A fast-charging electric vehicle hub is planned for the Jerome-190th Street Municipal Garage at 2478 Jerome Ave. in Fordham, though it’s unclear if or when it’s going to open.
The hub was announced Monday by the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and New York Power Authority (NYPA) as part of a plan to install 13 charging stations across the city in municipal parking facilities.
Queens is getting the bulk of the stations, with nine locations planned. Meanwhile, three stations are planned for Brooklyn and just one in the Bronx. There will be about 50 plugs across all 13 stations, and each station will have between four and six 150 kW fast chargers, a DOT spokesperson told the Bronx Times.
That being said, all 13 locations had the caveat from DOT that they are pending a “final feasibility review.”
The DOT spokesperson did not answer what the feasibility review entails but said the agency will conduct them and initiate the design, permitting and procurement process this year in partnership with NYPA.
The agency expects construction for the hubs to start next year on a rolling basis “with several hubs coming online in 2024,” according to the spokesperson, although the schedule is subject to change.
“Achieving a greener transportation future means investing in electric vehicle chargers that will help us say goodbye to fossil fuels,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “These fast-charging hubs will power our electric vehicle future and advance the Adams Administration’s commitment to equity by bringing charging to diverse communities that lack access.”
The chargers are considerably more powerful than the market standard “level 2” plug-in, pumping about 90 miles of electric charge to a car every 10 minutes. In that same timeframe, a level 2 charger will only power up an electric vehicle to go about 3 miles, according to DOT.
Even though just one of the new hubs is slated for the Bronx, the new stations are headed to areas with less charging infrastructure than tonier parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn that have chargers at many private parking lots.
The city installed its first public fast-charging stations at municipal garages on the Lower East Side and Long Island City in 2021, where electric taxis and for-hire vehicles can get a 15% discount to charge.
That same year, the city launched a curbside electric vehicle charging pilot that brought 12 ports to the Bronx across four locations.
But whether in public or private lots or on the street, the chargers all contribute to a larger initiative to make New York more electric.
New York state has a goal of all passenger cars, pick-up trucks and SUVs sold in the state be zero-emissions by 2035, and Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has a goal of all NYC residents living within 2.5 miles of a fast charger by the same year.
To help reach that goal, Adams proposed requiring private parking lots and garages to install EV chargers by 2030 as part of his PlaNYC sustainability report.
The Adams administration is also requiring more than 100,000 Uber and Lyft cars to go electric by 2030, and has plans to replace the city’s fleet of vehicles with electric ones by 2035.
According to Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Do, the hubs are located in areas where many for-hire drivers live and work.
Regardless of the fate of the Jerome Avenue lot, the Bronx will be getting its first public fast-charging station by the end of the year.
Revel, an electric vehicle rideshare and electric moped-sharing company, announced earlier this year that it has plans to install 30 fast-charging stalls for public use in Port Morris in the Bronx, along with 60 stalls in Queens, 36 stalls in Brooklyn and 10 stalls in Manhattan, all by the end of 2023.
— Ben Brachfeld contributed to this report
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
