Charging station in San Francisco
Nov. 18, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
Electric vehicle charging stations will be installed throughout the city following legislation sponsored by a local lawmaker.
The City Council voted Wednesday to begin a pilot program for electric vehicle charging, installing at least 25 EV charging stations throughout the city, with at least two in each borough. Councilman Costa Constantinides, who is the chair of the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, has championed the bill for almost a year.
The legislation requires the 25 stations to be installed in publicly accessible locations by March 1, 2018, and the pilot program would run for two years, until March 1, 2020.
Throughout the process, the Electric Vehicle Advisory Committee would monitor the results, and ultimately make recommendations on the feasibility and effectiveness of the project.
“We have made it a point here in New York City to be a leader on sustainability issues. As electric vehicles become an increasingly popular method of transportation it is time for our infrastructure to meet the demand,” said Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito at the council meeting.
“In our transportation sector we must reduce reliance on petroleum burning cars. Their exhaust accounts for an estimated 75 percent of carbon monoxide pollution, one third of smog, and 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. As we seek to meet our mandate of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050 here in New York, we must act on this sector,” Constantinides said at the Council meeting.
“One of the biggest challenges for consumers who want to purchase an electric car is the scarcity of places to charge them,” Constantinides pointed out.
“By providing charging stations for public use we can make it possible for New Yorkers who want to switch to electric cars to do so. We can make electric cars more visible and encourage their use, and move closer to building a reliable EV network.”
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