First Public E-Bike Battery Swapping Hub Opens In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — A Brooklyn-based battery swap company and Uber have teamed up to open a public battery swapping hub in Manhattan.

The hub, located in Hudson Square, is the first of its kind in the United States, officials said.

The hub is expected to bring PopWheels’s proprietary, fire-safe battery technology to more delivery workers and offering a safer, cheaper, and more accessible way to power e-bikes across the city.

The swapping network will provide a safer alternative to charging e-bike batteries and will keep them out of apartments.

Structure fires linked to lithium-ion batteries in New York City have surged by 53 percent in the first three months of 2025.

PopWheels addresses this risk through its battery-as-a-service model: riders can check out and swap UL-certified batteries from stations throughout the city instead of owning them, reducing personal costs by up to $500 per year and keeping hazardous uncertified batteries out of use.

The company’s new Hudson Square site is the first FDNY-official public swapping hub where delivery workers can exchange depleted batteries quickly and get back on the road.

“Delivery workers are essential to our city, and we are committed to building public infrastructure to make their trips as safe as possible,” Baruch Herzfeld, Co-founder of PopWheels said. “E-bikes are the future of urban mobility, and with our accessible, cheap network of certified batteries and public charging stations, delivery workers no longer have to keep batteries at home. Our work is not just about affordability and reliability for delivery workers, but ensuring public safety for all New Yorkers."

The hub cabinets are deployed outdoors and have proprietary built-in systems to extinguish fires in the unlikely case of a battery-related fire, officials said.

PopWheels was one of the first companies to introduce public e-bike battery charging in New York City, following a 2024 pilot program run by the Department of Transportation.

Nearly 90 percent of PopWheels users stopped charging batteries at home entirely, contributing to a 35 percent overall drop in residential charging and proving a strong interest in subscriptions for public charging cabinets.

Now, with new DOT rules allowing battery cabinets on public sidewalks, PopWheels is accelerating its expansion. Public cabinets will keep batteries locked outdoors overnight, reducing structure fire risks to tenants and building owners.

“We've seen too many fires caused by unsafe e-bike battery charging in apartments, so I’m thrilled that Manhattan is getting this safer battery-swapping hub. Charging stations like this are an effective way to get batteries out of apartments and expand access to safe, FDNY-approved charging options,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said. “I’m grateful for PopWheels's innovations and to the City partners who made this possible.”

To learn more about PopWheels and its public battery-swapping stations, or to request a battery-swapping station in your neighborhood, visit its website.