New York isn’t letting up on its New Green Deal initiatives. A plan to force all New Yorkers to drive electric cars is still in effect and moving forward sooner than many think is affordable, practical, or sustainable.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s Advance Clean Cars II mandate requires that 100% of new vehicles on dealer lots be fossil fuel emission free (electric) by the year 2035. The mandate’s requirements begin to kick in this year. By the end of 2025, when 2026 models begin to appear, 35% of new vehicles on the lot must electric.
The EV mandate is graduated and requires dealers to stock 68% EV vehicles by 2030, and 100% of sales must be electric by 2035. This includes all passenger cars, SUVs and pickup truck sales.
Tom Williams, General Manager of Riverhead Ford in Riverhead, NY said, “I like electric cars. I drive one myself, but this mandate is unrealistic in its expectations. Our grid in the United States right now cannot handle the volume of electrification that some people want to see. We have to be practical.”
There is also expense and operational issues around charging.
“If you put a level two charger at your house, which is where 85% of the people will charge, that's no problem, you're programming a car to charge at night when the grid demand is lower,” said Williams. “But here at the dealership because of all these mandates, we're required to have level three charges available for the customers. Because we're a commercial business, I'm currently spending about $8,000 a month in electric so that people can buy about $700 or $800 worth of electricity from me. Where's the fairness in this?”
Most, if not all, auto dealers want to see this mandate repealed ASAP. Not only does is force people to buy and drive cars they might not want there are issues such as affordability and sustainably. And then there is demand – dealerships say anywhere from 6-10% of their sales are EVs now. It just isn’t realistic to think that in a year demand will grow to 35 percent. What will the dealerships do with the EV cars they can’t sell?
This mandate will drive people to purchase used cars making used cars more expensive. Others will go to neighboring states without mandates and but new cars there - driving New York dealerships out of business.
Besides mandates dictating the market and taking away consumer choice, it is well known that the electric grid in New York is simply not prepared for an electric demand to meet the EV car sales requirements. Further, the charging infrastructure just doesn’t exist in the way needed to support this much EV demand.
“The deadlines don’t match the reality,” said Jack Weidinger, chairman of the Greater Automobile Dealers Association of NY, who owns a Cadillac dealership in Great Neck. “Dealers want to extend the deadline so we don’t destroy the market,” he said.