New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Dawn M. Pinnock, and New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced $10.1 million in federal grants to replace nearly 925 fossil fuel-powered fleet vehicles with electric vehicles (EV) and install 315 new EV chargers across the city.
Article continues below
DOT facilitated the grant application process through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program and will administer the funding. DCAS will receive $6.2 million, and the remainder will be disbursed to the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY).
This investment helps advance the city’s goal of electrifying its entire vehicle fleet, building on the steps already taken by the Adams administration to meet the New York City Clean Fleet Plan ahead of schedule.
“When New Yorkers see cars, trucks, and vans with the ‘NYC’ logo on the side, they can rest assured that those vehicles are contributing to a greener city,†said Mayor Adams.
“We are already ahead of schedule in transitioning city vehicles away from fossil fuels, and this new grant will allow us to take nearly 1,000 fossil-fuel vehicles off our roads, helping us reduce carbon emissions, make our air cleaner, and save on fuel costs.â€
“Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, New York City has already become a national leader in sustainability and green infrastructure,†said First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo. “This new grant will help us continue to transition our fleet to electric vehicles, protecting our environment and continuing to ‘Get Stuff Done’ for New Yorkers.â€
“We see the impact of climate change each day, so today’s announcement recognizes that the time for meaningful change — including accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles — is now,†said DOT Commissioner Rodriguez.
“Thanks to this funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the city will be able to replace nearly 1,000 municipal vehicles — including a large proportion of DOT’s fleet — with greener alternatives. Under the leadership of Mayor Adams, we are proud to work with DCAS and our other sister agencies on our shared goal of reducing emissions from the transportation sector.â€
“New York City must lead by example, and we are grateful for these critical partnerships with the federal government to help us reach our climate and air quality goals,†said New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Executive Director Kizzy Charles-Guzman.
“This investment in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure will improve the health of New Yorkers and create a more sustainable New York.â€
The $10.1 million in funding will help procure 382 Chevrolet Bolts, 360 Ford E-Transit vans, and 150 Ford F-150 E-Lightning pick-up trucks. Additionally, 25 plug-in hybrid street sweepers will be earmarked for DSNY, an important step in electrifying the city’s specialized equipment fleet.
The funds will additionally support the first major investment by DCAS in all-electric pick-up trucks and vans. DCAS recently registered its first requirements contracts for electric cargo vans, electric pick-ups, and a law enforcement model of the electric pick-up.
In total, the city operates over 6,000 pick-up trucks and vans, which represent 25 percent of the city’s total on-road fleet. This first order of electric pick-up trucks and vans brings the agency closer to meeting the goal of an all-electric light- and medium-duty fleet by 2035.
The seven all-electric refuse trucks will be the first owned by DSNY following a successful pilot assessment of an all-electric refuse unit. DSNY will test the operation of these trucks citywide.
The funding will also support DSNY’s first order of plug-in hybrids and help the agency assess the efficacy of both plug-in hybrid electric and all-electric sweepers.
As of September 2022, DCAS reached its 2025 goal of transitioning 4,000 vehicles in the city fleet to electric vehicles — three years ahead of schedule.
Currently, the electric fleet includes a wide range of vehicle types and categories from over 200 Ford Mustang Mach Es — most of which are for law enforcement purposes — to nearly 850 GM Bolts.
DCAS expects to operate over 5,000 EVs by June 2023. The agency has also ordered the first three electric buses for the New York City Department of Correction and is working on EV contracts for box trucks, garbage trucks for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and additional replacements of gas cars with electric models.
In addition to increasing the EV fleet, DCAS also operates the largest EV charging network in New York State, with over 1,300 charging ports available to fleet units.
DCAS will deploy another 600 charging ports in the next 18 months. This funding announced today is supporting the purchase of 315 additional charging units.
"The City of New York already has the largest electric municipal vehicle fleet in the United States, and I commend the Department of Transportation for committing to replace almost 1,000 more fossil fuel-powered vehicles with electric vehicles and to install 315 new chargers,†said New York City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan.
“The need to reduce emissions in New York from carbon-spewing cars remains urgent, as much for the health of our communities as for our climate.â€
“We have increasingly learned from recent experiences that we can never be too prepared with our coastal communities when it comes to weather disasters,†said New York City Councilmember Inna Vernikov.
“With sudden intense rainfalls and flooding, it is a lot easier and less costly to be proactive and preventative. The mayor’s focus on this is much appreciated. Cloudburst resiliency projects throughout our coastal neighborhoods, including in our district, by all available funding should continue to expand our ability to cope with sudden and dramatic weather events like flooding.†■