{"id":239774,"date":"2026-05-21T21:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239774\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T21:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:17:15","slug":"nyc-and-la-team-up-to-fight-for-electric-vehicle-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239774\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC and LA Team Up to Fight for Electric Vehicle Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal EV incentives may be shrinking, but America\u2019s two largest jurisdictions aren\u2019t backing down. New York City and Los Angeles County just announced a \u201cbicoastal bridge\u201d partnership<\/a> to coordinate electric vehicle<\/a> purchases and pBressure automakers to keep investing in EV platforms. When your biggest customers start shopping together, you pay attention.<\/p>\n

The Numbers Behind the Alliance<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just symbolic cooperation. NYC currently operates 5,800 battery-electric vehicles and 4,700 hybrids across its municipal fleet\u2014everything from police cruisers to garbage trucks. The city must convert all light- and medium-duty vehicles to electric by 2035, with heavy trucks following by 2038.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, LA County aims for 100% fleet electrification by 2045, replacing roughly 20,000 vehicles. Currently, the county operates only 600 fully electric vehicles and 350 plug-in hybrids. Together, they\u2019re signaling demand for tens of thousands of EVs\u2014the kind of volume that gets boardrooms\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n

The Missing Vehicle Problem<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where things get interesting. US manufacturers still don\u2019t make electric versions of:<\/p>\n

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Fire department pumper trucks<\/p>\n

Snow-capable vehicles that NYC needs for winter operations<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like trying to go fully streaming when half your favorite shows aren\u2019t available online yet.<\/p>\n

Keith Kerman<\/a>, NYC\u2019s fleet chief, acknowledges the challenge: \u201cThere have been a series of announcements that are concerning to us\u2026 There are headwinds for electrification in the United States right now.\u201d The partnership aims to solve this by telling automakers exactly what they need and when they\u2019ll buy it.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure Reality Check<\/p>\n

NYC operates about 2,500 charging ports\u2014the largest government network in New York State\u2014but officials admit they need \u201clots more\u201d as electrification accelerates.<\/p>\n

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Charging costs vary significantly<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Level 2 chargers: $0.20-$0.35 per kWh in NYC versus $0.18-$0.30 in LA<\/p>\n

Fast charging: $0.30-$0.40 in both cities<\/p>\n

Beyond hardware, there\u2019s the human factor. Workers need retraining for high-voltage systems, and NYC\u2019s union recently negotiated agreements governing how vehicle<\/a> telematics data gets used in disciplinary cases.<\/p>\n

Local Action, National Impact<\/p>\n

Kerman\u2019s<\/a> blunt assessment captures the moment: \u201cI regret every electric and hybrid vehicle we haven\u2019t bought yet,\u201d noting how EVs would have cushioned fuel price spikes. The partnership represents more than cost savings\u2014it\u2019s about maintaining momentum when federal support weakens.<\/p>\n

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If successful, other major cities could join the bloc, creating quasi-standard requirements for municipal EV<\/a>s. That kind of coordinated demand might finally convince manufacturers that electric fire trucks and snowplows aren\u2019t niche products, but essential infrastructure for America\u2019s clean energy future.<\/p>\n

From the coolest cars to the must-have gadgets, GadgetReview\u2019s daily newsletter keeps you in the know. Subscribe – it\u2019s fun, fast, and free<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal EV incentives may be shrinking, but America\u2019s two largest jurisdictions aren\u2019t backing down. New York City and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93703,9966,9,24,56,63,93702,65,64],"class_list":["post-239774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-garbage-trucks","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-department-of-citywide-administrative-services","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}