NEW YORK (PIX11) — New Yorkers who drive electric cars may have more places to charge their vehicles soon.
Plans are underway to add hundreds of curbside electric vehicle charging stations across the city, and the New York City Department of Transportation wants your input.
Discover more local reporting on our homepage
The city currently has 88 Level 2 charging points and hopes to add another 600 over the next three years, the DOT announced on Tuesday.
For the transportation sector, our main goal is making it easier and more affordable for New Yorkers to walk, bike, and take transit, but for those who still drive, we need to dramatically accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn.
In most cities across the country, EV owners have access to a driveway or garage to charge their own vehicles. That is not the case in New York City, where more than half of car owners totally rely on street parking. Expanding access to curbside EV charging stations will allow New Yorkers to consider the possibility of owning an electric vehicle.
The DOT will place chargers in neighborhoods based on areas where off-street parking is limited and where there are a high number of TLC-licensed drivers. The city is also focusing on providing access to public charging in low- and moderate-income communities where private EV charging stations are lacking.
The first neighborhoods that will see the newly proposed charging curbside stations are:
Bronx
Queens
Rego Park
Forest Hills
Far Rockaway
Brooklyn
Red Hook
Carroll Gardens
Bedford-Styvesant
Manhattan
Upper West Side
Washington Heights
Staten Island
New Yorkers may have their say on the currently proposed sites and suggest additional locations by clicking here.
Andrew Cruz is a digital content producer. A native New Yorker, he joined PIX11 in 2009 as a weather producer. More of his work can be found here.