Benefits of New York state electric car rebate program debated by experts

Since the launch of the Drive Clean Rebate for electric vehicles in March, New York state has seen a 74 percent increase in sales of electric cars over the same period in 2016, according to a press release published last week by New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The rebate gives New York residents who purchase eligible electric vehicles a $500 to $2,000 discount at participating car dealers, depending on the price of the car and the all-electric range — the number of miles the car can drive on a single charge. Those savings come in addition to the federal electric vehicle tax rebate, which gives purchasers of eligible electric vehicles up to $7,500 in tax rebates.

Between April and June 2017, 2,574 electric cars were sold in the state, up from 1,476 sold between April and June 2016, according to the release.

“Certainly the state is making progress — the rebate program is definitely helping,” said Conor Bambrick, air and energy director at Environmental Advocates of New York. “But when you look at the state’s overall goals and where we need to be … there’s a lot of work still to be done.”

There are approximately 12 million personal vehicles registered in New York, Bambrick said. Of those, approximately 20,000 to 25,000 are electric vehicles. That’s only a small fraction of the 3 million he says New York needs by the year 2030 to make a major difference in emissions.

Some experts, including Robert Bryce, are skeptical electric cars are a viable option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said he thinks Cuomo’s rhetoric about electric cars is political posturing.

“The fact is electric vehicles have the same problems today as they did 10, 20 … 100 years ago,” Bryce said. “They cost too much. The range is too small, too short. They don’t go far enough on a charge and they have to compete with oil — oil is cheap.”

Bryce added the cost of electric vehicles is a major concern.

For a buyer to receive the full rebate, the car must have a suggested retail price less than $60,000 and an all-electric range of at least 120 miles. Only three of the 39 electric vehicles listed on the Drive Clean website are eligible for the full discount, and the average listed price of a qualifying vehicle is $51,074.

“The average Tesla buyer — which is the most popular electric vehicle in America — has an average household income of $293,000,” Bryce said. He added he thought subsidies for people with that income “make no sense at all.”

Bambrick, by contrast, said electric cars are a cheaper option than gas-fueled cars because refueling with electricity is less expensive than refueling with gas. He said he believes increasing the number of electric vehicles in the state is an important part of reducing overall emissions.

“The electrification of our transportation system is critical,” Bambrick said. By 2030, he added, 50 percent of New York’s energy will come from renewable sources. Increasing the number of electric vehicles using the partially renewable electric grid will reduce emissions even further.

The Clean Energy Standard, introduced in 2016, mandates 50 percent of New York’s energy come from renewable sources by 2030.

Although Bambrick and Bryce both said reducing carbon emissions should be a focus for the state, they disagreed as to how best reduce New York’s production of greenhouse gases.

Bryce said he believes the state should focus on building nuclear power plants, while Bambrick said the state needs to make sure it educates its citizenry on the benefits of electric vehicles to encourage more people to purchase them.