Con Edison Helping NYC Drivers Shift to Electric Cars with More Places to Charge Up
As New York International Auto Show Gears Up, Company Sees Growing Interest in Its EV Charging Programs
With electric vehicles becoming more common by the day on the streets of New York City and Westchester County, Con Edison is making it easier to plug in – and drivers are taking notice.
There are now more than 29,000 electric vehicles registered in New York City and Westchester, including 1,262 added in February, the most recent month for which data are available. To keep those EVs powered up, there are 2,065 Level 2 chargers and 260 DC fast chargers in Con Edison’s service territory, more than 400 of them added in 2021.
Customer interest is growing quickly in Con Edison’s PowerReady program, which offers financial support for installing EV chargers. So, too, are enrollments in the company’s managed charging program, SmartCharge NY, which offers financial rewards for charging during off-peak hours.
“Con Edison is proud to sponsor the New York Auto Show’s Electric Vehicle Test Track at this historic moment for the automotive industry,” said Lenny Singh, Senior Vice President, Customer Energy Solutions. “As the electric vehicle market accelerates, it’s critical to ensure there’s a robust charging network in place, and one that will support reliability of the electric grid. Through our EV programs, we’re helping make that a reality for New York.”
Con Edison invites NY Auto Show visitors to stop by its stand next to the EV Test Track, where the company will have experts on hand all week to explain its programs and incentives that make it easier for drivers to switch to electric.
Expanding Our Region’s EV Charging Network
Con Edison sees an increasingly vibrant EV market in the New York region. Customer interest is growing in the company’s PowerReady program, which offers incentives covering up to 100 percent of the infrastructure costs of installing new chargers.
Less than a year after the first PowerReady project reached completion in a Manhattan apartment building, the program has supported the installation of 359 EV charge plugs so far – including the largest publicly accessible universal charging hub in the Americas, operated by Revel in Brooklyn.
Level 2 chargers provide 240 volts, offering up to 20 miles of range for every hour a vehicle is plugged in. DC fast chargers provide 480 volts, offering 180 miles or more per hour of charging.
Through PowerReady, Con Edison aims to support installation of around 19,000 charging plugs by 2025, helping to ease range anxiety in the early days of New York’s EV market. Over the longer term, Con Edison’s Clean Energy Commitment includes a target to support 400,000 plugs by 2035, and 1 million by 2050.
Curbside Charging
While most EV drivers nationally do the majority of their charging at home or the office, New York City is a uniquely challenging environment, where half of all drivers park on the street.
To better understand and meet the needs of those drivers, Con Edison partnered last year with the NYC Department of Transportation and charging network operator FLO to install 100 curbside chargers open to the public across the city’s five boroughs.
Those chargers are in operation and Con Edison is monitoring their usage. Since their introduction last summer, the curbside chargers have delivered 238,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity – enough for 746,000 miles of travel in a typical EV, or three one-way trips to the Moon. The curbside chargers have eliminated the need for consumption of nearly 30,000 gallons of gasoline, with more than 295 tons of avoided CO2 emissions compared to gasoline-powered vehicles.
NYC DOT aims to create a network of 1,000 curbside chargers by 2025, and 10,000 by 2030. In addition to the practical benefits, each new public charger is a symbol of the EV market’s progress and a nod of encouragement to drivers considering going electric.
Electrifying Con Edison’s Fleet of Vehicles
Leading by example, Con Edison is purchasing only electric vehicles for its light-duty fleet, with 199 EVs in its fleet today, representing more than 10 percent of the total light-duty fleet. As its gasoline-powered vehicles are retired, the company plans to reach 80 percent electrification of its light-duty fleet by 2030 – and 100 percent by 2035.
SmartCharge Registrations on the Rise
The rise of electric vehicles running on increasingly renewable power will bring big environmental benefits to New York, reducing air pollution locally and carbon emissions that feed global climate change. However, the prospect of hundreds of thousands of EVs on New York City’s streets requires careful planning to ensure future grid reliability.
With that in mind, Con Edison encourages EV drivers to sign up for its SmartCharge NY program. SmartCharge NY has become one of the most successful managed charging programs in the country, with more than 6,000 passenger cars currently enrolled.
Managed well, EV charging could bring many benefits for the electric grid. Con Edison and partners recently completed a demonstration project in White Plains, N.Y., that saw electric school buses sending power back onto the grid at strategic times, using so-called vehicle-to-grid technology. Con Edison will share results from its V2G demo later this week.
Come See Us at the New York International Auto Show
Executives and experts from Con Edison will be available for interviews at the New York International Auto Show’s media days on April 13 and 14.
Con Edison representatives will discuss the company’s commitment to electrifying transportation, the grid implications of the transition, the company’s programs to make EV charging convenient, and other topics.
Con Edison’s booth will be on the first floor adjacent to the multi-manufacturer EV test track. Con Edison is the lead sponsor of the track.
Reporters who want to schedule interviews in advance should call 212-460-4111.
Location: Jacob Javits Center, 429 11th Ave, Manhattan, N.Y.
Dates and Times: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 13; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 14
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $14 billion in annual revenues and $63 billion in assets. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam to 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y.