New York City is about to change the arithmetic of owning an electric car without a driveway. The Department of Transportation is adding close to 1,000 new charging points across the five boroughs over the next three years, including 600 curbside chargers. The PlugNYC network currently offers just 88 Level 2 points.
What is being installed
- 600 curbside Level 2 chargers, able to fill a battery over a few hours
- 92 DC fast charging points at city-owned parking fields and garages
- 180 additional Level 2 points at those same municipal sites, with work already underway or complete at many locations
Each new curbside station will have at least two stalls carrying two charging points each, giving four connectors per site.
How the locations were chosen
Siting is being driven by residential density, the shortage of off-street parking, and concentrations of licensed taxi and ride-hail drivers, the group with the most to gain from reliable public charging. The DOT has also committed to low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods where private charging operators have invested little.
The first sites are 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. Residents can comment on proposed locations through the DOT project portal.
Built for more than cars
The city is treating each excavation as a long-term asset. Where possible the new sites will include electrical connections for micromobility, covering electrified bikeshare docks, public e-bike charging cabinets and secure bike parking with charging. The stated principle is to dig once and future-proof the location.
The New York Power Authority will procure and install the curbside chargers, with the DOT operating and maintaining them alongside the existing units from the earlier Con Edison pilot.
Sources: InsideEVs, NYC DOT
