It’s becoming increasingly clear that the solution to the Plight of the Drivewayless (those poor souls who can’t install EV chargers at their homes) is simply lots of curbside chargers (see London and Oslo).

New York City began installing public curbside EV charging stations in 2021 as part of a pilot that was originally expected to end in July of this year. Demand has been strong, and the NYC DOT and Consolidated Edison are now hoping to extend the program for an additional year, and are beginning to plan a larger-scale, post-pilot expansion.

Con Ed issued a request for expressions of interest from EV charging companies last September, and expects to finalize details of the extension in April. The DOT has already received 32 responses from interested companies, including itselectric, Voltpost and FLO, which installed the curbside chargers for the pilot. For the next stage, DOT is seeking innovative designs that are cheaper, smaller and easier to install.

By the numbers, the results of the pilot have been impressive. Roy Rada, Project Manager for E-mobility Innovation at Con Ed, told Bloomberg that his company expected “moderate demand” for the chargers—perhaps usage rates around 15%—but that demand has been “exponentially higher.” According to the New York City DOT, Con Edison’s 100 chargers have seen an average utilization rate of 72%. That’s all the more impressive, considering that ICE vehicles blocked access to the chargers about 20% of the time (NYPD issued 2,197 parking tickets last year).

The chargers have done well in the reliability department, too. Operator FLO claims that they achieved a 99.9% uptime rate in 2024. The company has “a very aggressive maintenance program involving both regular check-ins as well as alarms,” said FLO Chief Legal and Public Affairs Officer Travis Allan. It also operates a dedicated parts depot in the city to allow it to quickly swap out components. “I think that this project is going to be a model for many other cities because it has achieved very high reliability,” Allan added.

Source: Bloomberg