PSEG launches $500 rebate for electric vehicle chargers

PSEG Long Island, in a move that could further propel Long Island’s surging electric vehicle market, on Friday launched a rebate program that can cover most of the cost of residential electric charging devices.

The program offers customers a $500 rebate off the cost of the fast-charging devices, which can cost between $589 and $1,200, PSEG said. Level II chargers covered under the program are 240-volt devices that can charge batteries twice as fast as chargers plugged into standard electric sockets. Most require an electrician’s installation, which can add as  much as $500 to the job, said Michelle Somers, program support manager for electric vehicles for PSEG.

Long Island already leads the state with 12,085 of the state’s registered 30,000 electric vehicles. PSEG has rebated 54 charging stations but there are hundreds across Long Island and the number is going to continue to grow, Somers said.

“The more we can do to install charging stations on Long Island, the more it will help electric vehicles [expand] and reduce range anxiety,” said Somers, referring to the fear that some EVs don’t have far enough range. Newer models can go more than 200 miles on a charge.

PSEG announced the rebate program at the Developmental Disabilities Institute in Smithtown, where it provided a $5,448  rebate for the first of several charging stations for the agency’s buildings across Long Island. The institute has received rebates for high-efficiency LED lighting and other upgrades at six of its buildings valued at more than $156,000.

Kevin Gray, the institute’s director of buildings and grounds, said the chargers will initially be used for a courier electric vehicle that shuttles among the agency’s buildings, but that it will have appeal to workers as well.

“It can benefit our staff by cutting the cost to come to work,” he said because the institute will make charging free to workers, as other large Long Island companies such as Canon do. “It has some of our staff thinking about electric vehicles.”

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.