State funding announced for electric vehicle incentives
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---Nearly $30 million dollars will be going towards electric vehicle charging infrastructure and rebates.
New York State now has an estimated amount of 150,000 electric vehicles on the road.
By 2035, The state will require all new passenger vehicles to be zero emission.
Republican Assemblyman, Robert Smullen, shared one concern some New Yorkers have when it comes to transitioning an electric vehicle.
"Electric vehicles are a great technology, but I’m not sure in New York State, if we’re quite ready for all of the technology that goes along with it," said Smullen. "In fact, a grid isn’t ready for it. There aren’t enough charging stations."
In an effort to lower the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the state announced $15 million dollars will be going towards Charge Ready New York 2.0, a program that provides incentives for organizations and apartment complexes to install level 2 charging stations.
"A level 2 charging station it’s the type of charging station you would find at most parking lots where you’d be parked for a little while," explained Adam Ruder, Assistant Director for Clean Transportation at NYSERDA. "It can give your car up to 20-40 miles of electric range for each hour your plugged in and it’s the most common kind of charging station that you’ll find."
According to Governor Hochul's Office, this funding can help organizations save up to 50% of installation fees for the chargers. The state also announced $14 million dollars will be allocated for rebates.
"We have a program called the drive clean rebate, which provides up to $2,000 off of the purchase price of an electric car for any New Yorker," said Ruder.
Alok Disa of Earth Justice said while this is a great start, more needs to be done to increase the amount of charging infrastructure.
"The chargers have to come first, and then people will start adopting these vehicles at scale, and not just affluent suburban drivers — which is great that they’re transitioning," said Disa."But we think that all New Yorkers can benefit from the transition of zero emissions mobility."