Get ’em off sidewalk
Push for off-street electric scooter charging
A Queens-based company wants to solve a big issue other cities have had with electric scooter companies: keeping the two-wheelers from littering public sidewalks.
Charge, which operates out of Long Island City, hopes to set up charging docks for electric scooters and bicycles in parking garages and large pedestrian plazas, like the ones around Penn Station.
The company doesn’t sell any scooters — only the infrastructure required to charge them.
It plans to cut deals with scooter companies like Lime and Uber-owned Bird, which currently employ contractors to scoop up and charge their equipment.
Charge has joined an army of “micromobility” lobbyists who are pushing lawmakers in Albany to approve a bill to let municipalities decide whether or not to permit electric scooters and bikes on their streets.
Gov. Cuomo included language to give the green light to scooter companies in his budget proposal this year, but it was taken out after Manhattan representatives raised concerns over the impact on the borough’s public spaces.
“We don’t think that NYC has the ample sidewalk space to properly do this,” said Charge CEO Andrew Fox.
“There are still pedestrians on sidewalks who deserve the right not to have to climb over things. That’s what we’re seeing in California right now, a tremendous amount of micromobility devices littering the streets.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy last week signed legislation legalizing e-bikes and scooters with some speed limit restrictions.
Charge is currently gearing up to launch in Los Angeles, Atlanta and a handful of other markets where electric scooter sharing is sanctioned.
Lime, one of the biggest players in the electric scooter sharing market, has stated publicly its equipment should be dockless, putting their program at odds with Charge’s proposition.
But Lime’s strategy — leveraging a network of freelancers dubbed “Juicers” to charge their scooters — comes with safety concerns. Many of those workers charge the scooters at home, not in regulated facilities.
Fox says Charge hired former FDNY Commissioner Sal Cassano to consult on safety measures to prevent fire hazards at charging stations.
The company has secured more than 300 locations across the city to set up its chargers, but is now waiting for lawmakers to act.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) last month proposed new legislation to legalize electric scooters and bikes, but has been hit with the same kind of pushback that Cuomo’s proposal received earlier in the year.