About DOT

Press Releases

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #20-023
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Contact: Scott Gastel/Lolita Avila (212) 839-4850

NYC DOT in Partnership with the NYCDEC Announces Launch of the New York City Clean Trucks Program

The New York City (NYC) Clean Trucks Program will help replace older, heavily polluting diesel-powered trucks with new, less polluting trucks in environmental justice communities.

The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) announced today that the NYC Clean Trucks Program will provide $9.8 million to replace older, dirtier diesel-powered trucks in New York City with newer, less polluting trucks. This new initiative will help improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, and promote investment in cleaner, advanced trucks and transportation technologies.

As part of New York State’s $127.7 million allocation of the federal Volkswagen Settlement, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) will direct approximately $9.8 million to the NYC Clean Trucks Program to fund medium- and heavy-duty replacement trucks with an emphasis on all-electric, zero tailpipe emission trucks. Funding will also be available for alternative fueled and low-emission diesel trucks. The NYC Clean Trucks Program will focus its truck replacement projects in certain NYC Industrial Business Zones (IBZs), which are located near Environmental Justice communities that have historically been subject to a disproportionate amount of diesel exhaust emissions.

"The NYC Clean Trucks Program will ensure that the communities throughout the city living near industrial business areas that suffer disproportionately from truck emissions and poor air quality, will benefit from this replacement program by retiring the oldest dirty diesel trucks on the road," said DOT Assistant Commissioner for Regional and Strategic Planning Charles Ukegbu. "The program will also provide an essential economic incentive for NYC businesses that are restarting operations post-COVID. This pandemic has reminded us once again how vital clean air is to the health of our communities, especially environmental justice communities of color. The addition of new VW settlement funding will ensure that the transition to a cleaner freight fleet can benefit local businesses bottom lines, the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers, and support the City’s climate and economic goals."

"Reducing emissions from the transportation sector is essential to our efforts to combat climate change and this important funding will help remove the worst polluters from our roads, especially in communities already overburdened by pollution," said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. "I commend Governor Cuomo for his ongoing leadership to improve air quality, reduce emissions, and create a sustainable future for New York's transportation industry."

"Given the state of the environment in our City, I am happy to know that DOT will be incentivizing the replacement of diesel consuming trucks with environmentally friendlier vehicles," said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chairman of the Transportation Committee. "Climate change has disproportionately impacted Latino, Black, and Asian communities. I ask DOT to ensure they deploy these cleaner trucks in the City’s most polluted areas, places like Northern Manhattan and The South Bronx. This is an issue I take very seriously and I will continue working alongside DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, colleagues and advocates to continue expanding green initiatives across the City.

The NYC Clean Trucks Program is a rebate incentive program to accelerate the deployment of medium- and heavy-duty Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PHEV), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or diesel-fueled trucks. Rebate incentives from $12,000 to $185,000 per truck replacement are available depending on fuel type and truck class size. The incentive funds provide point-of-sale rebates to reduce the cost for commercial fleets that want to purchase new trucks with advanced and clean fuel technologies.

Funding is available to replace existing diesel-powered medium- and heavy-duty trucks with model year 1992 to 2009 engines. Under the federal Volkswagen Settlement, these older trucks must be permanently removed from service and scrapped.

The NYC Clean Trucks Program builds upon the success of the Hunts Point Clean Trucks Program, which since 2012 has provided incentive funding to fleets operating in South Bronx neighborhoods where the incidence of asthma and respiratory illnesses is three times the National average (two times the City average). This past program retired and replaced more than 600 older diesel trucks reducing an estimated 389 tons of NOx, 23 tons of PM2.5, 28 tons of HC, and 109 tons of CO annually as compared to the emissions profile of the older, diesel-fueled vehicles. This new NYC Clean Trucks Program expands the availability of funding to fleets located or providing service in additional sections of the City, focusing on Environmental Justice communities adjacent to NYC Industrial Business Zones.

In partnership with the NYSDEC, the NYC DOT developed the NYC Clean Trucks Program to reduce the cost of medium- and heavy-duty trucks for Licensed Motor Carriers (LMCs), Independent Owner Operators (IOOs), and truck lessees (End-Users) for the purchase or lease of replacement trucks that are not only better for the environment, but are oftentimes more cost- effective when compared to the older, existing diesel trucks currently being operated in and around New York City. By increasing the number of on-road trucks equipped with cleaner truck technologies, the NYC Clean Trucks Program’s mission is to improve local air quality by reducing harmful NOx, greenhouse gases and other criteria pollutant emissions from the trucking industry.

The website address for the NYC Clean Trucks Program is: https://www.nycctp.com

The tagline for the NYC Clean Trucks Program is "Cleaner Trucks for a Greener New York City."

Truck owners that do not qualify for the NYC Clean Trucks Program because their trucks are not located or providing service in the city’s IBZs may still be eligible for equivalent incentives provided through the New York State Energy and Development Authority (NYSERDA) New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program (NYTVIP).

###