Gov. Kathy Hochul held a news conference at the Chester-Maple Garage in White Plains on the morning of Sept. 29 to announce an expansion of the state’s efforts to promote a shift from vehicles powered by internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. Hochul drove an electric car to an upper level of the garage where various elected officials from the city, county and state had gathered. A speaker’s podium was set up next to an electric vehicle charging station. Doreen Harris, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority was riding with her as a passenger in the car.
Hochul announced that the state is expanding its electric vehicle rebate program by $10 million. She said that the program offers up to a $2,000 rebate to help with the purchase of an electric vehicle and that so far 78,000 rebates have been issued.
“The rebate is available in all 62 counties,” Hochul said. “We’ve already spent over $95 million.”
Hochul also announced that the New York Power Authority has completed the installation of its 100th rapid charging station that can fully recharge the batteries in many models of electric vehicles in 20 minutes rather than overnight. She said that the state anticipates receiving $175 million from the federal government as part of the $5 billion plan to establish a nationwide network of charging stations that was announced by the White House. Hochul said that new charging stations would be placed on at least 14 interstate highways in New York, including I-684 and I-95 in Westchester.
“We’re focused on getting these fast-chargers out there,” Hochul said. “We are not heading down that dead-end street any longer. We’re going to keep powering forward but I want to make sure we have the investments necessary.”
Hochul said she expects electric vehicles sales to continue going up in New York.
“They’ve been up 30% already over 2021, that’s extraordinary and that’s with supply chain shortages,” Hochul said. “We’ve talked to a lot of dealers and the whole phenomenon we have with not having enough chips at the manufacturing facilities, we’ve had those issues but with that being said our sales are still up 30% over last year.”
Hochul also noted that the state is requiring that all school buses in New York be zero emissions by the year 2035.
“Welcome to the future. It’s starting right here in places like White Plains,” Hochul said.
