Two Upper East Side Battery-Swapping Stations Just Cleared a Key Vote

A city plan to install two e-bike battery-swapping cabinets on Upper East Side sidewalks cleared its first hurdle with the neighborhood this week, when Community Board 8’s Transportation Committee voted Wednesday night to back both proposed sites. But the recommendation only got there after one board member tried to block it outright — and a handful of residents raised concerns of their own.

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The two spots — the northeast corner of Second Avenue and East 79th Street, at 1524 Second Avenue, and the southwest corner of First Avenue and East 73rd Street, at 1359 First Avenue — first surfaced back in April. The committee’s endorsement now moves to the full board, which takes it up at its July 15 meeting.

For anyone who hasn’t followed the mechanics: the cabinets are electrified lockers where a rider scans a QR code, drops in a drained battery, and walks off with a fully charged one in under a minute — no standing around waiting on a plug. Every battery inside is certified to national fire-safety standards, and the cabinets are built to be weatherproof, theft-resistant, and able to contain a fire if one starts inside. DOT is funding the buildout, roughly 25 cabinets citywide, with a $3 million state grant.

The whole thing traces back to a grim tally. Since 2022, cheap and uncertified lithium-ion batteries have been linked to more than 900 fires and over 30 deaths across the five boroughs, many of them started by riders charging spare batteries inside their apartments. “There have been lithium-ion battery fires throughout the city, over 900 in the last couple of years,” DOT e-bike charging manager Elaine Hsieh told the committee, pinning most of them on two causes — low-quality batteries and improper charging. The bet is that a safe, fast place to swap on the street means fewer batteries plugged in overnight next to someone’s bed.

Not everyone at the meeting was convinced the timing is right. Board member Michele Birnbaum moved against the plan, arguing the city shouldn’t keep building infrastructure for e-bikes while the rules governing them are still unsettled. “I don’t see it as appropriate to build out the infrastructure at this time,” she said, adding that the swap stations look built for delivery companies and ought to be paid for by private business or tucked onto gas-station lots rather than public sidewalk. She was the lone opponent.

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Most of the committee landed the other way, casting the cabinets as a safety fix that can’t wait on Albany. “We are not going to make e-bikes go away, and so we need to make sure that they are as safe as possible, right now,” board member Lori Bores said. Several members circled back to the same sore spot: who foots the bill. Under the current model, the riders themselves — many of them delivery workers — would pay a membership fee to whichever vendor DOT picks through a request for proposals later this year, while the delivery apps that profit from those same workers pay nothing. Members pressed DOT to lean on the City Council to change that, and Hsieh and her supervisor said shifting more of the cost onto the apps is the agency’s longer-term goal.

The 73rd Street site drew its own set of flags. Residents pointed out that the block already gets crowded around the Westville sidewalk café and its tree pits, and one neighbor suggested DOT look at the quieter, more residential stretch just around the corner — possibly paired with a daylighting effort at the intersection. The committee wrote flexibility into its recommendation, backing both sites while asking DOT to stay open to a better alternative near 73rd Street if one turns up.

Nothing is locked in. DOT still holds the pen on the final citywide list and is taking public comment through its online feedback portal until July 31. If the schedule holds, construction would start in early 2027, with the cabinets switched on in 2028. Residents who want to weigh in before the full board votes can do so at the July 15 meeting or through the portal.

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