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Part of effort to improve air quality

New Jersey has joined other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states that will attempt to collaborate in an effort to promote electric vehicles and vehicles that use alternative fuels such as natural gas and bio-fuels to help improve air quality throughout the region.

The goal of the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network, is to accelerate the development of infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging stations needed to drive market demand for electric vehicles,” state Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said Thursday.

The network includes New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

"The Christie administration is committed to improving New Jersey's air quality," Martin said. "Diversifying the types of vehicles that people in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic drive to include more electric, hybrid and alternate-fuel vehicles is a very important part of improving our air quality. The Northeast Electric Vehicle Network will provide the planning needed to develop and spur the construction of infrastructure that will drive market demand for these vehicles. At the same time, this effort will lead to job creation and economic growth."

Last month, the Transportation and Climate Initiative received a $994,500 U.S. Department of Energy planning grant to assist in the development of guidelines for the permitting and installation of charging stations to make the charging of vehicles convenient to consumers. One of the hurdles to driving demand for electric vehicles is ensuring that motorists have convenient locations to charge their vehicles when driving longer distances.

In New Jersey, Martin said, the DEP will work in partnership with the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition to engage industry, municipalities, clean vehicle advocates and the environmental community to attempt to attract private sector investment in electric vehicles and other new clean vehicle technologies.

Martin said gasoline-powered vehicles contribute to about half of New Jersey's air pollution. He said by helping to move the region from a fossil fuel economy to a clean energy economy, the effort will bolster economic growth, reduce dependence on foreign oil and reduce air pollution.

Nearly 40 percent of New Jersey's greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, Martin said. He said cleaner vehicles and fuels are critical for reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions as required by the New Jersey Global Warming Response Act.

A recent study by Pike Research forecasts that the New Jersey-New York-Pennsylvania region will be among the top five metropolitan areas for electric vehicle purchases between 2011 and 2017.

A number of electric vehicle initiatives are already under way in New Jersey. Electric vehicle charging stations have been installed in Montclair and Avalon, at Rutgers University's Piscataway campus and at the Bergen County Community College. In addition, companies such as Benjamin Moore and Johnson & Johnson have built solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations to power their fleets.

New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said the Christie administration is mainly blocking efforts to improve New Jersey’s air quality.

“It is great that New Jersey has joined a network and is receiving federal money to plan for electric vehicle charging stations, however New Jersey has done nothing to encourage electric vehicles,” Tittel said. “While New Jersey joins a network and we have funds for planning from the federal government at the same time the Christie administration is blocking bills and programs that would make electric vehicles a reality.

“The Energy Master Plan calls for only a little more then a dozen electric plug in stations,” Tittel said. ”The Christie administration has put New Jersey’s electric vehicle program into grid lock. They have been deliberating blocking bills and programs that would make electric vehicle charging stations a reality in New Jersey, while calling for only 13 in the Energy Master Plan.

"The last regional compact we joined was the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the governor withdrew,” Tittel said. “Christie’s Energy Master Plan does not even deal with transportation and limits electric vehicles. Meanwhile there are about 12 different electronic vehicles and plug ins that are entering the market; the Volt, Tesla Sedan, Leaf, Mitsubishi, I-plus, Prius and Outlander plug ins and many more to come.