Driving in New York City feels like a competitive sport. You're constantly dodging potholes, circling blocks for parking spots, watching the clock for street-cleaning rules, and snaking through some of the worst traffic in the country.

Yet New York remains stubbornly car-centric. It is also increasingly embracing electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, whose combined registrations topped 81,000 in September.

That creates a huge problem. If you live in a suburban house with a garage, charging an EV can be relatively easy with a home charger. In New York, where many drivers live in apartments and park on the street, charging can be an entirely different challenge.

While new fast chargers keep opening across the five boroughs, the city's dense streets, high real-estate costs, and lengthy permitting processes put a limit on how quickly they can be built. And not every charging session needs to be at a high-powered station. For many city dwellers, the ideal charger is one they can plug into while they're doing something else for a few hours.

That's where having more Level 2 charging curbside and in parking lots comes in. These chargers are significantly cheaper to use than fast chargers, and can top up an EV in roughly between 6 to 8 hours depending on the battery size.

Unless you’re a rideshare driver requiring frequent fast charging, cars spend most of their time stationary anyway. Having more Level 2 plugs where cars sit for prolonged time periods is not only more cost efficient for owners, but also puts less stress on the battery while charging.

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