MTA launches charging pilot for buses with tech lab winner

NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority has selected the Mobility House to deploy its smart charging and energy management solution for New York City Transit (NYCT).

During the year-long pilot programme for the largest public bus fleet operator in the US, the Mobility House will manage charging for 27 charge ports across two bus depots in Staten Island and Queens.

Utility rate structures

Coordinating local utility rate structures with bus schedules and travel routes, the company claims its ChargePilot solution will optimise charging to maximise vehicle uptime, reduce electricity costs and streamline the transition to electric vehicles.

The Mobility House reports its proof-of-concept modelling with the Transit Tech Lab demonstrated that ChargePilot can reduce operating expenses by more than $35,000 per month in operating expenses at one of the two depots alone.

“As the largest public fleet operator in the country, ensuring reliable operations is essential to the success of [its] electrification goals, especially when some buses require two- to four charging sessions a day”

The partnership with NYCT is a continuation of the Mobility House’s participation in the Transit Tech Lab programme – a public-private initiative between the Partnership for New York City and four New York metro area transit agencies – and follows the Mobility House’s successful proof-of-concept study on how NYCT could maximise electric bus availability and save operating costs.

The simulation study demonstrated that 64 per cent of scheduled trips on local routes from the Charleston depot could be operated with the selected electric bus model, and when using ChargePilot, the charging infrastructure planned for 12 electric buses at the Charleston depot can operate 96 per cent of the viable trips while generating operational savings, compared to unmanaged charging.