Interest in the 600 electric vehicle licenses that New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission made available to For-Hire Vehicle (FHV) drivers on March 16 was so high that applications were fully filled in under 5 minutes. Another 400 new For-Hire Vehicle (FHV) licenses will be available for electric vehicles (EVs) on March 29.
According to an announcement by TLC, by 10:30 am, more than 25,000 unique users had visited the application page. “The City’s FHV drivers sent a clear message this morning: They are more than happy to go green,” said TLC Commissioner David Do. “The demand for the 600 EV licenses was extraordinary, and this is a very positive indicator for the Mayor’s and TLC’s initiative to go 100% zero emission by 2030. We are going to take this demand into account as we move forward.”
According to the statement, the licenses released are part of an effort to spur the development of the city’s electric charging infrastructure and support a cleaner, more sustainable future.
New York City has two million registered vehicles. More than 100,000 vehicles are licensed by TLC to serve the public, which includes 13,587 taxis. But the city’s transition to all electric will need big investment in the city’s EV charging infrastructure.
The purchase and use of electric vehicles in New York City is rising quickly, but the city’s public charging infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired — worse, even, than the rest of the country’s admittedly subpar network.
According to the technology news website The Verge, purchase and use of electric vehicles in New York City is rising quickly, but the city’s public charging infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired — worse, even, than the rest of the country’s admittedly subpar network.
“Fixing that is the next big play from Revel, the Brooklyn-based ridehailing service that started in 2018 with its signature neon blue rental mopeds and graduated to an all-Tesla Model Y ridehail alternative to Uber and Lyft. Having grown that operation quickly, it’s now moving into the charging business in a big way,” says The Verge in a report.
Revel announced in January this year that it would build five “Superhub” fast-charging sites across the city in addition to the one it operates in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. These hubs will add another 136 charging stations and will serve any EV, not just Revel’s ridehailing vehicles. The current plans call for 60 stalls in Maspeth, Queens; 30 stalls in the Bronx’s Port Morris; 20 stalls in Red Hook, Brooklyn; 16 stalls at The Dime building in South Williamsburg; and an additional 10 stalls at Pier 36 in the Lower East Side between the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges, The Verge report added.
Acccording to The New York Times, ownership rates of electric cars have more than doubled in New York City and the surrounding area. In 2020, there were about three electric vehicles per 1,000 people in the New York City metro region (excluding locations in Connecticut, which didn’t collect data by county); today that number has more than doubled to about seven vehicles per 1,000, NYT report said quoting data from Atlas Public Policy, a research firm.
Today there are about 158,000 electric vehicles in the New York City metro region — and that number is expected to increase tenfold by 2030, analysts say.The five boroughs have the most electric cars, about 27,000, according to Atlas Public Policy.
The governors of New York and New Jersey have pledged that by 2035 all new vehicles sold in their states must produce zero carbon emissions, and Connecticut is considering a similar rule.
400 More Licenses Being Offered
Beginning March 29, 2023, at 10am, 400 new For-Hire Vehicle (FHV) licenses will be available for electric vehicles (EVs). The process will be similar to the 600 licenses released on March 15, except that there is a limit of 25 Statements of Interest and subsequent applications under one Social Security Number (SSN) or Employer Identification Number (EIN). Each vehicle will require its own application (you may not apply for 25 licenses at once). The licenses will be non-transferable and distributed on a first-come-first-served basis.
According to an announcement by TLC, when applying for the EV licenses, please fill out and submit the Statement of Interest form which will be available at the TLC website at the following link: https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/