Portal seeks input on 25 locations proposed by NYC DOT and allows for the public to suggest additional locations
NYC DOT’s proposed locations for e-bike battery swapping cabinets.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Mike Flynn today launched a public portal for New Yorkers to help determine the locations of roughly 25 e-bike battery swapping cabinets across the city.
E-bike battery swapping cabinets 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 work here — their jobs, their dreams, their lives reflected in the infrastructure we invest in,” said Mayor Mamdani. “These 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. I’m proud to help bring New Yorkers’ voices into this citywide rollout, and I’m eager to see how people shape it through the public portal.”
“E-bikes are an efficient, sustainable way to get around the city — and thousands of delivery workers rely on them every day,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn. “These battery swapping 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 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 Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), 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 fire-proof structures as well as include battery health monitoring and fire suppression systems.
NYC DOT and the FDNY will work in tandem 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 this 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 2026.
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,” said FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore. “As part of this effort, the Department is extending the filing deadline for the outdoor installation of grandfathered charging cabinets under the Letters of No Objection program through September 2026. From a fire prevention standpoint, this additional time is critical: it allows more Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories to come online for UL 1487 certification and will ensure these cabinets meet the highest safety standards. This measured approach supports the safe expansion of charging infrastructure, reduces the risks associated with lithium-ion batteries, and works to protect both delivery workers and the public.”
In 2024, NYC DOT conducted a successful six-month public e-bike battery charging pilot, which concluded that the cabinets were safe, well-used 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 an RFP process later this year and accessed by users through that vendor’s membership program.
The new battery swapping cabinets are part of NYC DOT’s Public E-Bike Charging (PEC) program. NYC DOT 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. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Clean Mobility Program is supporting this program by funding the electrical connections required to install the battery-swapping cabinets.
The sites NYC DOT identified for public feedback also meet clearances set by the agency and by the FDNY and are informed by NYC DOT’s Pedestrian Mobility Plan to maintain walkways that keep our sidewalks accessible.
NYC 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 approximately 25 locations to initiate the project’s design phase. NYC DOT aims to bring power to the finalized locations with cabinets available for use starting in 2028.
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