Roadblocks Lifted, EV Bill Released from Committee

The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee released a bill to advance EV technology and charging stations across New Jersey. The bill,S2252 (Smith/Greenstein), establishes goals, initiatives, and programs to encourage and support use of plug-in electric vehicles. The updated version includes language of at least 330,000 registered light duty vehicles in the state to be plug-in electric by December 2025 and 2 million EV’s by 2035.

“This bill is one of the most important things we have done in the past decade to deal with climate change. Focusing on lowering emissions from mobile sources is critical because cars and trucks are the biggest source of air pollution in our state. The legislature is now accelerating moving forward with the original bill instead of the weakened one amended by the Murphy Administration. The new version will have the same targets as the original bill of 330,000 EV’s by 2025, 2 million by 2035, and at least 85% of all light duty vehicles sold in New Jersey will be electric by December of 2040. This bill will help kick electric vehicles into high gear. It’s a major step forward in making EVs a reality in our state,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We are finally going to put our foot on the acceleration and move forward after Murphy’s staff to cut back and weaken EV goals. Now the legislature needs to put the pedal to the medal and get this bill to the governor’s desk.”

According to the bill, By December 31, 2025, at least 400 DC Fast Chargers shall be available for public use at no fewer than 200 charging locations in the State. At least 75 of the 200 or more charging locations shall be at travel corridor locations, equipped with at least two DC Fast Chargers per location, each capable of providing at least 150 kilowatts of charging power, and no more than 25 miles between the charging locations. Also, at least 100 of the 200 or more charging locations shall be community locations.

“Over 45% of our greenhouse gasses in New Jersey come vehicles and our state suffers from failing air levels. This bill is the first major step in reducing pollution and GHG’s from our transportation sector. Now it is critical for the legislature and Governor Murphy to pass and sign this comprehensive electric vehicle legislation. Our state used to be a leader in innovation and transportation and can be again in clean transport. We can see the benefits of clean air and clean jobs if the BPU builds a state-wide network of charging stations, creates green jobs, saves people money on gas, and reduces air pollution. Half of New Jersey’s greenhouse gases come from mobile sources, but these emissions can be easily cut by implementing EV technology,” said Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.