New York City to transition City fleet by 2030
New York City is investing $420 million in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure to accelerate its transition to an all-electric municipal fleet. This transition goal is being brought forward five years from 2035 to 2030.
New York City operates the largest municipal fleet in the US with nearly 30,000 vehicles. The City says that 1,250 electric vehicles are to be procured for this fleet in 2022. According to the Executive Order just signed by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, with the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), all passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in the city’s fleet must be purely electric by 2030. It was only in April this year that the encompassing State of New York decided that only zero-emission passenger cars and light commercial vehicles may be sold in the State from 2035 onwards.
In an important first move in this direction, New York City is also not only scrutinising the type of drive of personal mobility vehicles used in State fleets but also the amount of public energy and space these vehicles are using per person and journey: “It [the Executive Order, ed.] also requires a review of every SUV in city government and the elimination of any unnecessary use of SUVs,” the city’s declaration says. In addition, at least 1,776 fast charging points (DC) are to be built in New York City by 2030. The city has not given a figure for the targeted number of smaller (AC) generally overnight chargers throughout the city.
On the same point, to avoid simply placing carbon emissions and other pollutants elsewhere by transitioning to electric vehicles, the State is also ramping up renewable energy production. “New finalized contract to power New York City with wind, solar, and hydropower from upstate New York and Canada, catalyzing the development of two major green energy transmission projects.” The City says that, if approved, these “will bring enough clean energy per year to power more than 2.5 million homes and will increase electricity reliability and resiliency.” It remains to be seen if this will be enough for the current number of fossil-fuelled cars in the city – many of them excessively large – to transition to electric energy.
“Our city is leading the way in the fight against climate change, putting people and the planet first,” says Bill de Blasio. “These historic investments will touch New Yorkers for generations to come, by cleaning our air, making drastic cuts to climate pollution, and building a clean, sustainable city for all.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio has introduced the transport electrification and energy measures are part of a larger package to reduce the city government’s climate emissions by 70 per cent (2006 baseline) by 2030.
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