#CruisingPeachy itselectric Announces New Partnership with Trust for Governors Island

itselectric will install curbside charging technology on the Island, allowing the Trust to move towards a zero-emissions fleet of operational vehicles

In an excit­ing step for­ward in Gov­er­nors Island's sus­tain­abil­i­ty efforts, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and EV charg­ing start­up its­e­lec­tric announced today a new part­ner­ship to install com­pact, curb­side vehi­cle charg­ing tech­nol­o­gy on the Island, allow­ing the Trust to move towards a zero-emis­sions fleet of oper­a­tions vehi­cles and pro­vid­ing a mod­el for low-impact curb­side charg­ing in cities around the world.

"From urban air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing to com­pact aquapon­ic sys­tems, we are proud to show­case inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy that will help cities and their res­i­dents fight cli­mate change," said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. "This new part­ner­ship with its­e­lec­tric is the per­fect exam­ple of what's pos­si­ble here on Gov­er­nors Island, enabling us to mod­ern­ize our fleet of oper­a­tions vehi­cles while dra­mat­i­cal­ly cut­ting our emis­sions and demon­strat­ing the excit­ing future of cli­mate solu­tions for New York City and cities around the world."

"Our part­ner­ship with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is a tes­ta­ment to the way enti­ties of any size can lead progress toward decar­boniza­tion through break­ing down bar­ri­ers to EV adop­tion," said Judy Chang, Project Direc­tor at its­e­lec­tric. "We're proud to bring our sleek urban charg­ers, deploy­able in just days, to the Island in sup­port of its tran­si­tion to an all-elec­tric oper­a­tions fleet, mak­ing the air even clean­er for every­one who vis­its. This col­lab­o­ra­tion reflects our mis­sion to address press­ing cli­mate chal­lenges by lever­ag­ing exist­ing infra­struc­ture in any urban envi­ron­ment — from a 172-acre, car-free island to the biggest cities in the country."

Empire State Devel­op­ment Pres­i­dent, CEO and Com­mis­sion­er Hope Knight said, "Empire State Development's $500,000 seed invest­ment in 'it's elec­tric' through NY Ven­tures is already bear­ing fruit, as evi­denced by this excit­ing deploy­ment on Gov­er­nors Island. By back­ing inno­v­a­tive cli­mate tech­nolo­gies like their com­pact charg­ing sta­tions at an ear­ly stage, we're not only pow­er­ing the island's elec­tric fleet but also dri­ving for­ward New York's com­mit­ment to clean ener­gy. This project rep­re­sents promis­ing progress since our ini­tial invest­ment, and we hope it's just the first of many future deploy­ments across New York State."

Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City's most unique pub­lic places, with sev­en miles of car-free streets and path­ways allow­ing for safe recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties and pro­vid­ing a bucol­ic atmos­phere for a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of year-round ten­ants and sea­son­al part­ners. The Trust main­tains a small fleet of vehi­cles to allow staff to effec­tive­ly care for the Island's 120 acres of open space and is com­mit­ted to pri­or­i­tiz­ing elec­tric vehi­cles to help move to net-zero oper­a­tions. To sup­port these goals, its­e­lec­tric will install five of its Level‑2 charg­ing posts across the Island and inside the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal for oper­a­tional use. This unique tech­nol­o­gy con­nects behind-the-meter to draw spare elec­tri­cal sup­ply from adja­cent build­ings, lever­ag­ing exist­ing resources and pro­vid­ing a mod­el for wide­spread instal­la­tion. its­e­lec­tric charg­ing posts have pre­vi­ous­ly been installed in Brook­lyn, New York, Detroit, Michi­gan, with a crit­i­cal focus on front­line and Jus­tice 40 com­mu­ni­ties to bring afford­able, equi­table, curb­side EV charg­ing to city dri­vers across the Unit­ed States.

Today's announce­ment is the lat­est in Gov­er­nors Island's recent progress towards wide spread zero-emis­sions trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture. In March 2023, New York City May­or Eric Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced that the Island would be home to New York City's first pub­lic, hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, which is sched­uled to begin ser­vice lat­er this year. Fol­low­ing that announce­ment, New York City was award­ed a $7.48 mil­lion grant from the US Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture on Gov­er­nors Island, which will enable the Island's new hybrid elec­tric fer­ry to oper­ate 100% elec­tric with bat­tery-only propulsion.

This tech­nol­o­gy joins sev­er­al oth­er inno­va­tions cur­rent­ly being demon­strat­ed on Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing indoor aquapon­ic farm­ing (GrowNYC), com­mu­ni­ty sci­ence air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing (South Bronx Unite), decen­tral­ized car­bon mon­i­tor­ing and mit­i­ga­tion (Vycarb), and post-con­sumer plas­tic recy­cling and repur­pos­ing (Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Man­u­fac­tur­ing). Through its cli­mate pilot­ing pro­gram, the Trust offers the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for star­tups, small busi­ness­es, non­prof­its, and entre­pre­neurs to test cli­mate solu­tions that address mit­i­ga­tion, adap­ta­tion, and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice. Solu­tions select­ed through the Trust's inau­gur­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge ear­li­er this year include urban sea­weed farm­ing (Sea­weed City), liv­ing shore­line con­struc­tion and cli­mate work­force devel­op­ment (RETI Cen­ter), coastal infra­struc­ture retro­fitting (Object Ter­ri­to­ries), decen­tral­ized point-of-use grey­wa­ter treat­ment (LAERO), mod­u­lar wet­land sys­tems (Just EcoC­i­ties), and IoT envi­ron­men­tal mon­i­tor­ing (Duro UAS). For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.govisland.org/climate.

With a unique water­front cam­pus envi­ron­ment; an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; a diverse and engaged audi­ence of near­ly one mil­lion vis­i­tors every year; cli­mate pilot­ing and edu­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties; a col­lec­tion of pub­lic art­works engag­ing direct­ly with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Beam Cen­ter, Wind Sup­port NYC, the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, and The New York Cli­mate Exchange — Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing cli­mate solu­tions built for cities.

Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For cur­rent fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.govisland.org/plan-your-visit.

About itselectric

Millions of drivers lack home or private garages and cannot transition to electric vehicles due to the lack of on-street charging. itselectric accelerates the adoption of EVs with its scalable and simple curbside charging solution ensuring that every community has access to clean, sustainable transportation options.

By making EV charging accessible to all, itselectric is actively reducing carbon emissions and promoting a greener future. Its "behind the meter" approach simplifies the installation process by eliminating the need for municipal coordination. Through partnerships with cities nationwide, itselectric manages the installation, operation, and maintenance of chargers at no cost to municipalities or building owners. This provides drivers with easy and affordable charging options while offering property owners monthly passive income and helping cities to meet their decarbonization targets.

To sign up for the waitlist, please visit itselectric.us/join.

About the Trust for Governors Island

The Trust for Governors Island is the nonprofit corporation created by the City of New York that is responsible for the redevelopment and operation of 150 acres of Governors Island. The Trust's mission is to realize the full potential of Governors Island for the inspiration and enjoyment of all New Yorkers, demonstrating a bold vision for public space. For more information, visit www.govisland.org.