City transportation planners told the council the administration will seek to accept a $1,000,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to purchase EV charging equipment to transition the Via Jersey City fleet to electric vehicles.

Planners said an earlier 2022 award of $1.6 million was partially used for reimbursements and that roughly $1,000,000 remains specifically intended to pay for charging infrastructure. The administration also plans a tri-party agreement between the city, Via and a private property owner to install chargers on private property so Via can sign a new lease and move out of their current lot before the end of the year.

Council members asked whether the chargers would be available to the public; staff said DEP’s grant is limited to the Via fleet, though a separate future grant would be pursued to fund community charging. A councilmember raised resiliency concerns about moving entirely to electric fleets in a prolonged outage; staff noted ongoing work on microgrids and backup systems and clarified that electric vehicles may not need daily charging.

No formal council vote was recorded in caucus; the administration indicated it will present resolutions authorizing the grant acceptance and tri-party agreement for formal consideration at a public meeting.