ENVIRONMENT

New Yorkers buy more electric cars, use chargers

There are 18,000 electric cars in New York and New Yorkers are using charging stations more often

Matt Coyne
mcoyne@lohud.com
New York is offering up to $2,000 in rebates for the purchase of electric cars.

TARRYTOWN - When it comes to electric cars, the state's "If you build it, they will come" approach seems to be paying off.

In the last four years, New Yorkers have registered 18,000 electric cars, and the charging stations popping up across the state thanks to programs like ChargeNY are dispensing more electricity than ever before.

“When it comes to clean transportation, the future really is now," said New York Power Authority President and CEO Gil Quiniones at a news conference held recently at Pierson Park to celebrate the 100 charging stations opened by ChargeNY since its inception in 2014.

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TAKING THE HIGHWAY: Stations set to open on the Thruway

The three charging stations in Tarrytown and others spread out across White Plains, Cortlandt, Southeast and Chappaqua — plus the ones NYPA confirmed would be opening in Clarkstown — bring the total to 1,600 statewide.

An electric car charging station in Haverstraw. The state Thruway Authority is looking to bring the stations to four travel plazas between Newburgh and Albany by Memorial Day.

Officials from the agency could not say where they would be opening in Clarkstown or when.

Two years ago, the number of electric vehicles in the state was 10,000. That was up from 2,800 in 2012.

The charging stations in Westchester and Putnam counties have seen huge year-over-year increases in use. In Tarrytown, total energy dispensed in kilowatt hours has shot up 159 percent. At the Cortlandt Metro-North station, energy dispensed jumped 303 percent and at the Southeast train station 169 percent.

ChargeNY was started in 2013 as an initiative announced in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address. His goal was to get 40,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2018.

Gil Quiniones, president and CEO of the New York Power Authority, speaks at a press conference marking ChargeNY's 100th charging station in Tarrytown on Thursday, June 15, 2016.

So far, ChargeNY has opened 1,100 charging stations across the state, with the balance of the 1,600 total coming from private businesses or other initiatives outside the state program. Quiniones said NYPA was in talks to enter into a contract to install 300 more.

He also said his organization monitors vehicle registrations and charger usage by ZIP Code to find where the most demand is.

"We hope it's a positive synergy," said Quiniones, who believes more charging stations will push more people to buy electric cars: “As said in that famous Hollywood movie, if you build it, they will come.”

Twitter: @coynereports