NYC Mayor Bloomberg ramps up EV parking and charging plans; targeting 1/3 of the taxi fleet to be electric by 2020; largest bike share program in country
15 February 2013
As part of his 2013 State of the City address, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined plans for a major increase in parking and charging options for electric vehicles. His plans call for piloting curbside fast chargers and working with the City Council to amend the Building Code so that up to 20% of all new public parking spaces in private developments will be wired and ready for electric vehicles, creating up to 10,000 parking spots for electric vehicles over the next seven years.
The mayor also plans to add 50 more electric vehicles to the city’s fleet of cars, and put the first six fully electric taxis on the road, with the goal of making one-third of our taxi fleet electric by 2020.
Bloomberg also said that this summer the city will launch the largest bike share program in the country.
All of these transportation initiatives will help us achieve one of PlaNYC’s top goals: giving New York the cleanest air of any big city in the country. Remember: Clean air means you live longer. Even if you don’t care about climate change, cleaning our air is good for your health.
—Mayor Bloomberg
The mayor also noted major new steps toward doubling the city’s recycling rate to 30% by 2017. He also said that he would work with City Council to adopt a law banning Styrofoam food packaging from stores and restaurants.
It makes a lot of sense to have electric taxis (from a pollution point of view).
It makes economic sense to use hybrids as well, from a purchase price point of view.
If you want to improve air quality, the best thing to do is to remove the worst vehicles from the roads, which are probably diesel trucks of some kind, or tugs or something on the water.
Posted by: mahonj | 15 February 2013 at 06:17 AM