State Initiatives Promote Use of Electric Cars Part of Strategy to Keep Communities Strong and Vibrant M ore drivers are opting for electric cars, and Vermont is taking steps to accommodate them. State officials recently announced two related initiatives to facilitate the development of electronic charging stations. The first expands the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) loan program to make low-interest (1 percent) financing available to specified public-use electric vehicle charging stations and natural gas refueling stations; the second will provide matching grants covering 75 percent of the cost of building municipal publicly accessible charging stations within Vermont's 24 Designated Downtowns. A joint initiative of the Agency of Natural Resources and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the matching grant program has economic development as well as environmental goals, Gov. Peter Shulman said at a press conference announcing the programs. C A I R e g i o n a l N e w s VERMONT 'It will be easier and more affordable for communities across the state to finance the infrastructure needed to make the transition to cleaner forms of transportation.' -State Treasurer Beth Pearce 12 Condo Media * December 2013