New Hope Climate Tech Firm Donates Electric Vehicle to Ease Seasonal Strain on New England Power Grids

Electric Frog Company, New Hope, a climate-tech startup, provided a Nissan LEAF electric vehicle (EV) to the Burrillville Wastewater Treatment Facility in Rhode Island. The vehicle features technology that enables it to uniquely support the New England electric grid. 

When not in use, the EV is plugged into a state-of-the-art bidirectional charger. In times of regional demand peaks, it can transfer power back to the grid. 

“This is a unique effort to use an EV to help supply grid power on call,” said John Isberg, Vice President of Customer Sales and Solutions at National Grid, a NY, MA, RI utility company. “We welcome this significant step toward a smarter, cleaner and more reliable electric grid of the future.” 

National Grid incentivizes Rhode Islanders to deliver electricity back to the utility, especially during its unseasonably hot summers. 

“My team is excited to try out the electric car, and I am pleased to be part of this innovative pilot,” said Michael Emond, Superintendent of the Burrillville Wastewater Treatment Facility. 

“This is the future,” said Brent Alderfer, Founder and CEO of Electric Frog Company. “It is very exciting to be able to offer an economic electric vehicle to the customer and electric grid reliability to the utility. This is the long-promised ‘vehicle-to-grid’ advantage at work for the consumer and the environment.”