Con Edison – James Novick-Smith – 2025
Summary
James completed a market assessment of medium and heavy-duty off-road vehicles within Con Edison’s service territory and modeled the financial efficacy of Con Edison’s electric vehicle (EV) Curbside Charging demonstration project.
Goals
Con Edison wanted to understand the geographic location and impact on the electric grid of off-road vehicles within their service territory. This summer Con Edison also wrapped up a 5-year pilot program in partnership with FLO and the New York City Department of Transportation to install 100 public Level 2 EV chargers at the curb in New York City’s five boroughs. They specifically wanted the EDF fellow to analyze the financial viability of the pilot and modeling out future scenarios for operational changes.
Solutions
Through a combination of open-source vehicle registration data and desk research, James sized the off-road vehicle market and future expected energy demand from an all-electric off-road fleet in Con Edison’s service territory. Using ArcGIS (Geographic Information System), he mapped out vehicle locations and where future demand should be expected, by zip code. James also aggregated programs, pledges, and regulations that support off-road electrification and identified key OEMs producing electric off-road models today. Lastly, James provided a roadmap to off-road vehicle electrification and recommendations for Con Edison to proactively plan for future increased energy load from this sector. For the EV curbside demo pilot analysis, James analyzed a combination of usage data and construction/O&M costs to calculate the program’s net profit since inception. Then, he modeled out the pilot’s expected ‘break-even’ date under different utilization and incentive scenarios, including a comparison to standard market electricity rates in New York City and other US cities with curbside charging. His work supports a final pilot wrap-up report, to be submitted to the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) in October 2025.
Potential Impact
James’ off-road assessment will support the e-mobility strategy team as it evaluates the impact of off-road vehicles on energy demand throughout the service territory and how to best support a nascent market towards meeting New York’s climate goals. James’ curbside model confirmed the team’s hypothesis that curbside charging can be a sustainable business model, laying out a path forward for future installations and a potential permanent extension of the pilot.
