Safety & Environment
Electric Vehicles
Recognizing that the transportation sector is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions in our service area and our nation, we are taking the lead in supporting the acceleration of electric vehicle (EV) adoption by our customers. Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (CECONY) is making significant infrastructure investments to facilitate installation of thousands of EV chargers across our service area, and we offer other incentive programs to EV station operators and drivers to ease the impact of EVs on the grid and make transition to EVs more affordable.
We know that access to EV charging is a leading barrier to our customers choosing to purchase EVs. In order to help alleviate these concerns, in 2020 CECONY launched our PowerReady EV infrastructure incentive program to support the development of widespread and visible charging stations at diverse locations across our service area such as parking lots, retail locations, apartment buildings, and workplaces. This program for cars and other light duty motor vehicles is one of the largest utility programs targeting the EV charging industry in the country. It will provide up to $252 million of customer incentives with a goal to support the connection of about 20,000 EV charging plugs to the grid through 2025. In 2021, as part of the program, CECONY facilitated the build-out of the largest publicly accessible universal charging hub in the Americas in Brooklyn. The Company’s efforts have also created a high level of market interest with a charger application queue level that we anticipate will enable CECONY to achieve the 2025 target significantly ahead of schedule. In 2020, CECONY also launched a pilot incentive program to support electrification of larger fleet vehicles such as school buses, transit buses, and delivery trucks. Finally, in 2020 CECONY expanded our SmartCharge NY program, which continues to be one of the most successful-managed charging programs in the world and provides financial rewards to participating customers across all vehicle types in our service area, when they charge outside of the peak consumption periods on the grid. The year 2021 saw continued gains in off peak EV charging, with enrollment pushing to over 5,000 passenger cars participating in the program.
Additionally, CECONY is working on two active demonstration projects that will help improve access to and viability of clean transportation. In conjunction with New York City Department of Transportation, we will install over 100 publicly accessible curbside charging posts across all five boroughs, with over 80 already commissioned in 2021, to increase access to EV charging and test customer acceptance of chargers on the streets in their community. CECONY also has an operational vehicle-to-grid (V2G) school bus initiative with the White Plains school district. The V2G initiative will be completed in early 2022, with findings expected to be presented publicly soon thereafter. The electric school buses in the White Plains school district transport school children during the school year. In the summer, the buses are also being tested as grid support assets when the students are on holiday and grid needs are greatest.
In support of our Clean Energy Commitment, 100% of new light-duty vehicles being purchased by CECONY and Orange & Rockland (O&R) are EVs. Through the retirement of existing fossil fuel vehicles, our goal is that 80% of our light-duty fleet will be electrified by 2030 and 100% by 2035. We are also pursuing, through Research and Development, alternative technologies to reduce fossil fuels for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
