New York City considering installing electric bicycle charging stations
Electric bike riders in the Big Apple who need a place to charge up their e-bikes might soon find more options thanks to a plan being considered by the New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Electric bicycles, which are essentially normal pedal bicycles with the addition of a helper motor and battery, are common sights in most large cities around the world.
New York City has long been home to a large number of e-bikes used by commuters and delivery workers, though the numbers have skyrocketed after the city finally got with the times and legalized them in 2020.
While e-bikes are fairly common among commuters seeking to avoid the hassle of car ownership and the limitations of public transit, they’re even more popular with food delivery workers and bicycle couriers. As one of the busiest and most densely populated cities in the world, NYC poses unique challenges for efficient food delivery such as traffic congestion, limited parking, and the need for quick and agile navigation.
Electric bikes address these issues by providing a fast and cost-effective form of transportation. The electric assist allows riders to cover greater distances with less physical strain, enabling them to complete more deliveries in a shorter period of time.
Additionally, electric bikes require minimal maintenance and have lower fuel costs compared to cars or gasoline-powered scooters, making them an attractive choice for workers trying to maximize their income.
But with the increase in cheap electric bikes imported from budget factories overseas, there has also been an increase in li-ion battery fires.
These are usually sparked by the use or self-repair of damaged batteries or by using an improper aftermarket charger that is incompatible with the batteries.
While e-bike battery fires occur in a tiny fraction of all e-bikes operating in NYC, there have been a few fatalities linked to these fires so far this year.
NYC recently passed a measure that will ban non-UL certified electric bikes from being sold in the city. Now the New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is going a step further to try and provide a safe charging space for e-bikes, according to ABC.
The proposed plan would see e-bike charging stations installed throughout the city, though details relating to their design and implementation are sparse.
We’ve seen electric bike charging stations in other US cities, but they’re basically just a standard outdoor 120V electrical outlet.
In fact, any standard home electrical outlet can effectively become an e-bike charging station. Unlike electric cars, which generally use higher power electric vehicle charging stations, e-bikes charge with a small external charger just like a laptop. That makes it easy to provide charging infrastructure through simply installing outdoor outlets.
The effectiveness of such electric bike charging stations in New York City remains to be seen, especially since most electric bikes use slower chargers that can take between four to seven hours to fully recharge the battery.
Riders needing a quick top up can use a higher power charger to get around a third of a recharge in an hour, but faster charging speeds than that are usually not advisable on electric bikes that lack sophisticated cooling systems like those found in electric cars.
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The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 SEL is more expensive than the more basic SE, but it’s a better lease deal this month – here’s the lowdown.
The 2025 IONIQ 5 SE Standard Range is the cheapest lease deal right now because it can be leased for $199 per month over 24 months with $3,999 due at signing.
If you want to drive the 2025 IONIQ 5 SE Long Range, which adds an extra 73 miles of range and 57 horsepower, the monthly payment rises to $229 per month over 24 months, with $3,999 due at signing. As CarsDirect points out, that puts the effective monthly cost at $396, and that’s a fantastic deal relative to the SE Long Range’s price of $48,125.
But when we look at the SEL trim, things get interesting: You can upgrade to the $51,075 SEL model for just $10 more per month.
Hyundai cut $40 off the lease price of the 2025 IONIQ 5 SEL in March, giving it a monthly price of $406. CarsDirect reports that Hyundai is able to offer this great deal on the SEL trim because of the comparably high residual value (65% vs. 63%) and $750 more in lease cash ($12,250 vs. $11,500) factored into the payment than the SE Long Range.
The SEL and SE Long Range have the same powertrain, but that extra $10 a month gets you projector headlights, roof rails, a hands-free power liftgate, a power passenger seat, heated rear seats, rear climate control vents, a heated steering wheel, and other goodies.
These 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 offers are advertised in Los Angeles and are valid through March 31.
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Environment
Tesla is banned from Canada EV rebate program, gov freezes suspicous $43 million in rebates
Tesla has been banned from upcoming federal EV rebate programs in Canada as the government freezes the suspicious $43 million in rebates that Tesla claimed days before the program was paused earlier this year.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Tesla claimed $43 million in government rebates from the iZEV federal EV rebate program in Canada just a few days before the program was paused due to a lack of funds.
The move was suspicious as it would have required Tesla to deliver over 8,000 vehicles at just 4 locations on a weekend, which is physically impossible.
It is believed that Tesla preemptively filed for thousands of rebates after being made aware of the pause to ensure it wouldn’t run out in an anticipated surge in demand due to the program’s pause.
However, this tactic proved problematic. The government told other car dealers who actually delivered EVs before the end of the program that they couldn’t get the rebates, which were already applied to the customer purchases, as Tesla took most of the money for vehicles it likely didn’t deliver.
Today, Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s new transport minister, confirmed that the funds have been frozen until it can investigate precisely what happened with Tesla’s rebates.
Furthermore, Freeland confirmed that Tesla will be banned from future federal rebates for electric vehicles. In this case, it has more to do with the trade war launched by President Trump, whose biggest political donor is Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
She said (via the Toronto Star):
No payments will be made until we are confident that the claims are valid. I also directed my department to change the eligibility criteria for future iZEV programs to ensure that Tesla vehicles will not be eligible for incentives so long as the illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada.
The federal government is following the same strategy as some provinces. British Columbia has recently banned Tesla products from its EV charger rebate. Nova Scotia just announced that it has excluded Tesla from its $2,000 rebate at the purchase of a new EV.
Quebec just relaunched its own EV incentive program today. It will come into effect next week, and so far, Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles are still included in the list of eligible vehicles.
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XCharge North America (XCharge NA) and Hypercharge Networks are bringing bidirectional DC fast chargers to Canada, starting in British Columbia and Ontario.
The partnership will introduce XCharge NA’s battery-integrated GridLink 300 kW DC fast chargers that improve grid stability.
GridLink chargers are bidirectional, so they allow power to flow back into the grid or act as an off-grid energy source, contributing to overall grid stability. With a battery storage capacity of 215 kilowatt-hours (kWh), expandable up to 430 kWh, GridLink helps businesses avoid expensive grid upgrades and demand charges.
The chargers are capable of integrating directly with renewable energy sources like solar panels. This makes them ideal for regions still building out their electrical infrastructure to support rapid EV growth, particularly rural areas.
Under the deal, XCharge NA will supply the GridLink chargers, while Hypercharge will distribute them to automotive dealerships and other commercial customers throughout Canada. Hypercharge will manage software, customer support, and routine maintenance, and its team will receive special training from XCharge NA for more technical hardware repairs.
The partnership aims to address Canada’s rising demand for EV charging by making infrastructure more accessible and reliable. “We look forward to seeing how our GridLinks can help strengthen Canada’s grid stability, particularly in rural deployments, while also addressing the region’s growing demand for EVs and supporting electric transportation needs,” said Aatish Patel, cofounder and president of XCharge NA.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
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