Bike Battery-Swapping Kiosks Coming to Lower Manhattan
The City’s Department of Transportation plans to install two outdoor battery swapping cabinets in Lower Manhattan, primarily to help delivery workers using electric bikes.
The cabinets will operate on a subscription basis, allowing members using an app to scan a QR code, insert a depleted battery, and receive in its place a newly replenished unit. This will save time for delivery workers—who typically need an additional fresh battery at least once per shift—by eliminating the need to stop making deliveries while they charge batteries.
At the June 3 meeting of the Transportation Committee of Community Board 1, Elaine Hsieh, DOT’S e-bike charging manager, discussed the issue of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries. “There are two main reasons for these battery fires,” she said. “The first is uncertified batteries, or low-quality, wet batteries. The other is improper charging practices.”
The DOT’s plan for battery cabinets aims to address both of these hazards. The automated kiosks will monitor battery health, and contain fire detection and suppression systems.
A 2022 study by the City’s Department of Worker and Consumer Protection documented that more than 65,000 New Yorkers worked as food delivery workers in 2022, with 46 percent using e-bikes. They are almost exclusively independent contractors, rather than employees of app firms such as DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. As a result, they do not receive benefits such as health insurance, paid sick leave, or workers’ compensation for injuries. On average, the study found, the net earnings (including tips) of these delivery workers came to $11.12 an hour.
Adding to the difficulties faced by such workers, the rash of fires associated with lithium-ion batteries in recent years (which have caused 30 deaths and 400 injuries, according to the DOT) has caused many landlords to ban e-bike charging within their buildings.
Using a $3-million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the DOT plans to install 25 battery-swapping cabinets throughout Manhattan and in parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. For Lower Manhattan, the agency has selected two sites on Water Street: between Fletcher and John Streets and at the intersection with Gouverneur Lane.
Construction is slated to start in early 2027. Ms. Hsieh noted that the most expensive and complicated part of the project is creating high-voltage conduits to bring the necessary current to the sites of the charging cabinets.