Population-dense metropolitan areas like Albany and New York City are understandably EV-friendly places. The cities’ well-established infrastructure naturally absorb dozens of charging stations into public places like parking garages, health and shopping centers, gyms, museums and more.
Pockets of the Hudson Valley have caught up with their big city counterparts and now make it easy to drive an EV, too. There are more than 10 times as many EV charging stations per capita in Kingston than there are in the Capital Region. “The Hudson Valley has really come a long way,” says Samrat Pathania, an EV enthusiast and New Paltz Climate Action Coalition member. “There [used to be] so few electric cars in New Paltz, I knew all of their colors.”
Data from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) shows significant EV growth across the state: there are currently more than 69,000 registered EVs (including plug-in hybrids) here, up from around 3,000 in 2012. And New York is eager to be even more EV-friendly; the state has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and has mandated that only zero emission cars be sold by 2035.
But what happens when you move to the outer rings of these hotspots to less populated areas — like rural parts of the Hudson Valley and much of the Catskills — where miles and miles can separate towns, and there are fewer established public hubs for fast charging? While EVs may work in Hudson, New Paltz or Kingston, what about Bovina or West Kill?
Charging an EV in the Hudson Valley
Leasing or buying an EV comes with a crash course in charging — both at home and at public chargers. All EV models come with different chargers and adaptors, creating essentially three ways to charge: (1) via a traditional electric outlet (slow, providing enough juice for about three to five miles of driving for every hour of charging); (2) at a “level 2” charger like the kind of outlets used by dryers (medium, supplying about 25 miles of driving range for every hour of charging); or (3) at a “DC” charger (fast, powering a car in full in less than an hour). DC charging can cost between $20 to $35, depending on the cost of electricity and the size of an EV’s battery.
How you choose to power up will depend on the range of your car. “Most people do the vast majority of charging at home,” says Pathania.
For public charging, Tesla’s broad network has a leg up on competitors because Teslas can use non-Tesla chargers, but not vice versa. For non-Teslas, like Nissan Leafs and Chevy Bolts, there are a number of private charging stations run by companies like ChargePoint that one can pay a membership to access, as well as free municipal stations, all searchable via apps or through charging station locators, including this United States Department of Energy or the largely user maintained database Plugshare.
Pathania says that while charging isn’t as straightforward as gassing up — drivers need to allow in some cases 30 minutes or longer to charge versus a few minutes with gas — it’s working itself out. “EV is an emerging technology,” he says. And, there’s plenty to do in the Hudson Valley while you wait. “I could charge at home, but I force myself to take walks; it’s good for me,” says Pathania, who plugs in at Joppenburgh Mountain in Rosendale or at the Gardiner library near the rail trail.
Ilka Casey, co-owner of The Mountain Brauhaus in Gardiner, as well as a Tesla, Nissan Leaf, and an electric motorcycle, mainly powers up at home, but also likes to charge at Lippman Park in Warwarsing as she rides her bike.
Longer trips with an EV can still be tricky — something to keep in mind in the vast Hudson Valley and upstate New York. Though more DC chargers are in the works, they aren’t yet abundant.
“Our EV has a range of about 122 miles, so we generally don’t travel with it outside of the region to the point where we would have to break up our journey and pay to charge it,” says Lindsay Danis of Kingston. She and her wife use a second, gas-powered car for longer trips and use their EV for commuting to work, errands and short drives to local hikes.
“The growth in DC fast charging is where the next wave is going to need to be,” says Jacob Beeman, transportation planner for Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC). Making DC chargers more ubiquitous will enable interregional trips.
Currently, there are approximately 2500 charging stations across the state according to the NY DOE locator. Evolve NY, a New York Power Authority [NYPA] program, is busily adding 10,000 fast DC-chargers, 200 each in 50 locations, across the state by the end of 2021. Six of those new charging stations are planned for the Hudson Valley as part of this first wave: Hudson, Kingston, Liberty, Hancock, Middletown and Lagrangeville, which became the first Evolve NY station to open in the state.
NYPA plans to add at least 900 more charging stations throughout the state, including the Hudson Valley, by 2025.
Finding an EV to buy
Charging your EV in the region will require some planning when taking longer drives through less populated areas, but a bigger challenge may be acquiring an EV to start. “Fifty percent or less [dealerships] actually have EVs in inventory,” says Melissa Everett, executive director of Sustainable Hudson Valley, which maintains a helpful database of local EV resources.
Despite the public’s enthusiasm for EVs, in reality, they accounted for fewer than 2 percent of auto sales last year. The Wall Street Journal found that some dealers are reluctant to carry too many EVs, and wind up with unsold inventory.
Danis had to trek from Kingston to Schenectady to lease her Kia Soul a few years ago. “We were able to test a Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt in our town, but we could not find a closer Kia,” she says.
To see multiple options at once in person, curious drivers can attend EV gatherings. “We learned about our EV and got to see different models through an event for National Drive Electric Week,” Danis recalls. To gather information and ask questions virtually, the Hudson Valley Electric Vehicle Drivers Facebook group is another resource.
One way to avoid dealership inventory issues is to opt for a Tesla — because electric cars is all they have. “You order the car and go to the nearest center — Chatham or Mt. Kisco. They show you how to use it, you sign some papers, and that’s it,” says Pathania.
As divisive a figure as Tesla CEO Elon Musk can be to some, he has his converts. “I think Elon is a hero to many and others just see him as a catalyst for their car company to go all electric,” said Leitman.
For the most part, he says, EV drivers tend to want to shop from the brand they like, especially since pricing is not that different between entry-level models. A Tesla Model 3 starts at $39,990, and a Chevy Bolt begins at $36,500. A Nissan Leaf is the cheapest, starting at $31,670, but its range — 150 to 226 miles— is also the shortest on a full charge, compared to the Model 3 (263-353 miles) and the Bolt (259 on a full charge).
Two sites for EV comparison shopping are driveelectricusa.org and fueleconomy.gov.
Currently there is a state credit of $2000 and a federal tax credit of $7500 to purchase an EV, depending on the car model, and only the first 200,000 cars per manufacturer are eligible. (Tesla and Chevrolet sold too many cars and no longer qualify for the federal credit, though this could change under the Biden administration.)
In addition to government incentives, dealers may provide their own. Healy Chevrolet in Poughkeepsie is currently offering $9,000 in customer cash on 2021 Bolts, for example. Sustainable Hudson Valley maintains a list of other incentives, including CleanPass, which allows EVs to use High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes on some roads
Future of EVs in the HV
Individual drivers have limited impact. That’s why Beeman, among many others, are working to transition larger fossil fuel fleets, including the heavy- and medium-duty maintenance vehicles used by local municipalities. “There are options beginning to be more viable and attractive. I see this as the next step,” he says.
These include electric pick-up trucks (like the Ford F-150 President Biden recently test drove), buses, and delivery trucks, as well as ways to retrofit or customize existing gas vehicles to electric. NYSERDA’s Truck Voucher Incentive Program’s vehicle fleet page lists currently available options.
Continued government support — both state and federal — is critical to increasing EV adoption. In New York, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which Everett calls “nation-leading legislation” has aggressive clean transportation goals in rural areas. This is partly why our local roads are currently dotted with EVs.
To get even more EVs on the roads, including larger vehicles, “Three things need to happen: there has to be charging, cars, and an educated and ready driving public,” says Everett.
