By Linda O’Flanagan
Electric car charging stations could soon be on more New York City street corners following the release of what amounts to a complete roadmap for plugging in whole communities.
In a major push to prepare for growth in the sector, the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network — a group of 11 states working to promote the installation of Electric Vehicle charging stations — has released reports authored by WXY Architecture + Urban Design to help communities, employers, property owners, and local residents figure out the best way forward.
The guides aim to spur states and municipalities to build more places to plug in an EV and allow for a future of anywhere, anytime vehicle charging.
“The true promise of electric vehicles is that EV drivers should be able to charge their cars anytime and anywhere, by simply plugging into the utility grid,” said Adam Lubinsky, WXY’s managing principal.
According to Lubinsky, incorporation of charging stations and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) infrastructure will be a critical element of city planning, from large-scale neighborhood plans to smaller properties and sites.
While electric vehicles remain a new technology, states and local communities in the Northeast have been moving to maximize the potential environmental and economic benefits that EVs can provide.
More than twice as many plug-in electric vehicles were sold in the first 24 months of production than hybrids in their first 24 months of production, according to federal statistics.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a statewide network of 3,000 public and workplace charging stations through the new Charge New York program.
And Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for the installation of 10,000 charging spots for electric vehicles over the next seven years in the city.
Already ChargePoint, a private provider of EV charging stations, has installed the first of an estimated 80 city stations it will create in the Solaire, an eco-friendly apartment building in Battery Park City.
“This type of commitment from the TCI members to create an electric vehicle infrastructure throughout the Northeast will help reduce the region’s reliance on fossil fuels and be beneficial to the environment,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., CEO and president of NYSERDA which, along with the Transportation and Climate Initiative requested the new report as part of a $1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant supporting EV readiness in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.
The report notes that an estimated 80% to 90% of EV charging now takes place at single-family homes. That will change as more charging places are available in shared private places, such as offices, apartment buildings and fleet deports, as well as public places like downtown parking lots and highway rest stops, among others.
“These places are critical to establishing a full network of charging options,” says Lubinsky. “As more charging options arise, the more likely are companies and consumers to make the switch to electric vehicles.”
