"This is the latest and largest-ever addition of electric vehicles to the city's fleet, which is already the largest municipal clean-air vehicle fleet in the nation," said Mayor Bloomberg. "We will continue to lead by example, but we also must provide New Yorkers with tools to make environmentally friendly choices in their own lives."
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According to a recent survey from McKinsey & Company, only 30 percent of New Yorkers are knowledgeable about electric vehicles, but providing basic information dramatically increased interest. In fact, 21 percent of consumers are more likely to purchase an electric vehicle after being educated about the facts.
The newly launched Drive Electric NYC website at www.nyc.gov provides users with the primary facts about electric cars, their environmental benefits, and how they are similar to and different from gas-fueled and hybrid cars. The site also includes a map of the city's public charging stations and a cost calculator link to help consumers understand the total cost of an electric vehicle versus a conventional one.
The initiative is the latest example of how government, industry, and consumers are joining in the push for the widespread deployment and availability of electric vehicles nationwide.
To help accommodate this major shift in our automotive landscape, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has formed the Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP) to offer a neutral forum where public- and private-sector stakeholders can work cooperatively toward solutions that will help build the market for electric vehicles. The EVSP gathered in Detroit on June 20-21, to lay the groundwork for a strategic roadmap that will define the standards and conformance programs needed to enable the widespread acceptance and deployment of electric vehicles and associated infrastructure in the United States. [See related news item]
Participation in the EVSP is open to all affected parties, including representatives of the automotive, electrotechnical and utilities industries, relevant trade associations, standards development and conformity assessment organizations, government agencies, and academia.
More than forty public- and private-sector organizations representing a broad spectrum of affected stakeholders have already joined the EVSP initiative. For more information on the work of the EVSP, or to join, visit www.ansi.org/evsp.