More EV Charging in New York City
A new partnership will deploy a network of 5,000 electrical vehicle chargers.
Even as the government and industries push people to buy electric vehicles, there is the ongoing problem of where to fuel up by plugging in the car.
Multiple companies make EVs that have a decent enough range for many uses. However, like the talk of hydrogen-powered cars in the 1990s and 2000s, there isn’t much that promoters can do until there’s enough infrastructure where most consumers feel comfortable enough to travel long distances with a car with enough charging.
Attempts to address the problem have become a series of experiments with pairings of people in technology and CRE coming together because charging cars needs parking space and charging equipment.
Private partnerships have been done before, like when Shoals Technologies Group, which provides systems for solar, battery storage, and EV charging applications, partnered with Brookfield Renewable, part of Brookfield Asset Management, which has a portfolio of energy investments.
A new partnership is invisible between charging service provider Urban Charging (IUC), and Hudson Valley Parking Trust (HVPT), a parking investment platform. The latter recently partnered with investment firm Broe Group on the purchase of ICON Parking, the largest parking company in New York City.
IUC and HVPT are planning to deploy a network of 5,000 EV chargers across New York City. IUC provides a charging-as-a-service model. HVPT clearly offers access to parking areas that could be turned into charging bays.
According to the two companies, the state has seen EV ownership multiply by 660%. To reach carbon neutrality by 2030, New York City needs to convert 400,000 vehicles to EVs.
But to bring on that many EVs there has to be an extensive network of high-powered charging. If people think they cannot get a vehicle charged when they need it, it becomes much harder to sell them one. And no one likely will want to wait for an hour or more to bring a charge to full.
New York City government said in 2021 that the city had as a goal a network of 40,000 level 2 chargers and 6,000 DC Fast chargers by 2030. By next year, the Department of Transportation planned 1,000 by 2025 and 10,000 by 2023.