Dive Brief:
- New York regulators, acting on a petitioned filed by more than three dozen stakeholders, have opened a new proceeding to consider how to advance the transportation electrification market.
- Led by Sierra Club, the groups in February called for the Public Service Commission to accelerate the state's efforts, in particular by turning to utilities to drive EV adoption. The groups say New York customers could see almost $18 billion in benefits from the industry by 2050
- Sierra Club hailed the decision to open the new proceeding, saying New York is "still far from meeting its 2025 zero emission vehicle goals." The state wants to have around 850,000 EVs on the road by then.
Dive Insight:
Despite New York's broad energy goals, including revamping the utility industry, slashing emissions and increasing renewables, stakeholders say the state could do more when it comes to transportation.
The 40-member coalition Sierra Club led included ChargePoint, EVgo, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Plug In America, Siemens, Sierra Club, Tesla, and Vote Solar. Their requests included asking the PSC to develop a track outside of utility rate cases to consider transportation electrification issues.
Earlier this month, the New York Power Authority and other state agencies have asked regulators to direct utilities to develop broad plans to encourage EV adoption, similar to proceedings opened in Oregon and California. In that same petition, the agencies asked the PSC to make changes to the rate structures of public electric vehicle DC fast charging stations to eliminate demand charges aimed at developing these stations.
There are about 24,000 EVs in New York, according to Sierra Club, and only 2,000 charging stations. The state is targeting 10,000 stations by 2021, and is still more than 800,000 vehicles shy of its 2025 goal. The PSC's new proceeding will kick off with a whitepaper prepared by commission staff, followed by a technical conference and public comment period.
