The City of New York recently enacted a law that sets the pace for installation of electric vehicle (EV) chargers. Commercial and residential property owners must now meet the new law’s requirements, while also assessing and addressing the demand for EV chargers from the users of their properties. The combination of the two demands will determine how fast they must install EV chargers.
The recently enacted Local Law 55 of 2024 requires owners of parking garages and parking lots with 10 or more spaces to install Level 2 EV chargers in 20% of parking spots and ensure an additional 40% of parking spots are capable of supporting Level 2 EV chargers by January 1, 2035. This would entail electrical service capacity for these future chargers and raceway for the future wiring. There are exceptions to the law — notably if meeting these requirements would jeopardize structural integrity.
The demand from users of specific properties will determine how quickly the parking spots capable of supporting EV chargers will need to have chargers installed. Fortunately, property owners can determine that and respond accordingly.
The local law’s requirements respond to the fact that the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions is transportation. Road travel accounts for three-quarters of transportation emissions globally, with 45% of that coming from passenger vehicles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. As a result, the United States has set a goal that by 2030, half of all new vehicles sold in the nation will be zero-emissions vehicles, including electric or plug-in hybrids.
To meet that goal, an extensive EV charger infrastructure must be in place, and creating it is underway. The U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 includes $7.5 billion to build out the first-ever national network of EV chargers, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 off ers expanded federal tax credits to persuade more businesses to add chargers.
Building the infrastructure is crucial to convincing the car-buying public that charging EVs will be easy and speedy. That’s where New York City’s new local law comes in.
Property owners in turn must determine the pace for their own properties, which may exceed that set by the city. Fortunately, property owners have one great advantage in determining that pace for themselves — typically, they know the people using their facilities. They can be surveyed to determine just what that pace should be.
The surveyed needs should address two primary categories: electric cars (largely serving office workers, employees and other tenants) and commercial fleets (cars, trucks and other vehicles owned by the facilities or their institutional clients). Once the number of needed chargers is known, infrastructure improvements can be planned and made. The existing electrical infrastructure can be evaluated, needed improvements identified and designed, costs and incentives assessed and phased plans put in place.
Institutional fleets raise a separate set of infrastructure concerns, as they are typically charged only on-site; they may all need to be charged on the same schedule, as with school buses and they may need to be constantly available in emergencies, such as snowstorms.
Refueling speeds are then crucial to efficiency. Level 3 chargers, for instance, can provide three to 20 miles of range per minute, compared to a Level 1 residential charger’s three to five miles of range per hour. Level 2 chargers offer around 32 miles of range per hour.
For now, the cost of electric trucks and buses is prohibitive for most uses, but those costs may decline over time. That trend must thus be monitored, too.
The survey of needs can determine not only whether those being surveyed drive electric cars but where else they may be charging them. How much do they need to rely on EV charging at the specific commercial or residential property?
Commercial and residential property owners can then create a strategy for installing these EV chargers that makes financial sense from the outset. The investment has three primary cost factors: the upfront infrastructure upgrade required, the financial incentives available and the potential for the upfront cost to be reimbursed over time through a nominal surcharge (perhaps 10 cents per hour per charge) beyond the energy consumed by each vehicle.
Government and utility incentives such as the federal tax credit are often available, and can cover 50% or more of the cost. The extent of incentives can be affected by location and type of property.
That strategy may involve just meeting the requirements of Local Law 55 of 2024. It could also accelerate that pace with users of individual properties expecting more. Commercial and residential property owners will be in the vital position of deciding what pace is needed and thereby enabling New York City and the nation to meet their stated ambitions.
Daniel Colombini, P.E. LEED AP
Principal
Vinod Palal, P.E., LEED AP BD+C
Principal
Goldman Copeland Consulting Services
1430 Broadway, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10018
(212)868-4660