Will a new president jumpstart the transition to electric vehicles in New York, or let it stall?

Steve Wehr loves his Tesla. He enjoys the electric car’s instant torque, its futuristic technology and its 300-mile range, so much so that he advises others on how to switch from a traditional combustion engine to a battery-powered car. A clean energy coach at New Yorkers for Clean Power, Wehr helps people choose which car to buy and pick out the perfect home charger. But when it comes to reassuring them they'll be able to find a place to recharge when they're away from home – a necessity in a region where people are less likely to have a garage or driveway for charging – that’s where he wishes things were better.

“Until I, as a driver, know that anywhere I want to drive I can easily plug in and charge the car, I'm leery about getting one because maybe I won't be able to charge it easily, like I'm used to with my gas car,” said Wehr, describing the hesitations of many would-be electric vehicle owners. 

More than 150,000 electric vehicles are registered in New York, more than 42,000 of them within the five boroughs of New York City, according to state vehicle registration data. Electric vehicles make up less than 2% of New York’s 11.3 million registered vehicles, however. To meet its climate goals, New York needs over 2 million EVs on the road by 2030 and 10 million by 2050, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority – a public benefit corporation promoting the renewable energy sector.

New Yorkers would probably be switching to EVs faster, advocates say, if drivers had better access to public chargers. And the upcoming presidential election could have a big impact on the state’s ability to increase charger availability and electric vehicle purchases, because the two candidates have such dramatically different stances.

Vice President Kamala Harris, as part of the Biden administration, has promoted the transition to electric vehicles through two signature pieces of legislation. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicates $7.5 billion to construction of electric vehicle charging stations – at least $175 million of which will go to New York. And the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act offers rebates for consumers who purchase new or used EVs with American-made batteries, along with tax credits for individuals and businesses who install EV chargers. The Biden-Harris administration has also supported more stringent tailpipe-emission standards as a way to ensure that by 2030 at least 50% of the vehicles manufactured and sold by U.S. automakers will be electric.

In contrast, the Republican Party platform has vowed to “cancel the electric vehicle mandate and cut costly and burdensome regulations.” It’s not clear what they mean by “electric vehicle mandate” as there is no policy that fits that description. In addition, the Republican Party platform prioritizes fossil fuel production, stating: “We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL and we will become Energy Independent, and even Dominant again.” Contrary to that language, the U.S. has been the world's leading crude oil producer for the past six years, producing more crude oil than any country, at any time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The U.S. broke the previous record of 12.3 million barrels produced per day in 2023, bringing the daily record to 12.9 million barrels.

Twenty-eight percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from gasoline-burning cars and trucks and other petroleum-based transportation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In New York, around one-third of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, according to the state energy authority estimates. Transitioning away from internal combustion engines to zero-emission vehicles is a critical component to reaching the U.S. goal of halving emissions by 2030 to ease climate change.

After the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed, the Biden-Harris administration unveiled a plan to create a national network of 500,000 fast EV chargers situated at 50-mile intervals along major highways for motorists traveling long distances. In New York, I-87, I-90 and I-81 are among the roads designated as “alternative fuel corridors.” To coordinate the rollout of these fast chargers, which can revive an EV in an hour or less (but can degrade the battery if used repeatedly), the U.S. Department of Transportation launched the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. New York got its first charger from the program in the ground last December, and has just received its next round of EV infrastructure funding, $21 million, which will go toward building nearly 100 direct current fast chargers along multiple interstates.

Another funding stream created from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law mostly supports the installation of slower, “level 2” EV chargers – think the kind to charge a car up overnight – in neighborhoods, downtown areas, parks and public parking facilities. New York has received $15 million so far from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program, which will go toward installing level-2 charging stations at 200 locations as well as direct current fast chargers on Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Southern Tier. 

New York has a long way to go to reach its ambitious goals for electrified transport. In New York City, an estimated 6,000 direct current fast chargers and 207,000 level 2 chargers are needed by 2030. But as of now, the city has installed only 1,400 stations, just over 300 of which are direct current fast chargers, according to city data, and most of those are reserved for municipal vehicles. When including the public chargers created by industry, that number shoots up. ChargeHub suggests there are more than 3,300 charging stations operating within the city. New York City was awarded $15 million earlier this year from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program, which will go toward adding 600 curbside level-two chargers. 

For the whole of New York state, The U.S. Department of Energy’s EV charger needs calculator suggests the need just shy of 200,000 public charging plugs by 2030 to support even the low end of the energy research authority’s goals , whereas for now the state has fewer than 20,000 according to the state agency. Of these, the vast majority are provided by private companies. Only 61 of New York’s EV chargers so far have been installed by state agencies, but the new infusion of federal money will change that.

One of the state’s goals is to build charging capacity in rural and out-of-the-way places that are ignored by private companies like Tesla and ChargePoint because they wouldn’t be profitable enough. 

“Both the state government and federal government are really going to be focused on charging, not just where it’s most popular and most needed, but where the service will not be provided (by private companies),” said Matthew Stephens-Rich, director of programs at the EV advocacy group Electrification Coalition.

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump has been all over the place when it comes to EVs. In December he said at an Iowa rally that “they don’t go far and they cost a fortune,” and in a Christmas Day Truth Social post he wrote that supporters of “electric car lunacy” should “rot in hell.” But earlier this year, after Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, endorsed Trump and began spending huge amounts to support his campaign ($75 million so far), Trump’s stance softened.

“I’m for electric cars. I have to be because, you know, Elon endorsed me very strongly,” Trump said during a rally in Georgia in August. “So, I have no choice.”

In September, Trump pledged to rescind any of the unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act if he were elected, according to Politico. But most of the electric-vehicle-related items in that law come in the form of tax incentives and rebates, which would likely be difficult to get rid of, although Trump could conceivably narrow eligibility by issuing new guidelines, advocates say.

Some of the policies encouraging EV use are pretty well insulated from the Oval Office. Samantha Houston, a senior vehicles analyst for the Clean Transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said funds have already been earmarked for these projects. “The EV is out of the driveway,” she said. “Those funds are locked down.