SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Busy interstates like I-81 have New York lawmakers creating regulations to enforce a statewide goal of requiring all new cars to be zero emissions by 2035. While this goal will have major environmental impacts, in dealerships like Lowery Brothers Infiniti Syracuse it seems like a hard goal to reach.
“I think the chances of that actually happening are slim to none. Normally I have one hundred and 20 cars on my lot I have 19 as of today,” said Sales Manager Jon Lattari.
When announcing this plan Governor Kathy Hochul did have a timeline in order to reach this goal with 35 percent of cars being zero emission by 2026 and 68 percent by 2030. From an environmental standpoint there are many logistical problems to reaching this goal outside of just having cars available to sell.
“In New York alone there are eleven million cars on the road alone, so we need an electrical grid that can support that. And where we get the energy to support that is going to be really important as well,” said Stephanie Johnson the Project Scientist at the Onondaga Environmental Institute.
New York is currently one of 17 states following a similar plan that California passed a month prior with a very similar goal that aims to limit automobile emissions. While there are hurdles to jump some car dealerships like Syracuse Volvo do have a high demand for electric vehicles.
“They are currently sold out globally for Volvo at this moment. We are taking preorders and we are getting inquiries every single day, but they are selling faster than we can make them,” said Jacqueline Rutter Local Business Development Manager at Syracuse Volvo.
The process of approval for this zero emissions goal is finally in the rearview for New York lawmakers. The actual execution to make this goal a reality seems to be a long road ahead with many different bumps in the road.
