Objective

To determine the extent of implementation of the nine recommendations included in our initial audit report, Selected Management and Operations Practices (2020-S-38).

About the Program

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is a fiscally independent public corporation that principally operates on revenue received from the sale of electricity. Chapter 469 of the Laws of 1989 requires the State Comptroller to audit NYPA’s management and operations at least once every 5 years. 

NYPA officials stated that they started projects related to electric vehicle (EV) charging as early as 2011. During the 2013 State of the State Address, the Charge NY program was unveiled, with the goal to increase sales of EVs by 40,000 over the following 5 years and encourage the State to create a statewide network of up to 3,000 public and workplace charging stations. Charge NY is a collaboration among the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, NYPA, and the Department of Environmental Conservation. Charge NY 2.0, a successor to Charge NY and announced in 2018, built on the original initiative with a target of 10,000 public EV charging stations by 2021.

In 2018, NYPA’s executive management announced a new $250 million EV expansion initiative—EVolve NY—a program that focused on the installation of high-speed chargers. This program, administered by NYPA, also sought to create private sector partnerships through 2025 to aggressively accelerate the adoption of EVs throughout the State. As part of the first phase of investment, NYPA’s plan was to continue building the direct current (DC) fast charger (DCFC) “backbone” in the State. Specifically, NYPA worked with public and private partners to place DCFCs in strategic locations to drive market adoption of EVs and test business models. Since our initial audit, NYPA officials stated that a decision was made to develop EVolve NY and fast charging stations where funds are available. The net effect is there is limited focus on residential and individual owners. 

The objectives of the initial audit, issued on February 4, 2022, were to determine whether NYPA’s EV initiatives and programs placed the Charge NY and Charge NY 2.0 charging stations in locations where the intent of these programs could be achieved and whether NYPA’s EVolve NY program met its initial project goals by the end of 2019. The audit found that NYPA did not place the Charge NY and Charge NY 2.0 charging stations in locations that supported the programs’ intentions and did not review and analyze usage data for charger placement or use outreach efforts to encourage EV charger installation by its customers. Further, none of the planned projects for phase 1 of the EVolve NY program were completed by NYPA’s deadline of the end of 2019. For instance, NYPA did not install any of the planned 200 high-speed chargers by the deadline, and as of March 5, 2021, had installed only 29 EVolve NY chargers at seven locations. We determined that the installation of EV high-speed chargers was as much as 2 years behind schedule. 

Key Findings

NYPA made progress in addressing the problems we identified in the initial audit report. Of the initial report’s nine audit recommendations, two were implemented, six were partially implemented, and one was not implemented.

Key Recommendation

NYPA officials are requested, but not required, to provide information about any actions planned to address the unresolved issues discussed in this follow-up within 30 days of the report’s issuance.