Council approves rollout of curbside EV chargers

The City Council this week approved a measure under which the city will hire two companies to install 250 chargers along Boston streets to let people without their own driveways top up their battery-powered cars.

Mayor Wu has pushed for the program because in a city of renters and condo dwellers, many people who might otherwise go green can't because they have no easy way to charge their cars, even with the addition of chargers to municipal parking lots over the past couple of years. The city now has a total of 1,000 Level 2 chargers, but many are in private lots or garages and tend to be concentrated downtown,

In her request for council action, Wu said two vendors would install the units over a two-year period and then maintain them for up to ten years at no cost to the city. City Councilor Brian Worrell (Dorchester), who urged his colleagues to approve the measure, said that the city would hold hearings on every single one of the charging locations - which have yet to be specifically identified - to give nearby residents a say. He added that the companies would not be allowed to use the chargers as ad platforms.

The council voted 12-1 to let the city finalize contracts with two vendors and begin to identify potential charging locations.

Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) cast the lone no vote.

Flynn said he would vote no because only a handful of councilors showed up at a hearing Worrell held on the proposal on Tuesday and he thinks the matter should stay in committee until more of his colleagues can show up and learn more about the issue.

"It's a complicated issue," he said, adding he himself is not yet convinced the program will have no costs for the city and that, especially as a district councilor, he has concerns about issues such as the removal of regular parking spaces and access for people with mobility issues.

That brought exasperation from Councilor Julia Mejia (at large), who noted that just a month earlier, Flynn had demanded - and got - an immediate vote on a federal public-safety grant even though the council's four newest members, elected in November, had not had a chance to attend a hearing and learn more about the matter.

Councilors, she said, really need to be consistent in how they vote, she said. "We keep going back and forth," on which issues get quick action and which are sent back to committees for further study. "I really would appreciate a little bit more consistency in terms of how we're picking and choosing which battles we're going to fight."

Watch the hearing: