development. Photo taken March 10, 2016.

For numerous articles about sea level rise and flooding incidents in downtown Olympia, the management of Capitol Lake, current sea level rise projections for Olympia with photos and maps, go to Little Hollywood, http://www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search button.

The city's Utility Advisory Committee meets on the first Thursday of the month, at 5:40 p.m., in Olympia City Hall, Room 207, 601 4th Avenue East. For more information, go to www.olympiawa.gov.