DOT Will Fast-Track Private Sidewalk E-Bike Charging Stations

Property owners and businesses will soon be able to install e-bike and electric moped charging hubs on sidewalks outside of their buildings, thanks to a new Department of Transportation initiative that aims to jump-start the slow public rollout of safe battery infrastructure.

Businesses and property owners can soon apply for a permit to install battery swapping and charging stations in public space, the mayor said a press conference on Monday in front of the city’s first and only public e-bike swapping and charging cabinets at Cooper Square in the East Village. 

“We are going to make it easier and faster for property owners to install public battery charging and swapping cabinets on sidewalks in front of their buildings, using our public streets and spaces properly,” Mayor Adams said.

DOT will make the process easier by granting private entities permission to use the sidewalk space. The city will hold a hearing on the rule on Aug. 21, and applications for the program will open by the end of the year.

The DOT hopes to take what is already happening illegally, like basement charging hubs that create fire risks, and legalize and regulate them. 

“Right now [businesses and property owners] are making money, they’re charging but in an unregulated and extremely unsafe environment,” said Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. “The idea is to be able to come together with the private sector where they can still charge a small fee in a safe way so that we’re not looking at businesses that are effectively death traps.”

Workers rights activists hope that the new voluntary charging station program, dubbed the New York City Safe Charging Accelerator, will be free or low cost. 

“Delivery workers used to charge their batteries at grocery stores, bike shops, and parking lots. A lot of these businesses were running illegal charging stations and charging $50-$150 per month. The idea is that the city will pilot new charging stations that are free to low cost,” Ligia Guallpa, the executive director of Workers Justice Project, which includes Los Deliveristas Unidos, told Streetsblog. 

Another potential roadblock to creating sidewalk charging stations is community approval. In 2022, the mayor announced a $1-million federal grant to start a charging hubs pilot, which was supposed to transform existing city infrastructure, like vacant newsstands, into hubs for deliveristas to recharge themselves and their devices. The program has been stalled due to backlash from community boards, which have been less than excited to have workers congregating on the sidewalks. 

In addition to the private charging hubs, Mayor Adams announced $2 million for an e-bike trade-in program — the culmination of a City Council law that passed last year. 

“I’m excited for the lithium-ion battery trade in program to begin. No one wants to use — or be anywhere near — batteries that aren’t safe to charge,” said Council Member Keith Powers, who introduced the law last year after it was first proposed by Streetsblog. “It’s critical that we create opportunities to get this dangerous equipment off of our streets and out of our homes.”

The program goes beyond the law by also allowing workers to trade in electric- or gas-powered mopeds without vehicle identification numbers. Such devices can’t be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles as required by law.

Also at the press conference, Mayor Adams refused — again — to take a position on an Assembly bill that would require e-bikes to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill is sponsored by Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar of Queens, who is frequently at the mayor’s side, as she was on Monday.

“Right now we have just a real wild west sort of atmosphere. We’re looking over that legislation, as well as others that are coming out of Albany,” the mayor said. “We don’t want to be too burdensome, at the same time, we want to make sure we can properly coordinate who’s on our roadways.”

Guallpa said her group opposes e-bike registration.

“We hope that he will reject the idea and that be supportive of a more creative way of making sure the streets are safe for all workers, not only deliveristas but every New Yorker who rides an e-bike,” Guallpa told Streetsblog.