With its money for electric vehicle rebates depleted, Maine’s quasi-state agency that promotes energy efficiency has won the first round of approval in the Legislature to seek funding from New England’s grid operator.

The Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee on Wednesday voted 7-5 along party lines to approve a measure authorizing Efficiency Maine Trust to pursue more than $2 million from an electricity market run by New England’s grid operator, ISO-New England, to help subsidize EV purchases by Maine car buyers.

Efficiency Maine Trust taps the ISO’s market and other funding sources for rebates to buyers of electric heat pumps. If approved by the Legislature, the bill will extend that to EVs.

The committee’s five Republicans opposed the bill while seven Democrats voted to send it to the Legislature.

“I do not believe that the demand for EVs justifies continued subsidized investments into the technology,” Rep. Mathew McIntyre, R-Lowell said. “I do not see this as a worthwhile or practical investment. I think this dog don’t hunt.”

Republicans have criticized state efforts to broaden EV use in Maine, saying they are too costly for many Mainers and that the state has no business remaking private transportation. Democrats and their environmental allies say EVs are a critical part of Maine’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in the transportation sector, which accounts for nearly half of carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion, according to the state’s climate plan.

Republicans say their constituents can’t afford EVs.

Rep. Steven Foster, R-Dexter, said the bill would provide funding for EVs “that folks in my district and the northern part of the state won’t benefit from.”

“Have you been to an auto dealer lately and seen the sticker prices on these vehicles?” McIntyre asked.

Michael Stoddard, executive director of Efficiency Maine Trust, said much of an EV’s cost is its battery, and that battery prices over the last decade are “dropping like a stone.”

In the biggest annual drop since 2017, lithium-ion battery pack prices declined 20% from 2023 to 2024, to a record low of $115 per kilowatt-hour, according to an analysis by researcher BloombergNEF in December. Factors include cell manufacturing overcapacity, broader production, low prices for metals and components, adoption of lower-cost lithium-iron-phosphate batteries and a slowdown in electric vehicle sales growth.

BloombergNEF said the data represent a global average and prices vary by country.

Stoddard told lawmakers that Efficiency Maine Trust will promote EVs to low- and moderate-income households and businesses.

EV rebates are still available for low-income applicants with money from a settlement related to the New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line. Low-income Mainers — those who receive heating assistance; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or food stamps; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; or MaineCare medical assistance — are eligible for EV incentives of between $2,500 and $7,500, depending on whether they’re buying a battery EV, a plug-in hybrid EV or a used vehicle.

It’s not clear if the rebates will remain the same or change if the legislation ultimately becomes law and Efficiency Maine Trust gets a new source of revenue.

A spokesperson for the agency said in an email Thursday that the legislation would give it the flexibility to set rebates “at levels that will make EVs more accessible to more businesses and low- and moderate-income consumers.”

Funding for EV rebates has been budgeted at $2 million and ISO-New England would provide another $2 million or more in a 50-50 split between EV and electric heat pump funding of $4 million to $5 million a year. Efficiency Maine Trust had spent about $4.4 million before the program was suspended last November when funding was exhausted, Stoddard said.

Since the start of the EV rebate program in 2019, funding has also come from settlements in a lawsuit with Volkswagen and a one-time appropriation from the state’s general fund. Over the course of the program, Efficiency Maine says it has provided rebates for more than 6,000 vehicles.

Stoddard acknowledged that Maine has an uphill climb in broadening EV use. The state’s cold climate can “pose a challenge” to EV battery range and electric chargers are separated by greater distances than in other, more urban states, he said.

“We have a heavier lift here to make these vehicles work well for us,” he said. “It’s not been growing as fast in Maine as in other parts of the country. But it has been steadily growing.”

Nearly 17,500 battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are on the road in Maine, according to an analysis by Atlas Public Policy. That’s about 12% of the state’s goal of 150,000 by 2030.

It’s up from about 2,000 five years ago, Stoddard said. “It is steadily growing, albeit slowly,” he said.

McIntyre said he based his opposition to the legislation in part because he believes the taxpayers he represents would pay “into a system that they will not avail themselves of and that they don’t agree is beneficial in the environment of Maine.”

Stoddard said Efficiency Maine Trust does not use a “penny of taxpayer dollars” for the EV rebate program.

The agency taps ISO-New England’s forward capacity market, an annual auction to secure power commitments from generators and others three years in advance. Efficiency Maine Trust may eventually quit “because it’s increasingly complicated to participate,” he said.

“For next three years, we’re in and have a resource we take the trouble to report, and it’s worth something,” he said.