At a Syracuse Public Works Committee meeting, sustainability staff members told councilors they have financial options if they want to add electric vehicle chargers to city garages.
The city can apply for funding through the NYSERDA Charge Ready program, National Grid’s Make Ready program, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) program.
Deputy Commissioner of Planning and Sustainability Owen Kerney said there are a variety of reasons to consider it.
"It really is an opportunity and perhaps better time than ever to pursue these funding sources because it's really from sort of planning right into installation and maintenance," Kerney said.
There are more than 1,200 electric vehicle chargers in the city of Syracuse, but none of them are municipally owned.
One potential plan presented to the common councilors would include the city adding 16 chargers: eight in the Washington St. garage, four in the Madison Irving garage, and four in the Fayette St. garage.
Councilor At-Large Amir Gethers said he’d like to explore financial options.
"I think that it would be great to seek out all funding sources that we can to determine exactly which direction we're going to head in," Gethers said.
After city staff does more research, council members said they’d like additional meetings about potential next steps.
