Northeast International Electrified Corridors Program, Phase I Buffalo to Albany
The public charging depots for port drayage vehicles portion of the Northeast International Electrified Corridors Program envisions siting three charging depots in the communities of Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse or Rochester. This, along with the Buffalo-to-Albany corridor charging station component will form the hub for a comprehensive network of conductive and inductive EV charging infrastructure that includes the major metropolitan areas of the US Northeast as well as Toronto and Montreal, Canada - 2,250 miles of network corridors. Ideanomics, in partnership with Albany South End Improvement Corporation and others, will strategically lift disadvantaged communities, improve quality of life through better air quality and reduced traffic congestion, and create jobs and economic opportunity. The project team also includes ports, vehicle manufacturers, fleet operators, an engineering firm, and EV charging partners. The team includes the two principles responsible for developing and managing the West Coast Electric Highway, the first U.S. interstate EV charging corridor.
Strategy:
As with the team's prior DC charging destination and corridor projects, our proposed strategy will be to:
- Develop community relationships to determine community needs and opportunities to improve environmental issues and societal quality of life
- Develop siting criteria - safety, community impacts, venue synergy, environmental impacts, etc.
- Develop near-term and forecasted station electrical service requirements, and work with the applicable New York State utilities to develop timelines for distribution upgrades, and strategies to mitigate electricity demand charges
- Design, engineer, and construct the stations
- Commission, debug, and operate the stations
Approach:
Tactically, we will work closely with our vehicle original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners and contacts to understand short- and long-term charging needs (i.e., charge power levels now versus the future, connector protocols and requirements, integration with onboard inductive and conductive charging, battery pack development projections, etc.) Also important, will be to work closely with individuals and fleet owner/operators to determine electrification plans, and vehicle adoption timetable. This will inform charging station capacity requirements. Finally, Ideanomics' (separate scope from this proposed project) has the financing capability to offer Vehicle-as-a-service and Charging-as-a-service to assist individuals and fleet owner/operators procure electric trucks and buses.
Resources:
The Ideanomics team, which includes Black & Veatch and our project community advisors, has the experience and resources to shoulder not only the public charging depots segment, but also the full Northeast International Electrified Corridors network of heavy-duty charging stations. The ultimate success of our project will be to provide heavy-duty charging infrastructure capacity needs.