by Alison Mitchell, Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation
To stand on the corner of Doremus Avenue in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is to breathe in some of the most polluted air in the country. Hundreds of vehicles drive to and from the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal and Newark Liberty International Airport every day. Nearby, the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike, Routes 1 and 9, and New York City host thousands of cars and trucks.
Prior to the industrial revolution, Elizabeth had clean air, thriving marshlands connected to a pristine river, and healthy wildlife. Now, people, other animals, and plants live in a hazardous cloud of smog.
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases – the drivers of climate change – in this state we’re in, accounting for 37% of all such emissions. Cars, trucks, and buses emit many harmful pollutants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, and microscopic particles of dust and other substances known as fine particulate matter that lodges in our lungs, with serious health consequences.
Elizabeth has particularly poor air quality, but the city is hardly alone in a state where a large number of us are living with air that ranks among the most polluted in the country. In an effort to change this, New Jersey is trying to transition to an all-electric fleet of trucks and buses. So far, the progress towards an electrically-charged future looks pretty promising!
Recently, Governor Phil Murphy’s administration announced the availability of $35 million in grants to help local governments electrify their fleets. The new funding is for the replacement of diesel vehicles owned by, or serving, local towns including shuttles, transit buses, garbage trucks, dump trucks, and small school buses.
The funding coincides with a trend in which residents, local governments, and business owners are growing more confident in switching to electric vehicles (“EVs”). Last year, New Jersey reached a significant milestone when it surpassed 200,000 EV registrations. That is more than double the number of EVs registered in the state in 2022. This is great progress, but with over 6.7 million registered motor vehicles here, we have a ways to go!
Embracing EVs will not only benefit our lungs, but also our wallets. Reductions in fueling and maintenance costs, and added tax benefits are all ways that EVs can bring down drivers’ expenses.
“We are going to clean the air, and we are also going to save taxpayers a lot of money,” says Pam Frank, senior vice president at Gabel Associates, Inc., an energy consulting practice in Highland Park that created a not-for-profit trade and research organization called ChargeEVC in 2016. ChargeEVC is a coalition made up of car manufacturers, technology companies, utilities, consumer advocates, and non-government organizations that are working with policy makers to create EV development programs. According to a recent study by the organization, electrification delivers nearly $100 billion in net benefit to New Jersey residents.
“Your town has garbage trucks, school buses, inspection vehicles…they can use this money from the Murphy administration to electrify any of that,” says Frank. “It not only pays for the vehicles, it pays for the infrastructure.”
Of course, EVs need charging ports. Access to high power charging infrastructure is important because one of the key concerns surrounding EVs is the distance they can travel per charge. Drivers worry that their EV will conk out during a trip, or that they will not be able to charge when they need to. So, state agencies have started programs to build out a large network of chargers around New Jersey for everyday drivers, municipalities and private sector companies. In 2015, New Jersey had 150 charging ports, and now there are more than 4,000 publicly accessible charging stations at public parking lots, tourist attractions, and workplaces. And we need a lot more.
Some people worry that they will be forced to convert to EVs before they feel ready. EV state laws and regulations do not outlaw fossil fuel vehicles or force anyone not to drive them, despite rumors to the contrary. Instead, the regulations – which include the 2020 landmark New Jersey law – set formal goals for EVs and authorize policies and programs to achieve those goals.
New Jerseyans used to be exempt from paying sales tax when purchasing electric cars and trucks, but legislation was passed last year that repealed the sales tax exemption and requires EV owners to pay an annual $250 road tax fee. State policy makers need to stay focused on incentivizing the purchase of EVs. Let’s course-correct and eliminate the road tax fee and bring back the sales tax exemption for at least the more affordable EVs on the market.
New Jersey has become a national leader in energy electrification. Although the Trump administration is challenging the nationwide buildout of EV infrastructure by freezing billions of dollars in funding, it is clear from Gov. Murphy’s recent announcement that New Jersey plans to keep moving forward. And for good reason, given the health impacts from fossil-fuel emissions and the huge contribution those pollutants make in accelerating climate change.
If New Jersey stays on course, we can expect to see some big changes for the better in the air we breathe and reductions in our contribution to climate change. And if New Jersey residents can save some money while we make those positive environmental changes, all the better!
For more information on the state’s initiatives and ongoing projects, visit www.drivegreen.nj.gov and www.stopthesoot.org. Visit www.chargevc.org to learn more about the ChargeEVC coalition and its mission.
To learn about preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, visit the New Jersey Conservation’s Foundation website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org.
