The Porter Town Council has decided to pull the plug on the pursuit of electric-powered pickup trucks, offered through a federal grant awarded more than three years ago.
The council didn’t take a formal vote on the issue Tuesday, but it was evident that three out of the five council members didn’t want to go forward.
“I know today, we’re not buying them,” said Council President Laura Madigan, D-1st, after the meeting.
The $4 million grant was awarded in May 2022, which would enable municipalities in Porter and Lake counties to obtain electric trucks and charging stations. The source of the federal dollars was the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which then-President Joe Biden signed on Nov. 5, 2021. One of the stated goals was to address climate change.
Porter town officials were excited about the prospect of buying up to six electric-powered trucks. The federal grant would have originally paid 80% of the cost of a Ford Lightning F-150, priced at $55,000 in 2023. That means Porter would have paid $66,000 for a fleet of six new electric pickup trucks.
But then came the delay. There are 25 other communities in Northwest Indiana that lined up for the deal, which would have also paid 80% of the cost for charging stations.
The city of Lake Station was the lead applicant, and the grant was originally to come through them. Ryan Lisek of Drive Clean Indiana said that has changed and the federal money held by the Indiana Department of Transportation will be distributed by the Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. Each community would have a separate contract to buy the vehicles.
During the intervening years, there has been a change in the political climate at the federal and state levels that has chilled Porter’s original enthusiasm for electric-powered pickups.
The cost of Ford Lightning F-150s has risen, and communities are now expected to pick up 36% of the cost.
As a result, Public Works Director James Spanier was the only one left interested in possibly purchasing two Ford Lightning F-150s. John Sechrist, the assistant superintendent who was representing his boss at the Tuesday meeting, asked the council for an answer on what it wanted.
Councilman James Burge, I-4th, said that it’s evident that at the federal level, President Donald Trump is not an ally of the electric vehicle industry.
Both Burge and Madigan have said that they were fearful that Porter would put out the money upfront to buy the electric-powered pickups, only to have the federal government withdraw the funding.
Burge also noted that Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 1 has ratcheted up the financial pressure on local governments, which makes him hesitant about buying the pickups at this time. He said that he also has questions about the long-term viability of electric trucks because the technology is constantly changing.
“For me, there’s a lot of question marks,” Burge said.
Councilman William Lopez, D-3rd, said he agreed that this isn’t the time to go forward.
In other business, Porter Police Sgt. Tom Blythe, who on Nov. 1 will become assistant chief, requested that the town use $6,000 of opioid settlement money toward a $6,000 annual contract with the Flock Safety company for two license plate reading cameras in Porter.
The Porter County Sheriff’s office has Flock Safety cameras on U.S. Routes 20 and 12, but Porter isn’t allowed access to them because the town doesn’t have a contract with the company, Blythe said.
Blythe said the cameras were particularly useful for Chesterton recently, which tracked a suspect from an armed robbery of an antique store to Michigan City, where he was arrested.
The council wanted more time to consider the request.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
