NEWARK, N.J., July 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- PSE&G today announced an innovative program to encourage New Jersey businesses to provide employees with electric car charging at work. The unique perk would foster greater adoption of electric cars, which would help to improve the state's air quality, help companies achieve sustainability targets, reduce costs for employees and help America become more energy independent.  

The program will provide "smart" charging equipment for approximately 150 cars. Charging stations will be given out on a first come, first serve basis to companies that secure a commitment from a minimum of five employees that they will use an electric car for their commute.

"Our company believes there is a strong future in electric cars here in New Jersey, and workplace charging is a critical part of that future," said Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G. "We want to be a partner with New Jersey businesses and New Jersey electric car drivers. Electric cars not only benefit the environment, but are cheaper to own and operate than conventional cars."

PSE&G will provide the charging systems for free. Participating workplaces will need to install the units and pay for the electricity. PSE&G will own the charging systems and collect usage data to better understand the impact of workplace charging on electric demand and the electric delivery system. The Hydra data collection system will be provided by Liberty Access Technologies.

"Electric vehicle charging is usually a matter of hours, not minutes, so charging your EV while you are at work is an ideal solution," said Chris Outwater, President of Liberty Access Technologies. "At work charging will make EV ownership possible for many more people. It is especially important for apartment dwellers who cannot easily charge while at home."

The incentive is available only to companies located in PSE&G's electric service territory.  Companies interested in more information on the program can contact PSE&G at: EVworkplacecharging@pseg.com.

PSEG also released data on the first year of operations of its own employee electric car incentive program launched one year ago, including:

• The 13 employees in the program are estimated to have driven 120,000 miles on electric commuting to and from work in the first twelve months of the program.
• The participants are estimated to have saved 5,300 gallons of gas and avoided spending nearly $19,000 on gas just on their commute.
• By commuting on electric, it is estimated that the program helped avoid 50 to 60 tons of CO2 being released into the air as well as reduced  particulate, SOx and NOx emissions in communities through the state.

Employees in the PSEG workforce program bought/leased a range of cars including the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Honda Fit, Ford C-MAX Energia, Toyota Prius plug-in and Tesla.

Electric cars in New Jersey are particularly helpful for the overall air quality because of New Jersey's clean mix of fuel used to produce electricity. More than half of electricity produced in New Jersey comes from nuclear energy which produces no air pollutants or climate change gases. 

Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is New Jersey's oldest and largest regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly three-quarters of the state's population.  PSE&G is the winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system reliability.  PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG), a diversified energy company (www.pseg.com).

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SOURCE Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G)