Enjoy pizza while charging your electric car: Illiano’s in Norwich offers a unique customer experience

Vinceo Race, the owner of Illiano’s Grill wanted to offer his customers the opportunity to charge their electric vehicles while eating at his well-known establishment. He reached out to NPU to see if any programs or incentives existed that would support his idea.

Working with NPU, Vinceo was able to partner with the State of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and Norwich Clean Cities to secure incentives to find public access charging stations for hybrid cars.

Norwich Clean Cities is a program run by the U.S. Department of Energy and administered by NPU that is designed to encourage the use of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs).

The charger installed at Illiano’s was provided by EVSE, LLC, a division of Control Module which manufactures the devices in Enfield, CT. This charger is the only device in the market with a retractable chord which does wind up on the ground after use. The charger is also ADA compliant.

Vincenzo said that several customers have used the charger while dining at the restaurant. A fully-charged electric vehicle will travel approximately 100 miles for $5, or roughly five cents a mile. A gas-powered vehicle that gets 20-25 miles per gallon travels 100 miles for roughly 15 cents a mile.