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APRIL 23 - 29, 2026
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Battery swap cabinets aim to reduce fires New York City launched a public portal for New E-bike battery-swapping cabinets to provide safe charging stations where electric micromobility users can plug in dead batteries and pick up full ones. The infrastructure, which is available to all New Yorkers, is essential for delivery workers, who — without access to battery swapping — often have to carry multiple heavy batteries to last a full shift. “We’re building a city around the people who live and wo rk h e r e — their jobs, their dreams, their lives reflected in the infrastructure we invest in,” Mayor Zohran MamdaZohran MaMdani n i s a i d i n a Mayor n ew s re l e a s e. “T hese e-bike battery swapping cabinets are about supporting workers, making our city safer and embracing the kinds of transportation New Yorkers are already turning to in growing numbers.” The battery swapping cabinets are designed to mitigate the risk of fires caused by lithium-ion e-bike batteries, which are often linked to the use of uncertified or low-quality batteries, improper charging in residential buildings, lack of safe storage spaces and educational gaps around safe battery handling Each cabinet will include batteries that meet the highest fire safety standards set by the city’s fire department, encourage the use of certified batteries and build confidence in the safety of e-bike charging across the city. Cabinets will be weather-resistant, theft-proof and fireproof structures as well as include battery health monitoring and fire suppression systems. “E-bikes are an efficient, sustainable way to get around the city — and thousands of delivery workers rely on them every day,” Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said in the release. “These battery swapping
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e’re building a city around the people who live and work here.
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
The city launched a public portal for New E-bike battery-swapping cabinets. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, above, spoke in Brooklyn about trash containerization on April 17. cabinets will make charging safer and more accessible on the job. We’re also inviting New Yorkers to weigh in through a new portal to help us place them where they’ll work best and have the biggest impact.” The city’s DOT and fire department will work together to ensure all cabinets and batteries are properly certified to applicable UL standards and that all sites meet required clearances prior to installation. To support the effort, the FDNY is extending the filing deadline for the outdoor installation of grandfathered charging cabinets under the Letters of
No Objection program through September. The extension gives more time for cabinet installation application submissions and allows more Nationally Recognized Certified Labs to come online for UL 1487 testing. “Public safety is at the core of everything the FDNY does,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said in the release. In 2024, DOT conducted a successful six-month public e-bike battery charging pilot, which concluded that the cabinets were safe, wellused and convenient for delivery
workers. Pilot participants reported that the battery-swapping services allowed them to complete more deliveries during a shift. The battery-swapping cabinets will be owned and operated by a vendor, or vendors, selected through a frequest for proposal process later this year and accessed by users through that vendor’s membership program. The new battery swapping cabinets are part of DOT’s Public E-Bike Charging program. The city identified a focus area of Manhattan, Inner Queens, Inner Brooklyn and the South Bronx, the areas having the highest concentration of delivery activity and with a large portion of those delivery trips made on e-bikes. City DOT will review the public’s comments on the preliminary sites, refine the list of locations based on this input and develop a prioritized list of roughly 25 locations to initiate the project’s design phase. The city aims to bring power to the finalized locations with cabinets available for use starting in 2028. “[NYS Energy Research and Development Authority] has provided support for flexible, accessible and affordable mobility choices throughout New York City,” the authority’s president and CEO Doreen M. Harris said in the release. “NYC DOT’s new online portal will allow residents to submit recommendations on where they think safe, effective battery charging should be located in neighborhoods — which is essential to ensure that e-bike use is as effective as it can be for those living and working each day in those communities.” The portal can be accessed at NYCdotprojects.info/project. — Jeffrey Bessen