New York Charges Ahead on EVs

New York is getting serious about increasing the use of electric vehicles.

The state, which aims to have 850,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025, now is developing the supporting infrastructure to help achieve the goal.

Major Funding

The state says its “EV Make Ready” plan will spend $750 million through 2025 to install nearly 53,8,000 Level 2 charging points and 1,500 direct-current fast-charge units stations by 2025.

The scheme involves $701 million in state money and another $49 million from a $2 billion fund set up by Volkswagen in 2016. VW’s Electrify America fund was created as part of VW’s settlement of federal charges that it rigged diesel engines to trick U.S. emission tests.

Public utility Long Island Power intends to chip in with its own plan to add nearly 4,700 charging ports on Long Island. The $4 million first phase of that initiative will begin next year.

Eye on the Prizes

Some $85 million of the PSC money will be awarded to the winners of three clean transport prize competitions. They include:

• $40 million for the Environmental justice Community Clean Vehicles Transformation Prize to create “green zones” across the state
• $25 million for the Clean Personal Mobility Prize that targets disadvantaged and underserved communities
• $20 million for the Clean Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Innovation prize

The state’s overall goal is to lower its overall carbon emissions 85% by 2050. On June 14, New York joined 14 other states and Washington, D.C., in a plan to promote a switch to electric buses and heavy trucks by 2050.