He wants to shift the balance of power.<\/p>\n
The Big Apple\u2019s roughly 13,000 electric Uber<\/a>, Lyft<\/a> and other for-hire vehicle drivers should be allowed to switch to hybrids because the city doesn\u2019t have enough EV chargers, taxi advocate Fernandeo Mateo<\/a> argued Thursday.<\/p>\n Mateo, who heads the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, contended the city\u2019s green push to make all ride-hailing vehicles electric or handicap accessible by 2030 is putting a squeeze on the hacks. <\/p>\n Head of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers Fernandeo Mateo said the approximately 13,000 Uber, Lyft, and other for-hire vehicle drivers should be allowed to switch from electric to hybrid vehicles. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n \u201cThe right fix is allowing drivers to say, \u2018I can\u2019t deal with this electric vehicle. I\u2019m going to trade it in and get a hybrid,’\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cOr install all of these charging stations as if it were a state of emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n The city\u2019s Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2023 lifted a cap on the number of ride share vehicles criss-crossing the five boroughs, provided the cars were zero emission or wheelchair accessible.<\/p>\n Dubbed the Green Rides Initiative, the push also aimed to encourage private companies to build up the city charging infrastructure.<\/p>\n Mateo is challenging the Big Apple\u2019s push to make all vehicles electric or handicap accessible by 2030. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n Mateo, however, maintains the infrastructure simply isn\u2019t there. <\/p>\n He said electric drivers are running out of power waiting for chargers.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York is going to remain dirty, full of emissions and without any hopes of going all electric until we build the infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mateo claims electric drivers are running out of power waiting to charge their vehicles and said, \u201cThe right fix is allowing drivers to say, \u2018I can\u2019t deal with this electric vehicle. I\u2019m going to trade it in and get a hybrid.’\u201d Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n \u201cI would buy an electric car. But I\u2019m not buying one if I don\u2019t know where the hell I\u2019m going to charge it. Or if I have to wait an hour or two hours or three in line to charge my vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n City officials said a third of electric vehicle drivers with TLC plates charge at home, and pointed to constellations of charging hubs at LaGuardia and JFK airports, the Bronx and elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cWe work closely with DOT, Con Edison, and the private sector to encourage charging hubs where our drivers live and work, and it\u2019s working,\u201d said TLC spokesman Jason Kersten. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cSince the launch of Green Rides, the number of fast chargers in the city has more than doubled, with many more on the way in all five boroughs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He wants to shift the balance of power. The Big Apple\u2019s roughly 13,000 electric Uber, Lyft and other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5258,57,9,56,63,65,64,5259,5260,58],"class_list":["post-5500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-electric-cars","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-taxi-and-limousine-commission","tag-taxis","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500","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=5500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}