New York City adds 600 curbside EV chargers, expanding network eightfold
New York City will expand its curbside electric vehicle charging network from 88 ports to nearly 700, with 600 new units installed across all five boroughs. The city's Department of Transportation plans to roll out the chargers over the next three years under the PlugNYC program.
The first proposed locations cover 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. More neighborhoods will follow.
NYC DOT has launched an online portal where residents can comment on the proposed sites. Priority will go to densely populated areas with limited off-street parking and neighborhoods where many taxi and rideshare drivers live. This matters in a city where half of car owners park on the street — without home charging, owning an EV often means driving elsewhere and waiting for a public spot to open up.
NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said the agency's main goal for transportation is making walking, biking, and transit easier and cheaper, but for those who still drive, EV adoption must be dramatically accelerated.
Demand for the existing curbside chargers is already strong: the 88 ports are occupied by an EV more than 70% of the time, with some approaching 99%. Four of the five busiest stations are in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens — areas with high concentrations of Taxi and Limousine Commission-licensed drivers.
EVs now account for 8.3% of new vehicle registrations in New York City. Taxi and rideshare drivers alone complete around 3 million electric trips per month, according to the city.
Each new PlugNYC-branded station will have at least two posts with two charging points each, for a minimum of four ports per site. Only EVs actively charging will be allowed to park in the designated spaces. Drivers can pay by tapping a credit card or using one of several apps. The price per kilowatt-hour hasn't been set yet, but NYC DOT says it will control pricing to keep charging affordable while encouraging drivers to move their cars once charging is done.
