Brooklyn-based startup It’s Electric is revving up NYC’s electric vehicle charging game — installing public curbside chargers in front of commercial and residential properties and compensating owners for the electricity they provide.
This comes as the US aims for half of all cars sold to be electric by 2030. New York City alone expects EV registrations to jump from today’s 62,000 to about 3 million in that time frame.
But one big issue is finding where to charge the millions of new vehicles, particularly in cities like New York where few people have home driveways or garages and instead rely on street parking.
It’s Electric, which uses the tagline “Power from the People,” is aiming to help NYC’s charging network grow from 1,400 EV chargers to 10,000 by 2030.
The company’s charger is smaller than a fire hydrant. “We’ve removed the big, the bad and the ugly from charging stations,” co-founder Nathan King told NYNext.
Customers using the charger pay around $10 per session and can either download the company’s app or use a credit card to pay for the charge — and most of that money will be passed on to the person providing the location and the electrical connection.
“We’re just putting a little charger in front of someone’s building on their curbside,” Tiya Gordon, Nathan’s wife and co-founder added. “And they’re earning potentially thousands of dollars per year — offsetting their annual electric bill and putting money in their pocket.”
An average home-owning family in New York who shares access to their electricity could expect to make $3,500 a year for letting It’s Electric install a charger, according to the company’s estimates.
“And their electric bill never even goes up because we separately meter the use of our electricity that’s used by the charger,” Tiya said.
It’s Electric is focused on building so-called Level 2 chargers, which use comparatively little electricity but take between 4 and 10 hours to fully charge a vehicle. These are ideal for neighborhoods where people plan to charge their car overnight.
Level 3 chargers, like the ones at the newly opened hub from startup Gravity on 42nd street, can fully charge a car in less than an hour but require far more energy — which is why the Department of Transportation’s Office of Energy and Transportation are pushing for seven times more Level 2 than Level 3 chargers to be built.
It’s Electric has raised a total of $11.8 million from major venture capital firms like Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and Uber, which is betting the company can help it get more electrical vehicles into the ride-share business.
Despite the fact they’ve now raised millions, architect King, 49, and museum designer Gordon,46, said their relationship as a married couple was initially one of the biggest concerns for would-be investors.
