New York’s recently announced “EV Make Ready” initiative to expand electric vehicle use by supporting over 50,000 level 2 charging plugs and 1,500 public direct current fast charger stations in the state could impact the shape of power demand peaks, sources said on July 17. The New York Public Service Commission on July 16 approved a “Make Ready” order to advance New York’s commitment to accelerate its transition to cleaner mobility, according to a statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Cuomo highlighted a package of major clean transportation initiatives to support transportation sector decarbonization plans and cut overall statewide carbon emissions by 85% by 2050.
New York’s EV initiative complements a collaboration unveiled earlier in the week through which New York, along with 14 other states and the District of Columbia agreed to ramp up the electrification of diesel buses and trucks by 2050.
“New York is leading the nation in efforts to combat climate change and reimagine our power systems with innovative clean energy policies and now we are taking major steps to decarbonize vehicles, including light and heavy-duty trucks and buses,” Cuomo said in the statement.
Investor-owned utilities in New York will fund the EV Make-Ready Program which utilizes cost-sharing to incentivize utilities and charging station developers to site EV charging infrastructure in places that will most benefit consumers, according to the statement.
The PSC order caps the total budget at $701 million and will run through 2025, with $206 million allocated.
The Long Island Power Authority and its service provider, PSEG Long Island, set a goal of supporting 180,000 new EVs on Long Island with 4,650 new EV charging ports by 2025, beginning with a proposed 2021 investment of $4.4 million in make-ready infrastructure, according to the statement.
Additionally, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is allocating $48.8 million from the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal settlement to transit bus and school bus operators and EV charging station owners.
Power demand impacts
The total increase in power demand associated with this incremental EV charging infrastructure appears limited, but could impact load profiles depending on how EV charging rates are structured.
The PSC order discussed the benefits of managed charging, either active or passive. Active managed charging relies on dispatch signals from a utility or aggregator sent to a vehicle or charging equipment to adjust the time or rate charge.
Passive managed charging relies on customer behavior, like influencing charging times through time-of-use rates, which the state currently has. But thus far adoption has been minimal and “it is clear that more needs to be done to incent off-peak charging,” according to the order.