New York City hit a massive milestone as the city announced it has already met its 2025 goal of 4,000 electric vehicles in its fleet. As of September 2022, NYC had replaced around 4,050 gas-powered models with zero-emission electric vehicles.
NYC aims to be the nation’s most sustainable fleet
NYC aims to have the country’s most sustainable fleet through its Clean Fleet Plan. The program was initially created in 2015 to add 2,000 electric vehicles to its municipal fleet and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2025.
However, the city quickly achieved its EV targets, updating the program in September 2021. As of June 2021, NYC had over 3,000 plug-in or solar electric vehicles in use.
The city’s fleet consisted of several fully electric and hybrid models, including the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf. Furthermore, NYC said it planned to increase funding for electric school buses, including a $30 million investment.
According to Columbia Climate School, NYC is (surprisingly) one of the most energy-efficient places in America, as the city has rolled out aggressive climate action plans and many people in the city walk or take mass transit.
To continue the momentum, NYC upped the target, calling for 4,000 electric vehicles to be added to its fleet by 2025, with all nonemergency cars to convert to EVs by 2040.
New York City electric vehicle fleet
It looks like NYC is well ahead of its plans again. After adding over 1,000 EVs in the past year, NYC may need to reconsider its goals again. The city added several innovative electric vehicles, such as electric vans, pickup trucks, garbage trucks, police vehicles, school buses, and more. A few examples of the EVs in use include:
- Over 200 Ford Mustang Mach E‘s are used chiefly for police purposes.
- Several different administrations are using almost 850 Chevy Bolts.
- The NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) ordered almost 300 Ford E Transit EV vans and is requesting a Ford F-150 Lightning pickup.
The city was even one of the first to add electric street sweepers (check these out!), courtesy of Ideanomics and Global Environmental Products.
DCAS Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock said, regarding NYC’s success thus far:
We are committed to making our city government greener by accelerating our transition to an all-electric fleet. At DCAS, we are elated to meet our goal of 4,000 electric vehicles three years early. That’s three more years of emissions-free driving to protect the health of our planet for future generations.
NYC plans to continue expanding its EV fleet with several new additions, including:
- Seven electric garbage trucks
- Seven 100% electric street sweepers
- All electric buses for the NYC Department of Corrections
- Several electric box trucks and pickups for other citywide services
Most importantly, NYC will support the electric vehicle expansion by adding around 1,300 charging points for fleets, with 600 expected to be deployed in the next 18 months.
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