EV Carsharing for the Bronx: EVs Financed by Grid Services
Public transportation options around the Bronx Community College (BCC) are limited. Poverty and the provision and use of private transportation networks in these neighborhoods limit car ownership. Our project will deliver an all-electric, connected vehicle (V2x)-enabled rideshare service to members of the BCC and Bronx Community, increasing access to work, education, job training, and creating jobs for Bronx residents. State-of-the-art proven control platforms, in conjunction with bidirectional chargers, will enable grid services (savings on demand charges; demand-side response), allowing the vehicles to pay for themselves and related infrastructure. We measure success by
- tracking community members who gain access to reliable and low-cost transportation through our program,
- quantifying the payback period of EV and eMobility infrastructure through V2x services, and
- overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. By the end of the project, we will form a scalable turnkey solution and offer it to thousands of institutions with a zero-down option.
We will deploy a fleet of 20 EVs and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) financed by connected vehicle (V2x) services at the Bronx Community College (BCC) and 20 unidirectional chargers in neighborhoods with limited access to transportation. Based on guidance from the community, we will provide two types of transportation services. Service type A includes carpooling for BCC students and employees, and will be deployed first to demonstrate the business model. The college will assign the EVs to faculty and staff who use the EVs to drive between work and home in underserved neighborhoods. The drivers will offer car-pooling for their trips to institutional or community riders at no cost using Waze. We will package the technologies into a turnkey solution and demonstrate that EVs and chargers can be fully financed by grid services.
Services of type B will be deployed in year 2 and offered in year 3 and provide low-cost last-mile transportation to the local community with dedicated drivers through the UberTransit platform. This allows the college to provide heavily discounted rides to students, staff, and the community since the EVs are sponsored by grid services and will continue to generate revenue.
Both cases require that the EVs are connected to their V2x stations at pre-established times to provide grid services. EVs and infrastructure will be funded by providing 3 categories of V2x services that can be partially stacked. Only commercially available category 1 services are required for the success of this project.