First Tennessee Development District launches EVs, chargers

A new fleet of four electronic vehicles will help the First Tennessee Development District do its work with the aging and disabled communities in rural areas, Rural Planning Organizing Coordinator Chase Milner said at a ribbon cutting Tuesday.The cars are 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E's, which Milner said are safe vehicles and would be good for their community work."The back seats can drop forward," he said. "There's a big trunk, which is really good for when we host a public event and need to move boxes. It's a good way of getting around. We have people doing Meals on Wheels, serving Planning Commission meetings, doing housing and development, there's a lot of stuff we do."Milner said FTDD was looking to be more environmentally friendly with the cars. In addition, the FTDD will save $13,377 per year for the next 20 years by switching to electric, according to data from the Tennessee Valley Authority.Milner said the charging stations would be public for use at the office at 3211 North Roan St., though he said the Hyundai station across the street would be faster for people, as it's a Level 1 charger which can charge vehicles within an hour or so. The FTDD's chargers are Level 2, meaning they're suited for work fleets to charge for hours overnight.The EVs and the charging stations came about from grant funding and a partnership with numerous organizations, including Tennessee Valley Authority's EnergyRight Program, Seven States Power Corporation, Tennessee Tech University's Rural Reimagined initiative, and East Tennessee Clean Fuels' EMPOWER workforce charging program."It's a technology that's adopted every day by everyday folks and businesses," said East Tennessee Clean Fuels Senior Project Manager Darcy Ayers.First Tennessee Development District Executive Director Mike Harrison said he had personally driven one of the vehicles to and from Rogersville twice."I love it," he said. "I'm kind of on the big side, and [the car] has plenty of room."He said it would take some getting used to for some of the features of the car, with multiple brake settings and options for how the battery is used, but he thought FTDD employees would be able to get the hang of it."I like them, and I think employees will like them once they get used to it," he said.He said the new vehicles would make it easier to keep working on ongoing projects like working on rebuilding houses destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Helene, among many others.Milner said the four EVs at the ribbon cutting were only the first phase of a larger FTDD initiative to get more of them, and the grant money they'd received would provide for 13 vehicles and seven charging stations at their building. However, he said he didn't have any information on when or if they would continue building their fleet.