Electric vehicle owners in Rye may be able to charge their cars at existing streetlights within months after startup Voltpost launched its first Westchester County lamppost chargers on Aug. 12 in neighboring Larchmont.
Voltpost has named both the City of Rye and the Town of Rye as next in line for its pole-mounted Level 2 chargers, according to InsideEVs, with expansion planned "in the coming months." Yonkers is also on the list. No specific street locations or installation dates for Rye have been announced.
The chargers mount about 10 feet above the ground on lampposts already in place, use a retractable cable with a standard J1772 connector and deliver up to 9.6 kilowatts per port. A single pole can hold one or two units. Voltpost says a full charge takes six to 10 hours, making the system best suited for commuter lots and overnight residential spots where cars sit for extended periods.
Drivers manage sessions through the Voltpost app, which shows available stalls and tracks charging in real time over AT&T's cellular network.
How the money works
The Larchmont deployment, which went live at a municipal parking lot at 61 Wendt Avenue beside the village's Metro-North station, is backed by a $775,000 award from NYSERDA's Vehicle Grid Integration Program, according to Kurrant. NYSERDA confirmed on Aug. 12 that other Westchester communities are "coming soon."
Westchester County is also putting money behind the rollout. The county launched an EV Charging Program in July 2025 that reimburses municipalities up to 50 percent of eligible costs, with a total commitment of up to $5 million across 24 communities. Chargers funded under the program must be publicly accessible and located on public property.
Voltpost claims its lamppost retrofit approach costs 25 to 85 percent less than conventional standalone chargers and can be installed in one to two hours. Those figures come from the company's own materials and have not been independently verified.
"By turning infrastructure that already exists into a charging network, we can bring reliable, convenient charging into communities where people live and park today, faster and at lower cost for municipalities," CEO Jeff Prosserman said on Aug. 12 when the Larchmont chargers went live.
What's still unknown
Neither the City of Rye nor the Town of Rye has publicly commented on the deployment. Mayor Doug French, City Manager Brian Shea and Westchester County's director of energy conservation and sustainability, Peter L. McCartt, did not respond to inquiries for this article.
No pricing for charging sessions has been announced for Rye or any other Westchester location.
Whether Rye's streetlights are municipally owned or controlled by a utility has not been publicly disclosed. That distinction matters: utility-owned poles require joint-use attachment negotiations that can add months to a project timeline.
