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Tesla Drivers Will Soon Find More Charging Stations in Manhattan
Paul Gardi with his Tesla P85D, center, in the garage where he parks it. Tesla is planning on rolling out charging stations in garages across New York City, which will improve charging time and convenience for owners like Mr. Gardi,  who currently uses a standard household outlet.Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Manhattan’s dense urban landscape should in theory be a perfect environment for electric cars. The stop-and-go-traffic and shorter distances most drivers travel are ideal for an electric-powered motor.

But with so many residents living in apartments, finding a parking spot to reliably charge such a car is a difficult proposition.

Tesla Motors, the maker of high-end electric cars, will announce plans on Thursday aimed at making commuting into Manhattan with its Model S sedan, or living there while owning one, easier. The company will unveil a partnership with two dozen garages around Manhattan, which will offer higher-speed, 240-volt chargers for Tesla owners to power up their cars.

Tesla has already built a network of so-called superchargers along major highways, to help provide quick recharging while traveling. And over the last year, the company has been quietly rolling out what it calls “destination chargers” at resorts, parks and restaurants around the country.

But the foray into urban parking garages is a first for Tesla, which acknowledges that city dwellers in places like New York face a tougher time finding an easy way to charge.

“We wanted to move to an urban charging network that meets the needs of those who live in apartments or commute into a big city,” said Alexis Georgeson, a Tesla spokeswoman. “Naturally, Manhattan was the place to try this for the first time.”

The plan, Ms. Georgeson said, is to offer Tesla owners the ability to park by the hour, day, week or even month, at participating garages — which initially include two dozen locations stretching from Wall Street up to 94th Street. Over the coming months, the company plans to sign several dozen more locations to the network.

But unlike Tesla’s highway superchargers, the electricity will not be free for Tesla owners. Each garage will determine how much, if any, cost will be added to their existing parking fees, Ms. Georgeson said.

Paul Gardi, a 49-year-old technology entrepreneur and West Side resident, came home with his new Model S P85D edition (the fastest version of the car) in May. He said he had loved driving it around the city this summer, and out to the Hamptons, but finding a place to park and charge it had been a challenge.

“It’s a difficult thing with this car,” Mr. Gardi said. “Everything else is fantastic; it’s just this one thing.”

Currently, Mr. Gardi’s Tesla sits in a garage 15 blocks away from his apartment, where he is allowed to plug in the car directly to an ordinary wall socket hidden in the back. A full charge can take two to three days, as the socket adds barely four miles of range each hour.

By contrast, the Tesla chargers coming to New York garages can add 58 miles of range per hour, enabling a full charge in three to four hours. (Not as fast as Tesla’s highway superchargers, which do it in about a half-hour.)

Mr. Gardi said he planned to take advantage of the new chargers, and would consider moving his car to a garage nearby that offered them.

A number of well-known New York parking companies have signed up to electrify some of their garages, including ParkIt, Quik Park, iPark, Champion and Prime Parking Systems. A few hotels, like the Waldorf Astoria, will also participate.

Read more http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/640387/s/48f16e58/sc/28/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A150C0A80C130Cbusiness0Ctesla0Edrivers0Ewill0Esoon0Efind0Emore0Echarging0Estations0Ein0Emanhattan0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm


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