The New York Power Authority (NYPA) will collaborate with an Israeli company to research and develop solutions to expand the state’s public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the Lod-based ZOOZ Power as the winner of the 2022 New York-Israel Smart Energy Innovation Challenge, a competitive award partnered with the state of New York that enables Israeli companies to help develop innovative energy technology in collaboration with state agencies. It is valued at $1 million.
“Through key strategic partnerships, New York is driving the advancement of cutting-edge clean energy technologies that will have a global impact in the fight against climate change,” Hochul said in a news release on Monday. “New York’s collaboration with the state of Israel, a hub for innovative, clean energy technologies, will deliver forward-thinking solutions that will strengthen New York’s EV infrastructure. Congratulations to ZOOZ on this award, which will promote the use of electric vehicles, help improve air quality and ensure a better environment for New Yorkers.”
ZOOZ specializes in energy storage and power-boosting products to enable ultra-fast charging of electric vehicles and utilizes a flywheel-based kinetic energy storage technology. According to NYPA senior director of research, technology development and innovation Alan Ettlinger, this technology will store electricity as kinetic energy, “enabling peak-shaving and sustainable, reusable charge cycles.”
“We are honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with NYPA on this exciting initiative, to demonstrate the advantage of using our sustainable flywheel-based Power Booster, to enforce the grid in power-constrained locations, and by that to enable and accelerate the roll-out of ultra-fast charging stations, anywhere,” said ZOOZ Power CEO Boaz Weizer in the release. “We believe that wide deployment of ultra-fast chargers is key to supporting the transition to EVs and we are proud to play a key role in this revolution which is so important to the future of our planet.”
Hochul set a goal for the state to have more than 850,000 zero-emission vehicles by 2025, and for all new passenger cars and trucks sold in New York to be zero-emissions by 2035. She also proposed that by that year, all school buses will be zero-emission.
Such goals require a rapid increase in public charging stations throughout the state. With approximately 112,000 EVs on New York roads today, the state currently has 1,000 public fast chargers at more than 240 locations, ranging in charging speeds from 24kW to 350kW. Of these, 600 are Tesla-only charging stations.