Dive Brief:

• New York City plans to replace about 925 gas-powered city vehicles with electric vehicles using $10.1 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Congestion, Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.
• The city will also use the federal funds to expand its EV charging network with 315 new chargers. The city currently has 1,360 charging ports, 120 fast chargers and 106 free-standing solar carports, said Dawn Pinnock, commissioner of the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services, in a press conference Wednesday. 
• “We're moving closer to reimagining a city that runs on electric-powered vehicles that will protect the quality of life of millions of New Yorkers,” Pinnock said. The city is accelerating its transition to EVs because “we understand that our climate, our city, and our people do not have a second to waste in our fight against emissions and its harmful effects on climate change,” she said.

Dive Insight:

Cities, transit agencies, states and the federal government have pushed to electrify their vehicle fleets over the past several years. The bipartisan infrastructure law, passed in 2021, provides billions of dollars in federal support to build a national EV charging network and allow governments to transition to EVs. States, including California, Massachusetts and Washington, are also on track to ban the sale of gas-powered passenger vehicles within their borders by the 2035 model year.

DOT’s Congestion, Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, which is funding New York City’s latest EV transition, provides money for transportation projects designed to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality in parts of the country that do not meet national air quality standards. 

The nearly 1,000 new vehicles add to the growing number of EVs within New York City’s fleet, which reached 4,000 in September, a goal the city had previously planned to meet by 2025 under its Clean Fleet Plan, said Mayor Eric Adams during Wednesday’s press conference. 

The new vehicles will replace older, gas-powered ones in the city’s fleet, including EV pickup trucks and vans, Adams said. The city is also working to replace 25 city street sweepers with hybrid vehicles, he said.

Adams said EVs are “clearly the future” and that the new vehicles contribute to city services, a cleaner environment and a “greener city.”