New York City announces 13 new fast-charging hubs
The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and New York Power Authority (NYPA) announced plans to set up 13 EV charging hubs at municipal parking facilities across the city. Collectively, the hubs will feature around 50 fast-charging plugs.
The announcement did not detail the type of chargers. However, the roll-out is part of several advances New York City makes towards decarbonising transport. Once installed, these chargers would bring the city closer to achieving the goal of all New Yorkers living within 2.5 miles of a fast charger by 2035, so the announcement. The chargers would also help achieve New York State’s target that all new passenger cars, pick-up trucks, and SUVs sold in the state be zero-emissions by 2035.
“New York City is plugging into a cleaner, greener, and more prosperous future,” said Mayor Eric Adams. He also mentioned the administration’s ambition to electrify all Uber and Lyft trips by 2030, thus tying the chargers into the transition of 100,000 hire vehicles announced in January.
Most new hubs will be located in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, mainly “in areas where many for-hire drivers live and work,” said Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Do. The Commission is responsible for licensing taxis and will oversee the decarbonisation strategy. Uber, Lyft and Co. must manage entirely electric car fleets by 2030 if they want to continue to offer ride-hailing in New York City.
NYC also targets a zero-emission municipal fleet, brought the transition forward five years from 2035 to 2030 in 2021 and has since started buying electric vehicles of various makes. The funding agreed upon earlier this year would further flow into charging infrastructure.
Also, privately, New Yorkers are switching to electric. 2022 saw a 37% year-over-year increase in EV registrations in the city, with 10,758 new EVs registered, writes the Mayor’s office. Access to charging remains one of the critical barriers to adoption, and NYC DOT is running the ‘PlugNYC’ public EV charging initiative. So far, it has installed eight fast chargers across the Delancey-Essex and Court Square parking garages in Manhattan and Queens, with 20 more expected to break ground this year. More than 100 DC chargers are currently operational across New York State on the EVolve NY network.
Also, at the state level, New York has progressed with mobility targets. In September last year, Governor Kathy Hochul willed that only zero-emission and light commercial vehicles may be sold from 2035 and introduced quotas leading towards the targets. Starting with the 2026 model year, automakers in New York State must sell an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles each year. This rate begins at 35 per cent and increases to 68 per cent by 2030 before reaching 100 per cent in 2035.
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