Before you shop for an electric vehicle, you need to shop for a dealership that understands and believes in them. Fortunately, these exist. Over 50 dealerships in the Hudson Valley offer NYSERDA’s Drive Clean Rebate, which pays NYS residents up to $2,000 towards the purchase or lease of a new electric car. Of those dealerships, 45 locations currently have EV and/or PHEVs in stock (as of February 2020). The 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the most common Romeo Chevrolet in Ulster County, Ingersoll Pawling in Dutchess, LJ Marchese Chevrolet in Orange and Curry Chevrolet in Westchester all have 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EVs available. Other new models are available throughout the Hudson Valley, including the 2019 Kia Niro EV, 2019 Hyundai Kona EV, 2019 Hyundai Ioniq PHEV, 2019 Volkswagen e-Golf EV, 2019 and 2020 Nissan Leaf EV. The e-Tron, Audi’s first all-electric SUV, is available at three dealerships located in Westchester County: Mohegan Lake Motors, Classic Audi and Audi Hawthorne.
As for charging, it’s relatively abundant in the Hudson Valley. There are at least 10 chargers in each county, with Ulster, Rockland and Westchester hosting the most public EV chargers. Large shopping centers and NYS rest stops often have superchargers, too. The Malden Northbound Travel Plaza in Ulster County features a Chademo and SAE combination connector for easy, fast EV charging. Rockland County’s Shops at Nanuet house 120 volt outlets, which are available for public fast charging 24/7. Even so, the majority of superchargers in NYS are currently Tesla chargers. This includes the superchargers available at Woodbury Commons in Orange County, the Roscoe Superchargers in Sullivan and the Kingston Supercharger in Ulster. To find more non-Tesla superchargers, use NYSERDA’s interactive EV Charging Station Map.
If your employer is considering installing EV chargers on workplace property, NYSERDA’s Charge Ready NY program is a per-charging-port rebate of up to $4,000 applied to eligible Level 2 chargers. National Grid has an EV Charging Station Program, available in their Upstate NY region, which offers up to 100% of the costs associated with electrical infrastructure and charging equipment for Level 2 and DC Fast chargers at workplaces. For municipal workplaces, the DEC offers the ZEV Rebate Program, providing up to $250,000 to cities, towns, villages and counties that purchase or lease eligible EV chargers.