In 2019, we learned that curbside electric car charging stations would soon be lining the streets of NYC. Following a proposal by the Department of Transportation and Con Ed, a pilot program – initially known as “Curbside Electric Vehicle Charging Pilot” – was approved by Community Board 7, allowing three charging stations to be installed on the UWS.
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Following the last CB7 meeting on Tuesday, December 7, another two charging stations have been approved for the neighborhood, under the updated program name, PlugNYC.
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The two new charging stations will be located at:
- 76th between Columbus and Amsterdam Ave (north side of street)
- 84th between Columbus and Amsterdam Ave (north side of street)
“It’s a logical next step in getting our air cleaner. Electric cars are the future,” said board member Andrew Albert right before the vote, which saw unanimous approval without debate.
While no timetable was given for the installation of the new charging stations, they will function like those previously approved. Each will serve two electric cars, with prices running at $1/hour from 7pm-7am and $2.50/hour from 7am-7pm.
Tuesday’s approval brings the grand total to five approved charging stations (and ten total ports) on the Upper West Side. As of writing, only one has been installed (at 4 West 93rd Street). A representative from CB7 said the COVID pandemic delayed installation of the other two previously approved stations; these are slated to be installed on West End Ave between 66th and 70th streets and on 86th between West End and Riverside Drive. A full list of charging stations in the five boroughs can be found here.
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To use the PlugNYC program, drivers download the Flo app, upload their credit card information, and then scan their smartphone or ‘tap card’ at the Flo/PlugNYC charging station. Users can also pay through the website.
A representative from CB7 told ILTUWS that “the next step is for DOT to move forward with the installation.”
Flo is regarded one of the leading North American charging networks. “Every month, FLO and its parent company, AddEnergie enable hundreds of thousands charging events, thanks to over 45,000 high-quality stations deployed on public networks, commercial and residential installations,” according to Flo’s website.
So will the adjacent street parking spaces be fore battery powered cars only?
How fast can these particular chargers recharge a Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf III from 20% to 90%? (Those are largely the equivalent of a Tesla Model 3 but they don’t have any of the Tesla 3’s massive quality control problems.)
This is so great! It will be very beneficial to the environment because we won’t have to rely on polluting petroleum, coal, gas or even the worst, nuclear anymore. You just plug in to one of these things and then go!
Steve M:
Nuclear, coal, and natural gas all generate the electricity used to charge battery powered automobiles. And that’s not going to change any time soon. There’s a new natural gas fired plant up the Delaware river feeding power to NYC.
And yes, there’s a big electrical generating station on the far west side of Manhattan; it likely runs on natural gas. Though it’s mostly used for peak draw times.
No, Jay. You’re wrong. The power comes from the charging station. Either that or the building:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0TtbWfmsaw
No, Jay. You’re wrong. The power comes from the charging station. Either that or the building:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0TtbWfmsaw
Steve M:
Where do you suppose the building/s on West 76th Street (which would not be involved in supplying a street charging station) or the charging station’s power comes from?
I comes from exactly the sources I spelled out. Though the nuclear plant up the Hudson has been shut down.
In all seriousness, I hope your response is some kind of joke.
I recently used the unit on W.93rd st. overnight. It was an easy pleasant experience. I went from under 25% to over 90% from 9 PM to 7 am and the cost was around $10.
Level 2 charging like this(about 6 kw per hour) will gain most EVs about 20 miles for every hour charged. I live at 70th street and am really looking forward to using the units on 76th street and the ones coming (hopefully soon) to West End between 66&70
Eric,
Those numbers for the West 93rd Street charging station tell me it’s not a fast charger. A fast charger would in half hour units, and take between 2 to 4 units to recharge a battery powered car from 20% to say 90% (the last 10% being extra effort with li-ion batteries). And such a recharging would cost a lot more than $10.
My understanding is that fast chargers run at 400 volts DC. Don’t know the amps, but those would have to be high too. Those are industrial area power supply numbers, well beyond the power needed to run elevators. So there probably aren’t too many areas in Manhattan with the electric service able to support such charges–the Garment District would be one.
So it is unlikely that the West 76th charging station would qualify as fast. Albeit, it’s faster than something available to a home owner in the suburbs or say Brooklyn with 30 amps of 120 AC service.
The ones on 94th often have non-EVs parked in the spaces so they can’t be used. There needs to be some sort of enforcement to prevent that.
RickB:
Then there’d have to be enforcement of the charging state of any e-car parked at the charging station. Meaning the cars parked at the charging station would not only have to be e only but both plugged in and also confirmed to be charging, not to have charged up 10 hours ago, or just be plugged in for looks.
This is wrong on so many levels. Let me list a few:
– What does “success” look like? Have the metrics been defined?
– What is the “end game” – even assuming the pilot locations are “successful” (see first question above), what does it mean? Is the plan to replace all parking spots with EV stations? Some? How many? Where?
– The DoT stated in their original selection decision that the spots would be located in commercial areas, near medical institutions … how do the current locations fit the criteria? Certainly not W86th between WEA and RSD
– As some commentators have mentioned, how is this monitored? What is stopping EV car owners from using the spots as normal parking (i.e., reserved for them)?
– Why have alternative technologies not been considered (e.g., induction charging which can be installed under the street)?
– etc, etc, …
SM:
Or someone can figure out what Stan Meyers was doing 30 years ago (and he’s not alone), then we can skip this silly battery powered car idea all together.
New cars not even needed.
Why are new stations being approved when we have no experience with the ones previously ok’d but not yet running?