⚡ NYC TLC Gives More Details On NEW TLC Plate Release
The NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) announced a hearing on January 11th & more details around the planned issuance of 1,000 NEW electric vehicle (EV-only) FHV licenses (a/k/a TLC Plates)
⏱️Summary
⚡ The New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (NYC TLC) announced it will hold a public hearing (via Zoom) at 10am on Wednesday, January 11th that will focus on the issuance of 1,000 new electric vehicle (EV) only FHV Licenses (a/k/a TLC Plates)
➕ NYC TLC confirmed 600 new EV-only TLC Plates will be reserved for 🧑 individual owner-operators, while 🏢 400 new EV-only TLC Plates will be open to corporate entities, such as black car bases and fleets
✍️ Individual NYC TLC drivers will need to submit a statement of interest and the TLC will contact selected drivers to submit an application. An individual will only be able to apply for a single FHV license of the 600 available “non-transferable” TLC Plates
🏢 Corporate entities (i.e., black car & livery bases, fleets) will be dealt with on a “first-come, first-serve” basis and can apply for several TLC Plates of the 400 FHV license allocation
🗵 NYC TLC also announced that it would stop issuing new TLC Plates to drivers that had long-term leases in place before the initial August 2018 FHV License Pause (a/k/a TLC Plate Cap) by August 2023
🗓️ The biannual (twice a year) FHV License Pause Report & Determination (TLC Plate Cap decision) will convert into an annual (once a year) determination after the February 2023 determination and report
In what is set to be a well attended and followed hearing, the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (NYC TLC) announced a public hearing (via Zoom) at 10am on Wednesday, January 11th focused on the issuance of new electric vehicle (EV-only) FHV Licenses. Many TLC drivers and industry participants, colloquially refer to an FHV License as ‘TLC Plates’.
🖱️ Click here for a link to the announcement
After the August 2018 FHV License Pause (a/k/a TLC Plate Cap) AND the removal of the electric vehicle exemption to the TLC Plate Cap in June 2021, NYC TLC drivers, who lease their TLC vehicle, were only able to acquire the rights to their own TLC Plates via a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV).
That is set to change with the temporary and limited release of NEW EV-only TLC plates. The TLC confirmed the decision yesterday and gave more details.
The new EV-only TLC Plate split will be as follows:
600 TLC plates reserved for individual operators
400 TLC plates reserved for corporate entities (i.e., bases, fleets)
How Do Individual NYC TLC Drivers Apply For New EV-Only TLC Plates?
While more details are likely to be discussed at the hearing. Essentially, individual drivers looking to acquire the rights to their own TLC Plates will submit a “statement of interest” (via an online portal) that will be reviewed by the TLC. The regulator will then select drivers to apply based on their statement. It’s anyone guess, but we assume the following factors will play a major role in TLC assessing which drivers to allocate the 600 new EV-only TLC plates to (again, this is a guess).
Number of years and trips as a NYC TLC-licensed driver
Number of years leasing a NYC TLC-plated vehicle
Driving record
Entrepreneurial objectives (i.e, wants to expand / create new TLC base)
Financial situation
We paste the exact wording from the TLC announcement below.
How Do Bases & Fleets Apply For New EV-Only TLC Plates?
The details around how bases and fleets apply for the 400 TLC plates allocated to them is not really spelled out, but we paste the exact wording from the TLC announcement below. We assume more specifics will be given during the hearing.
End Of Long Term Lease Exemption
The TLC also announced that TLC drivers that had long term lease-to-own arrangements before the initial August 2018 TLC Plate Cap announcment, would no longer be able to claim a license after August 13, 2023. Of note, this August deadline matches the regulator’s recent announcement that it will end the TLC Plate storage program on August 31, 2023.
Biannual Becomes Annual
In other fairly significant news, the regulator plans to change the bi-annual, or twice a year, TLC Plate Cap decision, to an annual, once a year, February review. This review is officially known as the FHV License Pause Report.
Preliminary Thoughts
There’s a lot to unpack here, but our initial thought is the TLC, under Chair David Do, continues to move fast to establish a new status quo FHV licensing & regulatory regime. Ahead of the January 11th hearing, we’ll discuss related topics from FHV Lease Caps (a/k/a TLC leasing company regulation) to the likely trajectory of new TLC Plate releases.
1,000 new EV-only TLC plate. Question: where are 1,000 people charging these vehicles? Batteries degrade over time, just like our cell phone batteries. They need to be replaced. The costs of materials for these batteries are skyrocketing due to difficulty in mining the materials. I’m assuming some if not most of these vehicles will be Tesla’s. That Tesla brand is quickly becoming hated by NYC Progressives because of its major shareholder’s politics. Does it make sense to purchase a Tesla? Putting aside politics, Teslas are relatively expensive. Do the economics of driving FHV make sense with Teslas? Oh, but the inconvenience of driving an EV vehicle in NYC. Good luck. I’d rather own a heavy, gas-guzzling noisy WAV vehicle. At least I can purchase gasoline wherever and whenever I want and I’m only at the pump for 5 minutes at most.
This is a good article on charging EVs and, most importantly, the time it takes to do so. It can take as little as under an hour at a super charging station to as much as two whole days if done from a regular plug at home:
https://www.transportation.gov/rural/ev/toolkit/ev-basics/charging-speeds