This coming November, the Islanders will move into their new home UBS Arena at Belmont Park ending a long and winding road for the franchise and their fans who have endured years and years of arena drama. After leaving the Nassau Coliseum, moving to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and then ultimately returning to “The Barn”, the Islanders have now cemented their roots on Long Island with the opening of UBS Arena, a state-of-the-art venue that will host more than 150 major events annually each season.
While the Islanders, as well as the residents of Islanders Country, are focused on winning a lot of games and hanging some more Stanley Cup banners in the rafters, the developers and management of UBS Arena are also ensuring the health and safety of the Islanders players, staff, and fans coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, looking at high-end amenities and customer service, achieving “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED v4), and striving for sustainability.
With sustainability in mind, the Islanders and UBS Arena have partnered with Boston-based XL Fleet on a project that will include the deployment of up to 1,000 electric vehicle charging stations on the arena grounds.
“UBS Arena and the New York Islanders are forward-thinking sustainability leaders, building the infrastructure to support the current and rapidly growing demand for vehicle electrification and charging stations in the area,” said Tod Hynes, Founder & President of XL Fleet. “This location provides an opportunity to deploy critical EV infrastructure in a very capital efficient manner that can be replicated across similar facilities throughout the country.”
With a location that is merely seven miles away from JFK Airport and just a twelve-mile drive from LaGuardia Airport, UBS Arena’s 43-acre campus is poised to become one of the largest electric vehicle charging sites in the United States. As part of the agreement, there will be a large-scale EV infrastructure for a wide array of users including arena guests and nearby fleets who would have the ability to charge their vehicles during off-peak hours. The partnership would also work towards meeting the growing demand for EV charging within the New York Metropolitan area.
“Partnering with XL Fleet to advance our electric vehicle infrastructure illustrates the groundbreaking work being done at UBS Arena to prioritize sustainability throughout our operations,” said Hank Abate, President of Arena Operations at UBS Arena. “XL Fleet’s ability to provide a full scope of electrification services will be a huge advantage for our patrons as well as the commercial and municipal fleets in the surrounding communities who could rely on this infrastructure.”
Employees and patrons of the arena will have access to EV charging. In addition, XL Fleet plans to activate an electrification infrastructure, including solar power generation, energy storage and vehicle charging stations. XL Fleet will also be equipping and deploying fleets of electric vehicles for use by UBS Arena and the Islanders.
Many Islanders fans have already had the opportunity to get a peek at UBS Arena including a couple of drive-thru events that the Islanders have held. The process has begun for fans who plan on driving to the game to map out their route on how they will get to UBS Arena and those with electric vehicles will arrive knowing they will have access to one of 1,000 charging stations thanks to the partnership with XL Fleet.
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