There are 10 times more EV chargers in Manhattan than gas stations

06 October 2022

EV chargers offer better business than gas stations in cities, especially in city centers where land is extremely expensive. The proof is in the proverbial pudding - there are 320 public EV charging sites in Manhattan, compared to 29 gas stations. While the number of EV chargers keeps going up, the gas stations are being bought up one by one, just to be knocked down and replaced with high-rise buildings.

This is an unforeseen side effect of the EV transformation, but almost inevitable at the same time. Gas stations are known to have razor-thin profit margins and with the prices of land constantly going up in city centers, it makes so much more business sense to build an apartment block instead. And the beauty of an apartment block is that on top of rents, it can bring extra money from having EV chargers installed in the underground garage.

Car parking and garage owners are getting in on the act as well, installing EV chargers wherever they can and as quickly as they can, to service a growing army of EV owners. Many valet parkings offer the service already, hotels and office building managers are finding out that having a few EV chargers not only brings customers but it brings extra revenue.

Some places offer flat EV charging fees, some have EV chargers installed by known providers who charge per use and the service is simply there to attract customers who need a quick recharge and otherwise wouldn’t even consider using the said carpark. Some places go as far as offering EV charging completely free and included in the parking fee.

Manhattan is just the beginning of the trend that is about to accelerate. In the entire New York area there are 697 gas stations and 520 EV charging sites, San Francisco has only 92 gas stations and already 139 EV charging sites. With New York state following California with a commitment to ban sales of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, the numbers of EV charging sites will have to grow even faster.

New York wants to have 400,000 electric cars on its streets by 2030, with expected 1.6 million by 2050. That’s a big step from the current 24,000 EVs registered in the City. The number of EV charging locations will have to grow exponentially to service such a number of cars. New York City officials are planning to roll out a bunch of incentives to convince the New Yorkers and local businesses that it is time to switch to electric cars.

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