More Tesla Charging Stations Than Gas Stations In NYC Soon

The New York Post reports that Tesla Motors has embarked on a plan to expand its network of Manhattan charging stations to 105 by March 31. At present, there are only 40 gas stations in Manhattan and drivers of conventional cars are finding it can take longer to fill their tanks than Tesla owners need to recharge their batteries.

Most of those Tesla charge points will be what the company calls destination chargers. Less powerful than the company’s SuperCharger stations, they are intended for use when a car will be parked for at least an hour or more. Equivalent to a DC fast charger, they can add about 60 miles of range for every hour they are connected. A full charge usually takes less than 4 hours even if the battery is fully depleted.

As of this last week, Tesla had finished installing destination chargers in 68 private garages in the city. By this September, there will be a Tesla charging point roughly every three blocks in Manhattan, the company says. Until last year, Tesla had mainly installed its destination chargers at hotels and restaurants, spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson told The Post. “However, in an effort to tackle the need for urban charging, we expanded the program and partnered with public garages that offer parking both by the hour or the month,” she said.

“The garages have a better sense of what’s going on now,” says Paul Gardi, an Upper West Side resident who takes his Model S P85D to the office downtown a few times a week. “A year ago, the garages were saying, ‘Whoa, what’s this thing?’ But now, they know what to do — you can just leave it and say, ‘Plug it in,’ and come back in an hour.”

Another Tesla owner told The Post, “I can look at the Tesla app on my phone and see how many miles I’ve got. If it says I’m low, I call my garage and say, ‘Plug it in for me.’ ” That makes driving an electric car even more convenient than driving a gasoline powered vehicle, at least in New York City, where finding a gas station and getting a tank of gas can take as much as 40 minutes. There is no app for putting gas in your car.

Earlier this week, Tesla opened a 40,000-square-foot showroom and service garage in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Tesla also operates a showroom in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.

Photo Credit: John Engates/Flickr/Creative Commons