Feature: Families welcome Chevy Volts to Mueller Community

Mueller residents and smart grid research participants welcome Chevy Volts to their neighborhood with Pecan Street staff and partners, researchers from the University of Texas and members of the Pecan Street Consortium (Best Buy, Freescale, Intel, Landis+Gyr, LG Electronics, Oracle, Sony, SunEdison, Texas Gas Service and Whirlpool). Chevy will make available 100 Volts to families participating in Pecan Street research. Thanks to Capital Chevrolet and Henna Chevrolet for the use of their demo Volts this week.

This week, Mueller residents participating in the Pecan Street demonstration project joined Pecan Street staff, researchers and partners from Best Buy, Freescale, Intel, Landis+Gyr, LG Electronics, Oracle, Sony, SunEdison, Texas Gas Service and Whirlpool to mark the announcement of what could become the densest electric vehicle neighborhood in the country.

See the Texas Tribune /  New York Times story about the Volt’s arrival in Mueller.

Media:  Click here for a high-res jpg of the photo above.

Chevrolet will provide 100 Volts for purchase or lease by qualifying residents participating in the Pecan Street demonstration project. Pecan Street Inc. will provide a $7,500 cash contribution to residents who purchase a Volt. This is in addition to current federal rebates that are available to purchasers and will bring the expected purchase price down to a base price of approximately $25,000. Residents can also lease a Volt. Pecan Street Inc. will rebate the $3,000 down payment for leases.

“No question, the rebates create an exciting incentive,” said Pecan Street Inc. executive director Brewster McCracken. “But to be honest, the most significant part is the availability. These are not easy cars to get, and Chevrolet has provided an incredible jumpstart to our research.”

To be eligible for the Pecan Street Volt program, residents must participate in the Pecan Street demonstration project, which is taking place primarily in the Mueller community. More than 140 demonstration project participants have already signed up to buy or lease a Volt through this program.

“We’re going to test the impact these vehicles have on household energy use and the grid itself, and we will try innovative solutions that charge the cars with rooftop solar panels,” McCracken said.  ”The cars will be an integral part of our research. But the cars will be the residents’ cars. We won’t tell them how to use them or when to charge them. We want to know how things change when you introduce this new technology into a neighborhood.”

Residents interested in the Volt program must first enroll in the Pecan Street demonstration project. Email participate@pecanstreet.org for more details.