At a ceremony in Midtown today, New York City showed off the first of more than 100 public Coulomb ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations it will be installing in the coming months. The stations are part of the $37 million ChargePoint America program, which will deploy 4,600 charging units throughout the country with the help of a $15 million Department of Energy grant.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and congressmen Jarrold Nadler and José Serrano were all on hand at the ceremony, which took place at an Edison Properties parking facility on 9th Avenue near 36th Street. Congressman Serrano touted HR-4399, a bill he introduced last December that would fund the deployment of 24,000 additional electric vehicle chargers throughout the United States.
"My district is the epicenter of the childhood asthma epidemic in New York," said Rep. Serrano. "There are plenty of good reasons for fleets and individuals to make the switch to electric vehicles, but the respiratory health of our children is paramount to me."
9th Avenue and 36th Street in Manhattan seems like a super odd place for a public charging station. I know it's symbolic, but still.