| By Alicia Clanton Sitting behind the wheel of her gray Tesla Model Y, Brooklyn resident Stephanie Doba uses her phone to punch the make, model and license plate number of a Toyota Camry into New York City's online form for reporting illegal parking. Prompted to describe the issue, she answers with voice-to-text: "Gas car parking at electric vehicle charging station." Doba has made at least 10 such reports since New York City set up curbside EV chargers near her Park Slope home three years ago. Some days she walks to the tree-lined street where the public plugs are installed just to check if they're being ICEd — EV-speak for when curbside chargers are blocked by internal-combustion cars. "People need to know that they're hurting actual people," Doba says. "It's like if you parked your car at a gas pump and [walked] away." Doba's frustration is familiar to many of the New York City area's intrepid EV converts. The city has announced plans to install 40,000 Level 2 plugs and 6,000 fast chargers by 2030. But today there are around 2,200 public plugs citywide, 10% of them fast. Uneven distribution means even infrequent issues with damaged equipment or blocked spots can have an outsized impact. When the city reviewed 18 months of usage data across 100 chargers, it found that gas cars blocked them 20% of the time.  An internal-combustion Toyota Camry blocks a FLO EV charger near Stephanie Doba's home in Park Slope. Photographer: Alicia Clanton/Bloomberg New York City aims to reduce vehicle emissions as part of its 2050 net-zero goal, by which point the city also wants electric cars to account for 20% of new vehicle registrations. But getting there will require a robust and reliable charging network: While 80% of US EV drivers charge at home, about half of NYC's drivers depend on street parking. In 2021, the city's Department of Transportation partnered with utility Consolidated Edison and EV charging company FLO on a pilot program to install 100 curbside Level 2 chargers across the five boroughs. Since then, hundreds more public chargers have been installed by private firms, including Tesla and EVgo. Still, it's been slow going: Grid limitations, community input requirements and competing municipal uses of curbside space all influence how many chargers can be installed and where. Read More: The US Now Has a Fast Charger for Every 15 Gas Stations As more chargers come to more neighborhoods, finding an available plug in and around New York will get easier; the city says it's also working with police to boost enforcement at public stations. In the meantime, though, Doba isn't alone in finding creative workarounds. Across the Hudson River in Jersey City, Sal Cameli bought his first EV in 2012. Today he has two Nissan Leafs, which he rarely drives, and one Model Y. But Cameli doesn't have a garage or driveway to charge in. Instead, he hired an electrician to craft a 19-foot cable that plugs into a dryer hookup in his kitchen. The cable runs through a window and out to the street, where it's fastened to a signpost to prevent tripping.  The charger plugs into a dryer hookup in Cameli's kitchen. Photographer: Sarah Blesener/Sarah Blesener for Bloomberg "In this neighborhood back then, there were no chargers at all," Cameli says. "There was downtown Jersey City, but that's 2.3 miles away. I'm not going to plug in there and then walk home." On nights when Cameli needs to use his charger, his biggest challenge is securing parking close enough for the cable to reach. That's where the Nissans come in: One Leaf holds a spot by the signpost during the day, while Cameli is out and about in the Tesla. The other Leaf is parked behind the first one. When Cameli gets home, he moves the placeholder car, then parks the Tesla in its spot and parks the second Leaf at an angle to protect the protruding charger plug from a sideswipe. Cameli says a full charge costs him $13.65 — $15 in summer — compared with $18 at the charging station that was installed near his apartment a few years ago. He charges the Tesla every four days and drives it about 12,500 miles (2,010 kilometers) per year; the Leafs get charged every six weeks. Cameli pegs his annual charging costs at just under $500.  Cameli fastens the EV charger from his home window to a signpost. Photographer: Sarah Blesener/Bloomberg As more urban drivers adopt EVs, densely populated areas like New York will have to implement their own clever solutions. Many electric enthusiasts, including Doba and Cameli, dream of a future with more creative infrastructure, like lamp-post that double as chargers or curbsides with wireless charging built into the pavement. "Imagine all of Broadway — down from the tip of Manhattan all the way up to the park — that every single parking spot has wireless charging," Cameli says. "Wouldn't that be amazing?" Read and share a full version of this story on Bloomberg.com. Read more on electric cars: For unlimited access to climate and energy news and original data and graphics reporting, please subscribe. -
A waste-to-fuel company is on the verge of collapse. Fulcrum BioEnergy, which raised more than $1 billion to turn household waste into fuels for planes and trucks, recently laid off nearly all of its staff. -
Chief sustainability officers are struggling to find their footing. A survey of more than 100 US sustainability executives found that only one-third of CSOs report directly to the chief executive officer. -
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The UK is ready to crack down on greenwashing. New requirements will force the finance sector to review everything from marketing materials to bond prospectuses. -
The world's largest nuclear plant is sitting idle. More than a decade after the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant was shuttered, a debate over restarting it is testing Japan's appetite for imported fuels.  The Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in April 2021. Kyodo News As climate change makes weather more extreme, Mozambique's Beira is modeling best practices for adaptation. Since Cyclone Idai damaged most of the city's buildings in 2019, Beira has built an early warning system, added sea barriers, planted more trees to absorb water and improved its drainage. All told, Mozambique's fourth-largest city is now an example of how cities can better prepare for looming disasters.  Beira, Mozambique, on March 20, 2024. Photographer: Douglas Condzo/Bloomberg The world needs radical solutions to address global warming and climate change. Join us in Seattle July 10-13 for the inaugural Bloomberg Green Festival, a groundbreaking celebration of thinkers, doers and innovators leading the way into a new climate era. The festival will immerse attendees in solutions-driven experiences with world-renowned experts to inspire climate action. Secure your tickets today. Depending on who you ask, AI is either going to save the world or end it. This week on Zero, Priya Donti, professor of electrical engineering and AI at MIT, describes some of the ways artificial intelligence is already being used in the climate fight — from agriculture to the energy grid. Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, or Spotify to get new episodes each week. | 
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