9/19/2017
By Ivan Pereira
The city is shifting its electric car readiness into high gear.
Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to announce Wednesday a joint effort with Con Edison to invest $10 million in creating fast car charging hubs in each borough next year. The mayor said the stations, which can charge a car fully in 30 minutes, would incentivize motorists to choose environmentally friendly cars.
“By helping develop the infrastructure necessary for electric vehicles, we’re going to make it easier than ever for New Yorkers to switch,” de Blasio said in a statement.
The locations — which the mayor said will not take up valuable parking spaces — will be determined by a number of factors including traffic, proximity to amenities and the number of electric vehicles located in the neighborhood. Each hub will have between 10 to 20 chargers and they will all be able to service 1,200 cars weekly, according to Mark Chambers, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability.
He said the city will take input from the public on the initial hub locations. By 2020, the city plans to have 50 charging hubs online.
“The goal is aiming to look at places where they can get the most use,” Chambers said.
The proposal is among recent efforts by the city to reduce its carbon footprint on the roads, ultimately hoping to see 20 percent of the motor vehicle registrations in New York City be electric by 2025.
