Electric vehicles, charge ports on the rise across Long Island

Commuters have grown familiar with the sund of a melodic hum will driving through parking lots or stopped at a red light as electric vehicles become commonplace on Long Island’s roads. 

In Suffolk County, more than 33,000 electric vehicles had been registered with the DMV as of Dec. 2, 2024. Across Long Island, there are more than 69,000 electric vehicles on the road, according to EvaluateNY and Atlas Public Policy. A majority of the electric vehicles across Long Island are Tesla, 58%; Jeep, 15%; Toyota, 14%; Ford, 7%; or BMW, 6% models.

“I would say last year was a great year overall because at the beginning of 2024, we had just celebrated 50,000 EVs on the road on Long Island,” Paul DiBenedetto, PSEG’s electric vehicle program manager, said. “And we basically just hit that 69,000 figure — so almost a 40% increase over one year is a pretty impressive stat.”

The trend is in line with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s requirement that “all sales or leases of new light-duty passenger vehicles [and new off-road vehicles and equipment purchases] in New York must be [Zero Emission Vehicles] by 2035.” 

The Drive Clean Rebate offers consumers an up-front discount of $500 to $2,000 based on the vehicle manufacturer’s suggested retail price and all-electric range when purchasing an electric vehicle. It has been taken advantage of by more than 27,000 in Suffolk County, according to the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority.

EvaluateNY estimates that electric vehicles on Long Island have reduced gasoline consumption by more than 27 million gallons per year. 

Some electric vehicle owners may be familiar with “range anxiety,” a term used to describe concerns about how far they can travel before their battery runs out. “Charge anxiety” is another stressor, related to the accessibility of charging ports, that EV drivers can experience. 

To combat these concerns, electric vehicle apps such as Zap-Map or ABetterRoutePlanner can help locate nearby charging points, according to National Grid. 

Roughly 112 direct current fast-charging or DCFC ports are available in Suffolk County. In the same area, 448 level-two charging ports are available. 

Riverhead is home to roughly 20 charging ports. Fifteen charging ports are available on the North Fork and six on Shelter Island. 

“We saw about 72 DC fast-charging ports get energized last year, and over 393 level-two ports that got energized — just in last year alone,” Mr. DiBenedetto said. 

Electric vehicle owners can also install Energy Star level-two charging ports at their homes and qualify for a PSEG residential charger rebate of $200. After the program launched in February 2024, Mr. DiBenedetto said more than 1,700 customers received the rebate.

Customers in disadvantaged communities or who are enrolled in PSEG’s Household Assistance Program can qualify for an extra $100 on top of the $200 rebate when installing a qualified charging port at their residence. 

“I know the name of disadvantage community, some people have a little bit of a bias and they think, ‘Oh that must be just low- to minor-income,’ ” Mr. DiBenedetto said. “And for the most part that might be the case. But there’s also, when [NYSERDA was] putting together this map, it’s also for areas that are more susceptible to climate change — flooding, things like that.”

Some areas in Riverhead, Greenport and on the North Fork qualify for the disadvantaged community rebate. To learn more, visit nyserda.ny.gov/ny/disadvantaged-communities.

On an annual basis, PSEG conducts load-forecast studies across Long Island to investigate how the power grid is equipped to handle an increase of electric vehicles on the road. 

“We model what has the EV adoption been looking like over the past few years — what are we thinking in terms of projection, policy, market drivers, things like that,” Mr. DiBenedetto said. “That helps us kind of put together how many EVs we expect to be on the road by year.”

To learn more about electric vehicles and available rebates, visit psegliny.com/saveenergyandmoney/GreenEnergy/EV.