New York City officials have selected Brooklyn-based company it’s electric to expand the city's curbside electric vehicle charging network to 700 charging points from the current 88, the company announced Tuesday.
The transportation department’s buildout will target more than 10 neighborhoods with high concentrations of taxi and rideshare drivers and limited off-street parking, including Washington Heights, Forest Hills and the Upper West Side.
According to the DOT, the deal comprises two contracts: one for installation at $55.3 million, and one for operating at $4.9 million. Each station will feature at least two charger posts with two charging points each, the DOT said.
The city gave New Yorkers until Sept. 30 to share their thoughts on the proposed locations and suggest others through an online portal.
"This initiative will make EV-charging more affordable and convenient while helping support the transition from fossil fuel powered vehicles to electric vehicles and other forms of e-micromobility where feasible,” said DOT spokesperson Mona Bruno. “We are excited to work with a New York City-based partner focused on designing, producing and operating chargers intended for the needs of curbside charging."
The announcement comes after the transportation department first shared in August its plan to expand PlugNYC as part of the city’s effort to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. At the time, the city’s proposed neighborhoods for the charging points included Washington Heights, Far Rockaway and the Upper West Side.
it’s electric said it will replace the current pilot infrastructure with its own curbside chargers over the next three years. The chargers are designed by the company and manufactured by Boyce Technologies in Queens, according to the company.
"From Crown Heights to Jackson Heights, our solution was designed for every neighborhood and every block that we love across this city,” said it's electric's co-founder and CEO Nathan King. “Just as fire hydrants are on every street, our vision is for EV chargers to become that normal — infrastructure New York’s kids simply grow up with.”
Michael Sutherland, a senior policy and legislative analyst at transportation advocacy group Open Plans, said the organization acknowledges the importance of driving EVs to reach climate goals, but expressed concern about permanently committing any curb space to parking for cars.
“ It locks in the use of that segment of the curb, that segment of the street as parking, and then could make it more difficult to do different things on that street in the future, like put in a bike lane or a bus lane, or any other sort of curbside intervention because there's been money invested in expensive infrastructure at the curb,” he said.
Dead-end streets, Sutherland said, would be an example of a “prime” location where a station could go with less risk of getting in the way of future curb interventions.
The DOT said the site selection will consider pedestrian, bike, and bus infrastructure plans, and that stations will also include connections for e-micromobility charging, such as public e-bike charging cabinets.
