New York’s EV plan is missing a very important piece: trucks and buses


By Elizabeth B. Stein

New York is home to the most famous electrified transportation system in the United States. It’s true. During normal times, the New York City subway carries over 5.5 million riders on a typical workday, for a total of over 1.7 billion rides annually.
Our electric subway system clearly deserves credit for helping New Yorkers significantly reduce their carbon footprint. Electric transportation is a climate win, and if you count the subway, the city is off to a great start.
However, New York still has a long way to go when it comes to electrifying the rest of the state’s transportation sector. Despite all those avoided car trips in the New York City metro area, transportation still accounts for 37% of the state’s total greenhouse gas footprint — a higher share of total emissions than for the U.S. as a whole (where transportation accounts for 28% of total emissions).

Thankfully, New York has a tough new climate law and a specific commitment to zero-emission passenger vehicles, with a goal of 850,000 on the street by 2025. To support this 18-fold increase in electric vehicles over a short period, the staff of New York’s Department of Public Service released a whitepaper in January, proposing a program to ensure the construction of sufficient charging infrastructure and electric grid upgrades to support this transformation.
The proposals in the whitepaper are a step in the right direction, but they fall far short of what New York needs: a plan to address the charging requirements of both passenger EVs as well as trucks and buses. Delaying any planning to address the charging needs of trucks and buses, while moving forward with a program for light-duty vehicle charging, would be a costly mistake — in dollars and in public health.

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The cost of overlooking trucks and buses
In New York City, trucks alone account for 10% of citywide transportation greenhouse gas emissions. Most concerning, these impacts could increase as freight volumes grow nearly 70% by 2045. But climate pollution is not the only concern. Diesel-fueled trucks and buses are a significant and dangerous source of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide pollution, which cause asthma, cancer and respiratory issues. This pollution has significant impact on the health and well-being of New Yorkers, especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, which have been disproportionately burdened by diesel-fueled pollution for far too long.
Electrification is the most mature pathway we know of that has the potential to bring transportation emissions down to zero. But it can only happen if the supporting infrastructure comes online in time, at the right scale and with the right capabilities. Done right, the build out of this infrastructure can be done cost-effectively,...

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