New York joins multi-state plan to increase zero-emission vehicle use

New York has joined seven other states in the Multi-State Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Action Plan, which has a goal of getting 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on U.S. roads by 2025.

The office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced New York’s inclusion in the plan on Thursday.

The Multi-State ZEV Action Plan (http://www.nescaum.org/topics/zero-emission-vehicles) builds on work that the eight partner states have undertaken. Besides New York, the states include California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The plan is “a collaborative effort [providing] an opportunity to promote clean-vehicle innovation,” according to Cuomo’s office. More than 25 percent of new-car sales in the U.S. occur in these eight states.

The Multi-State ZEV Action Plan establishes primary goals for clean vehicles, the governor’s office said in a news release.

The goals include planning and investing in “critical” infrastructure such as fueling stations to build a ZEV market; encouraging private fleets to acquire ZEVs; and increasing the number of ZEVs that government agencies use.

They also include setting uniform rules among states to remove barriers to installing charging stations; tracking and reporting progress toward the goal of having 3.3 million ZEVs on the road by 2025; and promoting “clear and uniform” road signs to make driving ZEVs easier, according to Cuomo’s office.

In addition, the plan also calls for supporting workplace charging stations, providing consumer incentives for ZEV purchases, removing barriers to retail sale of electricity as a vehicle fuel, and promoting access and compatibility for charging networks.

The final group of goals seeks to develop a “better ZEV experience and [promote] consumer use,” according to Cuomo’s office.

Cuomo unveiled Charge NY as part of his 2013 State of the State Address.

The initiative seeks to create a statewide network of up to 3,000 public and workplace charging stations over the next five years and to have up to 40,000 plug-in vehicles on the road in that time period.

The state has added nearly 400 electric-vehicle stations, bringing the total number of electric-vehicle charging stations to about 900 across New York since the state launched Charge NY.

More than 8,000 electric vehicles are operating statewide, an increase from 5,500 when Charge NY began.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com