NYC Drops 360kW EV Chargers in Queens for Taxi Drivers

For taxi and rideshare drivers in Queens, every minute spent waiting to charge an electric vehicle is money lost. Now, New York City is meeting them where they are.

The city just opened a new charging station in downtown Flushing with eight 360-kilowatt fast chargers that can juice up an EV to 80% in about 10 to 15 minutes. The location wasn't random: more than a third of New York's taxi and rideshare drivers live in Queens, and this neighborhood has had limited access to affordable charging until now.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, NYC Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn, and the New York Power Authority cut the ribbon on the station at a municipal parking lot. Drivers won't pay extra for parking while they charge, removing another barrier that professional drivers face when switching to electric.

This is just the beginning. The city plans to open 10 charging hubs over the next year, bringing 66 fast chargers to municipal lots across Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Two more Queens locations in Bayside and Rosedale will open in the coming weeks.

The timing matters. New York City now has more than 79,000 registered electric vehicles, making up about 25% of all EVs in New York State. That number jumped 14% in just one year.

The Ripple Effect

When professional drivers can charge quickly and affordably, it changes the equation for going electric. For taxi and rideshare drivers, vehicle costs directly impact their livelihood, and range anxiety combined with long charging times has kept many from making the switch.

These new charging hubs remove that obstacle. Twelve chargers are already running at LaGuardia Airport specifically for rideshare drivers, and seven more locations are scheduled to open through early 2027 in neighborhoods from Brighton Beach to Rockaway Park.

Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas highlighted what this means for working families: "By expanding access to affordable, high-speed EV charging in communities with limited infrastructure and a high concentration of TLC drivers, we are making it easier for working New Yorkers to transition to electric vehicles while reducing harmful emissions."

The city's push is part of its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but it's also responding to real demand on the ground. As more New Yorkers choose electric vehicles, the infrastructure is finally catching up in the neighborhoods that need it most.

Sometimes progress looks like meeting people exactly where they are.