A familiar scene in New York City is the blur of cars, yellow cabs, trucks and buses, all clamoring to take their place on city streets alongside pedestrians and bikers. As more of those vehicles become electric, soon there will be a new feature showing up on the streets of New York: EV charging stations. As EV adoption increases, city leaders like Mark Simon, Director of Electric Vehicle Policy at the NYC Department of Transportation, are tasked with bringing that vision to life.
With recent commitments from the Biden administration to support EVs and EV charging infrastructure, the process of transitioning cities like NYC to accommodate more EVs is no small feat, but it is an essential one for achieving long-term decarbonization goals. ICF recently worked with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Con Edison, and National Grid to create the Pathways to Carbon-Neutral NYC report. One key takeaway was that NYC’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is possible with widespread electrification of the city’s transportation sector. The findings from the Pathways report informed the targets outlined in the recently released Electrifying New York plan to increase EV investments city wide.
During a recent conversation, Mark shared his experience with developing a comprehensive plan for NYC’s EV charging infrastructure, as well as actionable steps that other city leaders can take to develop their own EV programs. Below is a condensed version of our conversation, edited for length.
Noblet: Why is EV charging infrastructure so important in major cities like New York?
Simon: New York City views electrification as one of the primary tools in our toolbox to reduce carbon emissions. While our overarching goal is to decrease the number of trips vehicles are taking in and out of the city’s central business district, we also want to make sure the vehicles traveling on our roads are electrified.
That goal will require new infrastructure. Roughly 50% of our approximately 1.8 million vehicles park on the streets, meaning they don’t have access to charging stations in driveways or garages. It’s a real challenge to increased EV adoption, and widespread public charging infrastructure will be a major solution.
Noblet: What are some of NYC’s current charging infrastructure initiatives?
Simon: We have multiple electrification programs in progress across New York City, with a focus on three core initiatives.
First is our curbside charging initiative. In partnership with Con Edison, we’re in the process of installing and testing curbside chargers across all five boroughs. Our goal is to install a network of 1,000 curbside charging points across the city by 2025, and then increase to 10,000 charging points by 2030. We also have a program within NYC DOT to build fast-charging hubs across the city, with the goal of ensuring each neighborhood has equal access to nearby charging stations.
The third leg of our efforts is focused on expanding and establishing charging infrastructure to support the city’s electric fleet, consisting of more than 3,000 plug-in vehicles and electrified pieces of equipment. By growing our charging infrastructure, we’ll be able to work toward transitioning to an all-electric citywide fleet.
As we implement these initiatives and develop new plans, we are constantly evaluating the needs of NYC’s community so we can find solutions that will have a direct and positive impact on our residents.
Noblet: Shifting to key stakeholder involvement, what are the benefits of involving local utilities, like Con Edison, in these efforts?
Simon: Utility involvement is an absolute necessity. When we’re going through the process of installing charging stations, we often have to bring power to the site. While it’s not a big capacity challenge for Con Edison, there are areas where we may or may not have capacity constraints and it may take a little time to upgrade these areas, so it’s essential for us to work with Con Edison to do this efficiently.
In the last few years, Con Edison has increased their commitment to EV charging. Today, the utility has EV charging specialists in each borough who understand how it works and can partner with us to ensure we’re approaching infrastructure properly.
My advice for other city leaders who are growing their charging networks is to start working with their local utilities as early as possible, even months before they start purchasing charging infrastructure and EVs. In NYC, utilities are involved from the planning stage of the process, which has been extremely helpful to make sure we’re aligned from the start. Implementing proper charging infrastructure can be a time-consuming process, and a strong partnership with your utility helps everything run more smoothly.
Noblet: How do you think metropolitan areas can position themselves to take advantage of funding that may result from the federal government’s infrastructure bill?
Simon: To start, city leaders need to do their research to determine how much it’s going to cost them to build the infrastructure they need. For example, here in NYC, we have thousands of parking spaces in our garages and parking lots. If we want to allocate 20% of those spaces to Level 2 charging stations, we need to determine a reasonable estimate of what that will cost.
Starting any funding pursuit with this research in-hand will make the process of applying for and accessing funding easier and less time-consuming. It’s also important to approach funding opportunities with projects that are relatively shovel-ready and realistic. That way, you can ensure you’re meeting all of the goals and timelines for implementation. So, I recommend city leaders begin scoping out those projects now.
Noblet: What’s on the horizon for EV charging infrastructure, from your perspective? How should we expect it to change in the next five years?
Simon: In the next few years, we’ll continue to see new technology innovations that will make EV charging faster and more efficient, which will ultimately make it more accessible for everyone. The widespread deployment of charging infrastructure is necessary to make EVs a viable option for consumers at the scale in which we need them on the roads.
I’m looking forward to seeing the industry continue to grow and for us to create a sustainable model to support the growing number of EV charging stations being built across the country.
