Gov. Cuomo wants the Empire State to keep on trucking – and do it clean and green.
Zero-emission trucks sold in New York will now come with $20,000 checks from the Feds via the state, thanks to a new incentive program designed to improve air quality and the environment.
State officials will unveil the program on Tuesday in the Bronx and leading electric truck manufacturer Smith Electric Vehicles will confirm plans to build a $5 million factory in the borough.
The $10 million incentive program — still being developed — is funded by the federal Department of Transportation, modeled on an existing California program and makes New York a national leader in green trucking, said Bryan Hansel, CEO of Smith.
Smith will announce on Tuesday plans to renovate a 90,000-square foot warehouse in Port Morris and create more than 100 jobs over seven years.
“California has always been out front when it comes to the environment,” Hansel told the Daily News. “Now New York is showing leadership.”
The incentive program will mark down the cost of 500 vehicles per year, covering commercial vehicles that weigh at least 10,000 pounds, Hansel said.
Smith will receive millions in benefits from the city and state to pay for the Bronx factory, including $3.4 million from the Empire State Development Corp., $1.5 million from the state Energy Research and Development Authority and $1.7 million from the city Industrial Devbelopment Agency.
“Under Gov. Cuomo’s leadership, we are creating a better business environment that will result in more jobs for New Yorkers,” said Empire State Development CEO Kenneth Adams. “This project represents another key building block in the foundation of a stronger economy.”
But Hansel said the incentive plan — funded through the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program — is what led the Kansas City, MO-based company to choose New York over Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.
“We needed to know that there was going be local demand for our product,” he said, claiming the state vouchers will encourage New York firms to “go green” and make the switch to electric trucks.
The Bronx made sense for Smith because the borough is home to the Hunts Point food distribution center, with more than 1 million truck trips per year.
“We want to be where the trucks are,” said Hansel. “The Bronx is where our customers are located and Manhattan is where a lot of trucks are deployed…We believe the market is ready.”
Smith builds zero-emission delivery trucks for customers such as Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Staples and the Marine Corps.
It inked a deal in September with drugstore chain Duane Reade and will partner with upstate New York firm Trans Tech Bus to build electric school buses.
Smith will start rehabbing the shuttered lamp warehouse next November and open its new factory in late 2013 or early 2014. It has vowed to pay its New York workers $46,372 per year on average.
The factory will be the company’s second in the U.S.
Hansel said Smith has made no hard and fast commitment to hiring workers from the Bronx. But the company has hired locally in Kansas City, he said. The Bronx boasts an unemployment rate of 12%, the highest in the state.
Smith filed for a $125 million initial public offering last week.
