UK-based electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure company Connected Kerb has been selected for a new project designed to boost public access to EV charging in New York City.
The project is part of the DOT Studio, a collaboration between the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and Newlab, which is designed to use emerging technologies to advance planning, policy, operations and real-time management of transportation across New York City, in line with decarbonisation targets.
Connected Kerb, Char.gy – which in December lauded its first successful trial of public EV inductive charging – and Voltpost have all been selected for the project, and will work in collaboration to rollout a range of chargers across New York.
The findings from this pilot will then be used to inform the wider EV charging rollout across the city, which is targeting the installation of 10,000 curbside chargers by 2030, as well as electrifying 20% of municipal parking bays by 2025.
“There are around two million light duty vehicles in New York City, accounting for 80% of transport emissions,” said Steve Richardson and Nick Dobie, co-founders of Connected Kerb.
“New York City DOT has established ambitious goals to eliminate these emissions by boosting electric vehicle adoption, and The DOT Studio project will provide crucial a blueprint for how to deliver world-leading charging infrastructure to support that goal – supercharging EV uptake, cutting emissions and improving public health.”
As part of the project, Connected Kerb will receive funding to install its EV charging points, and has selected Charge Infrastructure, a division of Charge Enterprises, as its preferred installation provider for this project.
Additionally, it is exploring locations at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to deliver a ‘living lab’, where it could demonstrate smart city infrastructure technologies. This would include using the company’s chargers to showcase how EV infrastructure can support the rollout of other public access technologies in urban environments.
Pilot planning and design is now underway, Connected Kerb said, with the goal of launching by Autumn 2022.
“We’re incredibly excited to be working with New York City’s DOT and Newlab to support the decarbonisation of the City’s transport system,” added Richardson and Dobie.
“We’re confident that this pilot will not only fast track New York’s EV charging rollout, but also prove our technology in America, and provide a springboard for growth into the future.”
Thanks to a greater choice of vehicles and improved technology, EV ownership has been increasing in the city, with around 15,000 registered vehcles in New York City in 2021 – with 5,000 of these sold in 2020 alone.
But a lack of publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure is currently slowing the uptake of EVs, as around 50% of residents park their cars on-street currently.
The Biden Administration has a target of 50% of all new vehicle sales being electric across the US by 2030.
“Enabling greater EV adoption is critical to achieving New York City’s net zero goals, and we are pleased to collaborate with NYC DOT and Connected Kerb through the DOT Studio to help realise the vision for a more sustainable, resilient and equitable city,” said Shaina Horowitz, VP of product and programs at Newlab.
“We expect the pilot to provide invaluable data on how to most effectively deploy EV charging infrastructure in densely populated areas and make scalable EV use possible, with potential implications for both NYC and cities around the world.”
Connected Kerb installed its maiden kerbside public charging station in 2019 – the same year it signed a partnership with induction technology specialist Magment to bring wireless charging to the UK.
Since then is has continued to grow in the UK, and in April launched a new EV charger dubbed the Chameleon. The company is targeting the installation of 190,000 public on-street EV chargers by 2030, with a number of rollouts agreed with local authorities across the UK.
