Pittsburgh scrap metal company getting electric trucks with state help
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Metalico Pittsburgh, a scrap metal processor, will replace an old diesel material handler and an old diesel material loader with an all-new electric handler and loader.
It is all thanks to nearly $500,000 in help from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. That money, in turn, comes from a settlement with Volkswagen, which admitted to falsifying information about diesel car emissions.
The grant to Metalico was one of three announced Thursday in Harrisburg by the DEP, part of a $12.7 million "Electrifying Truck Fleets for Cleaner Air in Our Communities" program – which, in turn, is part of a broader "Driving PA Forward" initiative.
The grants prioritize "environmental justice areas," where residents are more likely to be poor and develop asthma because of local air pollution. These areas cover much of Greater Pittsburgh.
"It's vitally important that transportation move in the direction of electrification," Ramez Ziadeh, the DEP's acting secretary, said at a press conference.
The grant money will help buy trucks and build charging stations.
"There's a chicken-and-egg problem where nobody builds the charging infrastructure until the vehicles get sold, and then people don't want to buy the vehicles until the charging infrastructure is in place," explained Rob Altenburg, senior director of climate and energy for PennFuture, an advocacy organization.
He said government incentives can help "prime the pump" until market forces take over – which is just as true for consumers buying cars, SUVs and light trucks, he said.
In Pennsylvania, consumers can receive up to $3,000 in rebates from the state for purchasing an electric vehicle, depending on their family income, in addition to federal tax savings of up to $7,500 for certain new electric vehicles and up to $4,000 for new ones.