New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered his 2013 State of the City address this week, and in it he reaffirmed his commitment to putting New York at the forefront of electric vehicle (EV) technologies.
‘We're already the most tech-friendly, transparent government in the country, and now we're raising the bar again,’ he said. ‘We'll make New York City a national leader in another new technology: electric vehicles.’
To pursue this goal, the mayor said the city will first initiate a pilot program that will place curb-side DC fast chargers in various locations. This EV charging technology delivers a full charge to vehicles in as little as a half-hour.
Bloomberg also announced a plan whereby the city's building code will be revised to allow up to 20% of all new public parking spaces to be EV-charger-ready by installing all the required wiring. Up to 10,000 EV parking spaces will be created in the next seven years, he said.
And within the city fleet itself, EVs will assume a prominent role.
‘We'll add 50 more electric vehicles to the city's fleet of cars, and we'll 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 said.
