New Jersey Poised for National Leadership in Transportation Electrification: Ambitious Bill Lands on Governor’s Desk
Highland Park, NJ: New Jersey is closer to becoming a national leader in the growing electric vehicle market. Today, the bill (S2252/A4819) cleared vote on the floors of the Senate and Assembly with bipartisan support. Next, the bill will be sent to the Governor’s desk where it is expected to be signed.
This bill provides ambitious nation-leading goals for putting electric cars on the road and for developing the electric charging infrastructure needed to fuel them. Electric vehicles are proven and needed to clean the air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The New Jersey Legislature just passed the most significant legislation in more than 15 years to reduce air pollutants and global warming pollution from our cars and trucks since the passage of the Clean Cars bill in 2004. This bill will make New Jersey a leading state in electrifying our transportation sector and move towards a future of zero tailpipe emissions from our vehicles,” says Doug O’Malley, President of ChargEVC and Director of Environment New Jersey.
“This bill represents a long-overdue commitment on the part of State government to put money where its mandates are,” says Jim Appleton, Officer of ChargEVC and President of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. “New Jersey’s Clean Car, law enacted 15 years ago, mandates an ever-increasing number of electric vehicle sales in the State. The cash-on-the-hood incentives and infrastructure investment provided by this legislation demonstrate a real commitment to accelerate the electric vehicle market in New Jersey.”
In addition to the goal of 330,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2025, the bill also has specific goals for charging infrastructure to ensure geographic coverage around the state. The bill sets infrastructure requirements for multi-family residential properties and hotels. Importantly, the bill details the type of infrastructure that allows for a fueling experience that people experience today in terms of access and convenience. “We need to get charging stations out there to get people aware of and interested in the cars. Consumers won’t consider driving an electric car unless charging opportunities exist when they need them. Drivers may not always need public charging, but when you need to charge, you need to charge,” says Scott Fisher, Officer of ChargEVC and Vice President of Greenlots.
“It has been a productive partnership from a wide array of interests over the last several years to get this bill to this point,” says Pamela Frank, CEO of ChargEVC and Vice President of Gabel Associates. She continues, “The electric vehicle rebate program promises to be the most aggressive in the nation, appropriate given the size of our transportation market and the state of our air. With two major utilities that submitted proposals to work with the private sector to deliver on the charging station goals, we are poised to accelerate this market.
“To meet the mandates of the Global Warming Response Act to reduce carbon pollution, we need to aggressively ramp up electrification of our entire transportation system – which is the first strategy listed in the draft Energy Master Plan. O’Malley continued, “This bill is a huge step to put us on the road to meet our Clean Cars mandates and puts NJ Transit on par with more than 60 transit agencies across America that have committed to electrifying their bus fleets.”
The underappreciated story of growing the electric vehicle market is the sizable economic benefits – to drivers, to utility ratepayers, and to the state as a whole. A ChargEVC study estimates that all electric customers will save close to $156M annually. This is primarily due to the fact that more electricity running through our system will make more efficient use of our existing transmission and distribution grid. Further, it costs about 1/3 as much to fuel an electric car then a gas-powered car; a two-car household could save up to $2,000 a year. This adds up to a lot of money – $8.4B which New Jerseyans will avoid spending on gasoline to fuel cars through 2035.
Contact: Pam Frank, (609) 577-2795, pam@gabelassociates.com