Westchester County has the highest number of electric vehicles in the state, and New Rochelle is bolstering the county”™s ranking as the latest municipality to incorporate zero-emission vehicles into its fleet with the addition of four Nissan Leaf cars.
New Rochelle”™s Department of Development uses the vehicles for everyday operations, according to Luiz C. Aragon, the city”™s commissioner of development. Aragon said his department has $750 a month to lease a vehicle or two, but through a deal with Nissan the department was able to lease four cars at a fraction of the normal price.
Nissan also donated two public charging stations and arranged for five complimentary parking spaces for zero-emission vehicles at the New Roc City and New Rochelle Transit Center garages.
“We hope to support sustainability and encourage folks to be green by setting an example,” Aragon said.
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Public charging stations in Westchester County. Source: U.S. Department of Energy
New Rochelle joins other Westchester municipalities that have taken steps in recent months to expand their green footprint.
Last September, White Plains installed 10 charging outlets in four different parking garages, and the Bedford-Mount Kisco area also has a high concentration of charging stations.
There are 777 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Westchester County, which breaks down to 371 electric vehicles and 406 hybrids, according to 2014 automobile registration data compiled by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority from the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Suffolk and Nassau are the only two counties that outrank Westchester for total combined electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, with 1,445 and 913, respectively.
There are 22 public charging stations and 48 chargers in the county, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy”™s Alternative Fuels Data Center.
These numbers exclude charging stations that could be on private home or work properties. The data provided by the DOE is collected from a variety of sources, including its online “Submit New Station” form, trade media and manufacturers and industry groups.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo”™s ChargeNY program that launched in 2013 looks to expand the use of electric vehicles and associated technology like charging stations. The governor set a goal of establishing 3,000 plug-in charging stations in workplaces and for public use by 2018 to accommodate an expected 40,000 plug-in electric vehicles.
With about 2 1/2 years to go, the state is still far from reaching those goals. The NYSERDA data show that in 2014 there were fewer than 8,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles registered in the state, and 443 public electric stations as of May 2015 (with private stations, there were 523).
Catherine Parker, a Westchester County legislator, is confident, however, that these goals are achievable.
“Municipalities are seeing this as a way of saving tremendous dollars,” she said about local governments implementing zero-emission vehicles in their fleets and installing charging stations.
“They really can be a fairly inexpensive addition to include into existing parking structures,” she said.
There are federal and state tax credits available for individuals, municipalities and business owners who want to invest in electric vehicles and charging stations.
For example, the Alternative Fuels and Electric Vehicle Recharging Property Credit started by the state in 2013 allows certain businesses to attain a 50 percent tax credit up to $5,000 based on the cost of the necessary equipment for a charging station. The credit will be available until Jan. 1, 2018.
Parker said she is “hopeful” that by the end of the year there will be a plan in place for charging stations in four more lots in the county.
Karl R. Rábago, executive director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center and a driver of a hybrid vehicle, said although there is some effort being made by municipalities to implement low-emission vehicles, there is still a lot that could be done.
“One of the misconceptions is that if you put in a public charging network, people will use them,” he said, adding that governments should be advertising and promoting the idea. “You want people to see chargers everywhere.”
