US, Canada officials: Time for NY vehicles to go electric | News

PLATTSBURGH — Plans for the electrification of New York are in full swing.

The North Country Chamber of Commerce and The North American Center of Excellence for Transportation Equipment (NAmTrans) hosted the Québec-NewYork Transportation Rendezvous & B2B event at West Side Ballroom Tuesday.

The event was intended for aerospace and transportation equipment interests and companies, from both Québec and New York, who were looking to network, build connections, and advance the growth of the bi-national Aerospace and Transportation Equipment Cluster.

ELECTRIFICATION

In the afternoon, keynote addresses were given by representatives from New York and Québec — the most common topic discussed was electrification.

Basil Seggos, commissioner for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and one of the keynote speakers, discussed the importance of electrifying transportation in New York and how it can positively impact the future of the state.

“We’re part of a large collection of states that are thinking really aggressively about the next investments in transportation,” Seggos said during his speech.

“Our Québec friends may not know it, but here in New York, we’re really proud of having, what many think, is the nation’s most ambitious climate law — signed in 2019. We’ve been working on assembling the rollout of this law really for the last two years.”

The climate law, Seggos said, will require New York to be at net zero emissions by 2050.

Currently, out of all emission sources, transportation is the second largest at 28%, he said, and to help combat this, many modes of transportation around the state look to be electrified by 2035.

“Remember that taste of a yellow school bus? It gets in your mouth. You remember it now, like I do every morning when I put my kids on the bus. By 2035, electric school buses — every single bus in New York state will be EV,” Seggos said.

“The governor is committing us to making sure the medium and heavy-duty vehicles fleets are EV by 2035. We’re going to lead by example as well by transitioning our fleets, so all of our state fleets are going to go EV as quickly as possible, certainly no later than 2035.”

Seggos also mentioned that the electrification of New York will lead to more news jobs created in the economy.

“If we do this right over the next 20 years, we’re looking at a potential net benefit to New York of $80-$120 billion on a conservative end,” he said.

“When you take into account jobs, it’s literally hundreds and thousands of new jobs over the current numbers that we have right now. And I know what you’re thinking, what about the lost jobs? Well we looked at that as well, and for every single job we lost — those were typically jobs affiliated with fossil fuels — nine (were) created.”

CANADA-NEW YORK

The Québec-NewYork Transportation Rendezvous & B2B event was able to bring together a large group of Québec and New York-based companies for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

Delegate General for Québec’s Government Office in New York, Martine Hébert, spoke about the important relationship between Canada and New York during her keynote address.

Hébert said the United States and Canada share common goals that will make a green economy easier to achieve and sustain in the future.

“To succeed in achieving our green-business goals, we are fortunate to count on international partner allies like the state of New York,” she said.

“This future together can be beautiful and clean, as we are not only partners in trade, we also share the common goal of addressing climate change — Canada is deeply committed to fighting climate change, and in doing so, protecting the environment and providing clean energy.”

Alstom, the Plattsburgh-based railcar and locomotive manufacturer, may be in the green economy future plans moving forward.

Earlier this month, Hébert visited Alstom, and she said during her speech that the company might help them compete with other countries.

“I have no doubt that together, we can build a climate friendly train of the future to reach our common goals and compete with Europe and China,” she said.

“These are perfect examples of cross-border trade in the context of integrated supply chains. An integrated economic recovery response between countries is vital for a shared prosperous future as our trade relationship continues to be the lifeline of our two countries.”

ELECTRIC BUSES

Vice-President of Public Affairs at Volvo Group Canada, and Chair of the Board of Propulsion Québec, Emmanuelle Toussaint, was also a keynote speaker at the event on behalf of Plattsburgh-based company Nova Bus.

She discussed how Nova Bus is currently working toward electrifying New York, as well as many other places around the country.

“We have our first electric battery vehicle — it was a short range transit bus, and we know in cities in North America they want to have a longer range,” Toussaint said.

“We have this LFSe+ bus that allows us to drive between 210 and 290 miles with just one single charge. We are especially proud of this new model, and now we can see more and more cities in North America that want to have our new vehicle.”

Toussaint also mentioned Nova Bus’s contracts with major cities in the United States like Chicago, Louisville, and Houston, as well as Vancouver and Québec City in Canada.

She said they look forward to seeing their buses in many streets across the continent.

“The market is really transitioning to zero emission transit buses,” Toussaint said.

“We are manufacturing the first unit of LFSe+ buses right now in Plattsburgh. We will see our electric buses all across North America, and we especially look forward to seeing our electric buses in the streets of New York, and of course in Albany and all the other great cities in the state of New York and to see those buses made by New Yorkers for New Yorkers.”

PARTNERS

North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas emphasized during the event how valuable the strong partnership between Québec and New York has been and will continue to be in the coming years.

“If you’re in the business of transportation equipment, you have positioned your area to be in the front end of the utilization and deployment and development of those new technologies, and also, in the front of the line when it comes to the transition of the green economy,” Douglas said.

“Together the whole is greater than the sum of the two parts when you put Québec and New York together.”

The event also featured the signing of a new Memorandum of Cooperation between NAmTrans and Propulsion Québec (Québec’s Cluster for Electric and Smart Transportation).

Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake), a long-time supporter of NAmTrans, had sponsored the Québec-New York Transportation Rendezvous event.

“It’s an honor to sponsor the Québec New York Transportation Rendezvous and be a part of the Memorandums of Cooperation between NAmTrans and Propulsion Québec and Aéro Montréal,” Jones said.

“Collaboration is key to our continued success and these memorandums will further instill what locals already know — that the North Country is the place to be for transportation manufacturing.”

Email Carly Newton:

cnewton@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: CarlySNewton