itselectric, a Brooklyn-born electric vehicle (EV) curbside charging company, has cut the ribbon with the City of Boston on the country’s first behind-the-meter public curbside charger in Roslindale.
As buildings and transportation make up nearly all of Boston’s carbon emissions, Boston’s commitment to ensuring every household is within a five-minute walk of a public EV charging station is part of its broader Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become completely carbon neutral by 2050.
Boston is leading the way among American cities by being the first to install building-powered curbside EV chargers with a detachable cable. Itselectric’s solution will help Boston meet its carbon reduction targets and eliminate its capital expenditures by completely avoiding the utility infrastructure connections and upgrades normally needed to support public charging.
With hundreds more chargers planned across the year, EVs are bound to transform how drivers who park on the street can overcome the barrier of at-home charging.
“For too long, EV ownership has been limited to people with a private driveway or garage. This is a crucial equity issue for the 70 million drivers across the United States who park on the street and who need access to convenient and affordable public charging to make the switch to EVs. Forward-thinking cities like Boston are leading the way to deploy curbside charging for their residents, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them on this exciting initiative,” said itselectric’s Director of ublic affairs, Shannon Dulaney.
Boston’s climate-forward thinking about infrastructure has led the city to establish a public-private partnership with itselectric and its innovative, low footprint Level 2 chargers. itselectric’s chargers will help the city demonstrate a successful, scalable model of deploying EV charging stations in the public right-of-way.
These chargers are readymade for cities thanks to two key design foundations: detachable cables and a behind the meter connection. Detachable cables, which are already widely adopted across the EU and the UK, are provided by itselectric to each driver so no cables are in the public right of way (sidewalks) when a car is not charging, making the chargers idealfor Boston’s historic streets.
The behind-the-meter connection gives property owners an opportunity to earn revenue by receiving a percentage of the fees paid for charging by drivers but also bypasses the utility, adding no additional stress to the electrical grid and allowing for a much faster installation.
Residential and commercial property owners in Boston have a unique opportunity to become property partners by rethinking their curbs and applying immediately for a curbside charger at no cost to themselves or the city. itselectric manages the installation and maintains the chargers creating a community centered approach that provides properties throughout Boston with: added revenue, tenant retention, boosted property values, and charging at their door. .
Roslindale welcomes the first charger, with more across dozens of Boston neighborhoods planned for the year. With a behind the meter connection, itselectric can install in just two days, making rapid expansion infinitely possible. Soon more buildings in Boston can soon call themselves home to the next era of EV chargers.
Filed Under: Charging, Technology News