‘No more excuses’ – New York announces new zero-emission vehicle mandate by 2035
New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday there will be “no more excuses” not to buy an electric vehicle after directing the State Department of Environmental Conservation to take significant action to accelerate the state’s transition to clean transportation to protect the environment.
In White Plains, New York, Governor Hochul outlined the state’s new ambitious clean energy and climate goals. The most important takeaway is all new vehicles sold in the state of New York will now need to be zero-emission by 2035, the same requirement that was set in California by the state’s new Advanced Clean Cars II regulation.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) predicts California’s new regulation will cut emissions by 50% between 2026 and 2040. Since it passed, 18 other states have followed in California’s footsteps, adopting California’s Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) and Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandates, with New York being the most recent.
When the Governor first visited White Plains in 2015, she claims, she was greeted with visions of abundant EV charging and zero-emission vehicles, which is soon to be a reality.
NY is introducing several new initiatives to combat climate change and protect the environment, as Governor Hochul touts, “EVs are the key to achieving this.”
The governor says electric vehicles have been a part of New York’s history for over 100 years, starting in Buffalo. The Buffalo Electric Carriage Company, created in 1900 and later known as the Buffalo Electric Vehicle Company, did not last long. It went out of business by 1916 as oil giants and their money bags took over the United States.
This time, electric vehicles are here to stay as New York reveals specific targets and initiatives to make it happen.
New York outlines electric vehicle requirements and initiatives
By 2035, all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in New York will be required to be zero-emission. To ensure they get there, the governor outlined specific benchmarks along the way.
The percent of new vehicle sales that need to be zero-emission will increase as the plan progresses, with 35% being required by 2026, 68% by 2030, and 100% by 2035.
New York Governor Hochul states:
With sustained state and federal investments, our actions are incentivizing New Yorkers, local governments, and businesses to make the transition to electric vehicles. We’re driving New York’s transition to clean transportation forward, and today’s announcement will benefit our climate and the health of our communities for generations to come.
New York has a mandated goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 85% by 2050, and the new state regulations to accelerate its transition to electric vehicles will help it achieve this.
To help buyers that may be on the fence about buying an electric vehicle, New York is charging ahead with several initiatives to help lower costs and provide accessible charging options.
- Zero-emission vehicle grants – New York is providing $5.75 million for municipalities to purchase or lease zero-emission vehicles for their fleets and to install public EV charging stations.
- NYSERDA Drive Clean Rebate – $10 million is being added to New York’s Drive Clean Rebate to help buyers purchase an EV with an up to $2,000 rebate available in all 62 counties that can be used with the federal tax credit provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
- NYPA EVolve NY – The New York Power Authority (NYPA) just installed its 100th fast charger as part of the EVolve NY $250 million funding to build a state-wide fast charging network to accelerate electric vehicle adoption.
- National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program – New York is receiving $175 million over the next five years from the federal NEVI program to establish an interconnected electric vehicle charging network.
New York has some of the nation’s most aggressive climate and clean energy initiatives to reduce harmful emissions by promoting the adoption of electric vehicles and protecting the environment with strict mandates. With these programs, the state is on track to reach economy-wide carbon neutrality and achieve its mandated carbon reduction goals.
Electrek’s Take
New York’s announcement provides a roadmap for how states can achieve meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while protecting the environment and the safety of those that live there.
California established the regulations, making it easier for other states to follow suit. New York is not stopping at passenger vehicles either. The state is investing in electric school buses to keep children safe, electric transport buses to keep communities safe, and in industries you wouldn’t expect, like street sweepers!
New York City just surpassed 4,050 city-owned electric vehicles, hitting its goal three years ahead of schedule, showing the city is stepping up in a big way.
Transitioning to clean energy and electric vehicles will not only promote a cleaner community but will also stimulate the economy by creating well paying jobs. The state estimates its over $35 billion in clean energy investments will support around 158,000 jobs while lowering energy costs for residents and creating a clean, reliable grid.
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Yadea, which has claimed the title of the world’s largest electric vehicle maker for seven years running, has just announced a new electric motorbike powered by the company’s innovative HuaYu sodium-ion battery technology.
Yadea has long dominated the electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler market globally, but has generally relied on both lithium-ion and lead acid batteries to power its vehicles in different markets.
The newly unveiled electric scooter uses Yadea’s recently introduced sodium battery technology, offering what the company says is outstanding performance in range, charging speed, and safety. Using the HuaYu Sodium Superfast Charging Ecosystem presented by Yadea, the battery can reach 80% charge in just 15 minutes, providing greater convenience for riders.
Yadea’s sodium battery has successfully passed more than 20 safety tests, many focusing on its resistance to fire and explosions under extreme conditions like punctures and compression.
Yadea’s new sodium battery offers an energy density of 145 Wh/kg and a lifespan of up to 1,500 cycles at room temperature, with the company rating it for a five-year useful lifespan. It also includes a three-year warranty for added assurance.
With excellent low-temperature capabilities, the battery retains over 92% of its discharge capacity at -20°C, making it well-suited for colder climates.
Sodium batteries present major advantages
Most electric vehicles used in the West, especially electric two-wheelers, rely on lithium-ion batteries for their high energy density. But sodium-ion batteries offer many benefits over traditional lithium-ion batteries.
Sodium is an abundant element on the planet and is easily accessible, unlike lithium, which is concentrated in specific regions and often expensive to extract. This abundance can make sodium-ion batteries cheaper to produce, reducing costs for EV manufacturers and potentially making electric vehicles more affordable.
Lithium mining also has environmental challenges, such as water depletion and habitat destruction. Sodium, on the other hand, can be sourced from seawater or common salts, offering a more sustainable and environmentally friendly option.
Sodium-ion batteries are less prone to overheating and thermal runaway compared to lithium-ion batteries. This makes them inherently safer for electric vehicles, reducing the risk of fires and improving consumer confidence in EV technology.
Sodium-ion batteries perform better than lithium-ion in cold climates. Lithium-ion batteries struggle with capacity retention in freezing conditions, but sodium batteries maintain efficiency, making them ideal for EVs in colder regions.
Sodium batteries still have challenges to overcome
While sodium-ion batteries are promising, they currently have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries, meaning they store less energy per unit of weight.
For EVs, this translates to shorter driving ranges for the same-sized battery. That’s especially important in electric two-wheelers like motorbikes and electric bicycles, which don’t have much extra space for storing bulky batteries.
However, advancements in cathode materials and battery architecture are quickly closing this gap, which Yadea has demonstrated. These sodium-ion batteries still can’t match the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, but as they continue to improve their energy density, the technology’s other major advantages provide encouraging signs for larger adoption in the industry.
Yadea’s status as a major electric motorbike maker also means that its adoption of sodium-ion battery technology could help lead the entire industry towards this battery chemistry, bringing safety and performance benefits along with it.
Last year I had the unique opportunity to visit one of Yadea’s global manufacturing sites.
To see inside the company’s massive and highly-automated manufacturing processes, check out the video below!
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At CES2025, the impressively built-out John Deere exhibit was all about automation. Autonomous job sites, autonomous farms … but it was this new, battery electric, autonomous lawn mowing robot that stole the show.
The self-driving Deere mower robot was positively dwarfed by the giant farm machinery surrounding it, but it continues to prove that humans will pack bond with anything as more than one burly-looking and grizzled man asked what its name was. (It’s Howard. I’ll fight you.)
For his part, Howard packs a 21.4 kWh battery pack that runs a suite of electric motors that includes a drive motor and three cutting blade motors spread across a 60 inch cutting deck – but it’s not the electric motors that make John Deere’s little robot mower cool, it’s the way it works.
See, instead of using “just” GPS data or “just” repeating a pre-recorded run, Howard can do something in between. The way it was explained to me, you would ride the stand-up mower around the perimeter of the area you wanted to mow, select a pattern, then hop off, fold up the platform, and let it loose. Howard mows just the way you would, leaving you to focus on edging, planting, or (let’s face it) schmoozing with the clients.
It’s exactly the sort of help landscapers are looking for.
But that should come as no surprise, of course. John Deere, perhaps more than most companies, knows its customer. “We’ve been in the turf business for 60 years — it’s a core part of Deere,” says Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at John Deere, explaining things beautifully. “The work that’s being done in this industry is incredibly labor intensive … they’re not just doing the mowing work. They’re doing the tree trimming, maintaining flowerbeds and all these other jobs. The mowing is table stakes, though, for them to get the business. It’s the thing they have to do in order to get the higher value work.”
Tim Lewis, lead engineer with the commercial automatous mower, told Lawn & Landscape that the industry in general has a high turnover rate as well, making it difficult to hang to people who know where one job ends and another begins. “There’s a lot of nuances it takes to do these jobs effectively,” he explains, “so “Autonomy can help with that.”
The John Deere autonomous commercial mower (there’s no snazzy alphanumeric, yet) leverages the same camera technology as other Deere autonomous machines, but on a smaller scale (since the machine has a smaller footprint). With two cameras each on the front, left, right, and rear sides of the little guy, he has a 360-degree view of the world and enough AI to lay down a pattern, avoid an obstacle, and shut off if it thinks it’s about to mow down something (read: someone) it shouldn’t.
John Deere will have Howard on display through tomorrow at CES in the LVCC’s West Hall. If you’re in town, be sure to go say hi.
John Deere CES2025
SUOURCE | IMAGES: John Deere; Electrek.
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