By GREGORY ZELLER //
One of Long Island’s leading electric-vehicle champions has refueled its zero-emission mission by significantly expanding its EV fleet.
Farmingdale State College has announced the addition of two new electric vehicles – a pair of 2023 Nissan Leaf compact hatchbacks – to its low-carbon campus convoy, which already includes an all-electric 2013 Leaf and two electric-hybrid vehicles (a 2013 Toyota Prius and 2013 Chevy Volt).
The environmentally friendly cars are all driven by campus staffers on official FSC business – recruitment efforts, for instance – and empower the school’s ambitious environmental goal of being completely fossil fuel-free by 2035.
In fact, the new electric vehicles put the college ahead of the curve, according to FSC Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Greg O’Connor.
Greg O’Connor: Exceeding environmental goals.
“We expanded our EV fleet ahead of Gov. (Kathy) Hochul’s executive order for all state agencies to achieve certain sustainability and emissions goals,” O’Connor noted, referencing the addition of the existing zero- and low-emission vehicles prior to the governor’s 2022 Climate Week marching orders, which accelerated Albany’s already-in-progress environmental goals.
“Combined with our campus bike share program, water conservation initiatives, planned upgrades to our HVAC systems and installation of green-energy technology in our new science building, the vision is to exceed those benchmarks,” the CFO added.
The new four-door hatchbacks are branded with the Farmingdale State logo on their driver- and passenger-side front doors and “FSC Electric Vehicle” on each of the back doors, along with the images of a globe and a leaf.
They’re each equipped with fast-charging ports and spare chargers and boast a full-charge range of 250 miles – making them “more than capable of handling all of our in-state driving for college business,” according to FSC Campus Energy Manager Michael Cervini.
“These cars will be used by staff traveling for recruitment or professional-development purposes,” Cervini added in a statement.
In charge: Farmingdale State’s Solar Carport can juice up 20 electric vehicles at a time.
The electric- and hybrid-vehicle fleet is only part of Farmingdale State’s fossil-free focus. The college hosts an annual EV Symposium and helped kick off last September’s Car-Free Day Long Island with a “sustainable mobility showcase” promoting alternative transportation modes including the Long Island Rail Road, carpooling and cycling.
In partnership with Stony Brook University and the Long Island Power Authority, FSC has also installed a Solar Carport featuring 10 EV-charging stations (each capable of charging two electric vehicles simultaneously). And of course, the college has assumed a leadership position in Long Island’s burgeoning offshore-wind industry, including co-management of a comprehensive Offshore Wind Training Institute alongside SBU and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
The addition of the new electric vehicles adds some fresh carbon-free polish as FSC races to be completely “green” sometime in the next decade.
“Students want their school to embrace the values that they do – using less energy, reducing carbon footprint and taking steps that will help to reverse decades of damage to our planet,” O’Connor said. “We believe in those values as much as they do and are embarking on these plans to make a long-lasting impact to the environmental health of Long Island.”
