New York State has had a complicated relationship with electric bicycles and scooters, and nowhere has that relationship been rockier than in New York City. E-bikes and e-scooters have faced legal gray areas and outright bans for years, but the day has finally arrived for these convenient forms of alternative transportation to be legalized.
Electric vehicle charging in New York City is going to be expensive, and New Yorkers will pay for it even if they don’t use it. Consolidated Edison (ConEd) wants to build 60 curbside electric vehicle charging stations with its ratepayers’ money, and sell that electricity to ratepayers two times over in the same transaction for prices that would equate to between $3.50 and $10 per gallon of gas.
Laws against idling vehicle engines have been around for decades. However, enforcement has generally been lax or nonexistent. But now New York City and the District of Columbia are changing that by enlisting residents in the battle against vehicle emissions. NYC even has a generous bounty program where you can make thousands of dollars in your spare time.
Electric bicycle and e-scooter fans in New York had their hopes dashed after Governor Cuomo vetoed a bill set to legalize the two-wheeled EVs across the state.
Back in June, New York’s legislature – the State Assembly & State Senate – passed a “Right-to-Charge” bill, which would prohibit condominiums, home-owners associations (HOAs) and the like from unreasonably restricting the installation of electric vehicle charging stations. The bill, however, sat there until yesterday, when it was finally delivered to the Governor for his signature. Also yesterday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded on Twitter offering to help New York Times best-selling author Nnedi Okorafor. Ms. Okorafor had tweeted on November 1 that her HOA had turned down her request. Coincidence or not, New Yorkers shouldn’t rejoice quite yet. Under New York rules, because the legislature is not currently in session, if Governor Andrew Cuomo fails to sign the bill in the next 29 days, the effect is the same as if he vetoed the bill.
“The batteries on this bus go bi-directional!” That’s what kids in White Plains School District, just north of New York City, can boast this back-to-school season. The kids already enjoyed riding five clean, quiet all-electric Lion C-type Electric School Buses last school year, and now those same buses have been fitted with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech to allow the bus to serve as backup stationary storage for the grid when parked. As with most things electric, the east coast is following California’s lead, where kids in the Torrance Unified School Districts began breathing easy on V2G electric school buses in 2016. Expand
Expanding
Close
The five commissioners making up the State of New York’s Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities in the state, have told Tesla that unless it opens up its Supercharger network to other vehicles, its stations will get no relief from demand charges on the electricity rates they pay. Instead, only newly built stations that use “commonly accepted non-proprietary standardized plug-types” will get relief.
The commissioners clarified that Tesla could continue to offer its proprietary plug, but would have to offer equally powerful non-proprietary plugs at the same spot to get rate relief. This means that Tesla’s made-in-Buffalo V3 Superchargers will be discriminated against in their home state.
In today’s EGEB:
New York lawmakers have agreed to pass the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CCPA), an ambitious bill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050, with the rest of the state’s emissions offset by other projects for “net zero emissions in all sectors of the economy.”
New York state is on track to close its last remaining coal-fired power plants by the end of 2020 after adopting final regulations that require state power plants to meet new, stricter CO2 emissions limits.
Mack Trucks has introduced its Mack LR all-electric refuse truck, which it plans to test on the streets of New York City in 2020.
A group of New York legislators are grouping together a number of recently proposed bills into one initiative which aims to expand electric vehicle ownership in the state, through exemptions for state sales tax and registration fees on EV purchases.
In today’s EGEB:
In today’s EGEB:
A settlement the New York Attorney General’s Office reached with American Electric Power is funding the use of nine all-electric delivery trucks for New York City nonprofit organizations.
New York City Council adopted a bill Thursday that will require buildings of a certain size to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s being touted as the first of its kind.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
Today in EGEB, Maine’s governor signifies the state is open for business when it comes to wind power. A number of developers are vying for a New York offshore wind project. And a recent poll shows Arizonans overwhelmingly support renewable energy.
On January 3rd, New York governor Andrew Cuomo delivered a state energy storage target of 1500MW via the private market by 2025 and has put up $260 million in state money to help drive the investment.
In the annual “State of the State” address, varying proposals – from combating MS-13, to cleaning up the Hudson River, to expanding clean energy jobs – were delivered to start the new year. The energy storage target delivered seems to be an extension or culmination of prior state legislation requiring targets be set.
New York City announced a significant new electric car charging program today that will bring 50 fast-charging stations across all 5 boroughs.
The deployment of new stations will start next year and extend through 2020. Expand
Expanding
Close
It’s not all bad news for US state governments in their dealing with electric vehicles. Today New York State, headed by Democrat Andrew Cuomo announced a new up to $2,000 rebate program for all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle buyers. That means the Model 3 New Yorkers reserved just got significantly cheaper.
The rebate will help make EVs more cost competitive with gas-powered cars at purchase (they are often already much cheaper to own when accounting for gas savings) and will go into effect on April 1st… Expand
Expanding
Close
While the Chevy Bolt EV is currently only available in California and Oregon, it will soon make its way to the east coast thanks to a deal between GM and the city of New York. The de Blasio administration is ordering 50 all-electric Chevy Bolt with the first ones set to arrive in the spring and the order is expected to go up to 80 vehicles by the end of the fiscal year.
After a discount from GM and federal incentives, the city of New York is getting the vehicles at a very attractive price. Expand
Expanding
Close
We have been speculating about the “real-world” range of the upcoming all-electric (BEV) version of the Hyundai Ioniq for a while now, especially since the company confirmed it will have a 28 kWh battery pack, but now Hyundai confirmed that it expects it will achieve an EPA-rated range of 110 miles.
The Korea-based automaker was previously suggesting that the pack can enable 155 miles on a single charge, but as we discussed when Hyundai first release the estimate, it is more likely to be based on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), which is known to be less restrictive than the EPA standard. Expand
Expanding
Close
Update: A reddit user hopped over to the new Tesla location, and it looks like the company already has a sign up. See the bottom of the post for the image.
According to a report from New York real estate news site The Real Deal, a Tesla store will be the anchor for a new office conversion in Red Hook, New York City. Sources for the site say that the Palo Alto company signed a lease for a new space of roughly 40,000 square feet that will serve as an office, a service center, and a showroom for the company’s many EV offerings…
On a recent electric road trip to upstate New York, I realized that, with the cold weather, my snow tires and a car full of kids who like to be warm, I would need over 30 more miles of electricity than my batteries could hold to make it home. Hitting one of Tesla’s speedy Superchargers would require me to veer across the Hudson River twice and add over a half hour to my trip.
Along the fastest route, according to the helpful Plugshare App, there were a few Level 2 charging stations. I can get 30 miles per hour of charge from my default Tesla cable so I figured that I could get most of the extra miles I needed while we stopped for lunch. There was also a highly rated Level 2 charger within a mile of our destination we could use as a backup (it is good to have backups!). I figured we were all set…