600 More Curbside EV Charging Stations For New York City

New York City is adding 600 curbside EV charging stations, bringing its total to nearly 700, up from just 88 installed under an earlier pilot program. The city's Department of Transportation announced the expansion on August 4, and the company it's electric has been hired to build it out under a contract with the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, backed by the DOT and the New York Power Authority. The three-year rollout starts in specific neighborhoods: Soundview and Unionport in the Bronx; Rego Park, Forest Hills, and Far Rockaway in Queens; Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn; the Upper West Side and Washington Heights in Manhattan; and Stapleton on Staten Island. These are Level 2 stations, meaning they charge faster than a standard home outlet but slower than the fast chargers found at highway rest stops.

The push is aimed partly at drivers who park on the street rather than in a garage or driveway, since they can't install a home charger. That includes many of the city's more than 80,000 rideshare drivers, who face a city mandate requiring all Uber and Lyft trips to be electric by 2030. It's also meant to reach lower-income neighborhoods that private charging companies have largely skipped, as the city works to offset a decades-long decline in gas stations.

Some of the new charging sites will share underground wiring work with e-bike battery-swapping stations, a separate program meant to give delivery riders a safer alternative to charging batteries at home.