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Home Joint Office of Energy and Transportation
Communities Taking Charge
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Communities Taking Charge Accelerator

Office: Joint Office of Energy and Transportation
FOA Number: DE-FOA-0003214
FOA Amount: $43.7 million

On April 16, 2024, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced the Communities Taking Charge Accelerator funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to drive innovation in expanding transportation options for more Americans and a more resilient and scalable energy system.

This FOA was administered by the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation.

Selected Communities Taking Charge Accelerator projects were announced on January 15, 2025. Learn about the selected projects below by location and topic.

Objectives

This strategic funding had three main goals:

  • Expand access to electrified mobility options for individuals without home charging
  • Accelerate opportunities for fleet electrification
  • Mature the implementation of managed charging systems to mitigate impacts and optimize usage of the grid

Topic Areas

To that end, this FOA had three major topical areas:

  • Topic 1 – Solving for No-Home Charging: Expanding Charging Access for Privately Owned E-Mobility: Funds planning and/or demonstration projects that explore innovative e-mobility charging solutions for individuals without access to home charging for their electric vehicles and mobility devices (e.g. cars, ebikes, scooters, wheelchairs, etc.). Applications may cover innovative public charging models, curbside charging, multifamily charging, e-micromobility parking, multimodal community charging hubs, rate design, and more.
  • Topic 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets: Funds planning and/or demonstration efforts around innovative charging solutions for electrified ultra-light, micro, light, and medium-duty fleets that transport people through shared rides, shared vehicles, or transit operations, and through the last mile goods delivery in communities.
  • Topic 3 – Managed Charging for Clean Reliable Energy: Funds projects providing requirements and specifications for end-to-end managed charging functionality including charging and communication systems, aiming to provide resources and solutions into ecosystems supporting open-source distribution and potentially contribute to Standards Development Organizations (SDO) for industry consensus.

Selections

Project awardees were announced on January 15, 2025—25 projects were selected, impacting 23 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Learn more about them by location or topic area.

Location of Award Recipients
States Supported by Awards
Topic Areas

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Accelerating Shared E-Cargo Bike Adoption for Personal and Gig Economy Use Cases: Understanding How Pricing Strategies Affect Choices, Access, and Utilization

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Carnegie Mellon University

Location

Pittsburgh, PA

Description

The goal of this proposal is to introduce e-cargo bikes into Pittsburgh, PA’s existing bikeshare systems, POGOH, and identify pricing, allocation, and charging strategies that will accelerate ridership to families transporting goods or preferring storage space and lower barriers to participation in the delivery gig economy.

Partners

  • Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
  • National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR)
  • Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities (PRCC)
  • POGOH

Federal Award

$1,037,026

Cost Share

$532,048

Work Locations

  • CO: Golden
  • ID: Idaho Falls
  • PA: Pittsburgh

Charging Up Boston's Bikeshare

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Metropolitan Area Planning Council

Location

Boston, MA

Description

The objective of this project is to pilot the installation of four distinct methods for electrifying bikeshare stations in Boston in effort to reduce the labor-intensive and costly practice of battery-swapping and enable the expansion of station electrification across the regional bikeshare system. By establishing a preferred technology for station electrification, we can significantly increase access to electric bikeshare across the region which will induce mode shift away from single occupancy vehicles thus simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion.

Partners

  • City of Boston
  • Lyft

Federal Award

$414,117

Cost Share

$414,121

Work Locations

  • MA: Boston

Electric Transportation Transformation Program

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

re:Charge

Location

Cleveland, OH

Description

The goal of the project is to leverage the existing federal Economic Development Agency (EDA) grants in Cleveland, and regional micromobility initiatives, to advance affordable electric micromobility in communities. The project will be the nation’s first large-scale universal wireless charging network to provide accessible, safe and sustainable electric mobility. It will reduce the cost of shared micromobility systems operations and subsequently the users’ fees and household transportation costs, as well the operations environmental impact in a replicable manner that will transform the micromobility industry in the US.

Partners

  • 3MPH Planning
  • Bird
  • ChargerHelp
  • City of Cleveland
  • Clean Fuels Ohio
  • Nelson Nygaard
  • Seventh Hill Design
  • University Circle

Federal Award

$2,105,665

Cost Share

$690,000

Work Locations

  • OH: Cleveland

Fully Charged Communities: Expanding EV Hub-Based Charging in the Twin Cities

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Hennepin County

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Description

Fully Charged Communities will establish a network of integrated hub-based carshare and public-facing electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the Hennepin County Cities of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, and Robbinsdale. This pilot project will expand the coverage of the HOURCAR carshare network to provide affordable, sustainable mobility solutions to residents without home charging options or personal vehicles.

Partners

  • Brooklyn Center
  • Brooklyn Park
  • HOURCAR
  • Robbinsdale

Federal Award

$822,520

Cost Share

$401,614

Work Locations

  • MN: Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Hennepin County, Minneapolis, Robbinsdale

GoSGV: Advancing Access to Innovative E-Cargo and E-Family Bicycles

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Active San Gabriel Valley

Location

Monrovia, CA

Description

Expansion of an existing electric bike sharing program, including new e-cargo bikes for small businesses and families, and e-trikes for the disabled community, can equitably reduce carbon emissions, improve local air quality, provide energy/fuel savings, increase access to economic opportunity, and promote physical activity.

Partners

  • Portland State University
  • San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments
  • The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Federal Award

$489,316

Cost Share

$527,179

Work Locations

  • CA: El Monte, Monrovia
  • OR: Portland
  • TN: Knoxville

How Can the Electrification of Shared Parking Lots and Establishment of Logistics Microhubs Support Sustainable and Equitable Last-Mile Delivery Systems?

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

University of Washington

Location

Seattle, WA

Description

This project aims to understand how the electrification of shared parking lots and the establishment of neighborhood logistics microhubs can support sustainable and equitable last-mile delivery and mitigate transportation- and freight-related externalities in communities. The project is envisioned to a) reduce vehicle emissions of urban logistics operations, b) increase the delivery efficiency, c) increase efficiency in off-street parking lot usage, and d) increase workforce opportunities and low-emission delivery services in communities.

Partners

  • LAZ Parking
  • National Laboratory of the Rockies
  • Net Zero Logistics, LLC
  • Pennsylvania State University

Federal Award

$2,500,000

Cost Share

$1,750,000

Work Locations

  • CO: Golden
  • CT: Hartford
  • MA: Boston
  • NJ: Hoboken
  • NY: New York City
  • PA: University Park
  • WA: Seattle

Metro Bike Share: Increasing Access Through Station Electrification

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Location

Los Angeles, CA

Description

This project allows Metro Bike Share to increase access to electric bikes by implementing electrified stations with in-dock charging. The introduction of in-dock charging improves the program’s capacity to maintain fully charged electric bikes in the system. In addition, it reduces VMTs traveled by field staff, therefore reducing CO2 emissions, and ultimately decreasing environmental exposure and burdens.

Partners

  • LADOT

Federal Award

$2,000,000

Cost Share

$6,325,000

Work Locations

  • CA: Los Angeles

National Fleet Electrification Network (NFEN)

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

National Fleet Electrification Network Corp

Location

New York, NY

Description

The costs and challenges of deploying electric vehicle charging infrastructure are significant barriers to fleet electrification. This projects aims at accelerating fleet electrification by developing investment-ready regional charging hub plans that can be shared among various fleets in a region.

Partners

  • AECOM
  • City of Lompoc, Los Angeles Dept of Water & Power (LADWP)
  • CALSTART
  • California Dept of General Services (DGS)
  • Clean Communities of Central NY
  • Colorado Springs Utilities
  • Empire Clean Cities
  • Energy Power Research Institute (EPRI)
  • EPRI
  • Evenergi
  • Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO)
  • Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)
  • Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD)
  • National Grid
  • New York State Fleet (OGS)
  • New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
  • Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
  • Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT)

Federal Award

$3,879,878

Cost Share

$0

Work Locations

  • CA: Pasadena
  • MI: Ann Arbor
  • NY: New York

Planning for and Demonstrating EV Technologies in Maine’s Cold-Side Supply Chain

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Location

Portland, ME

Description

This project seeks to lower the real and perceived social, economic and operational barriers to electrifying the distribution of aquacultural products.

Partners

  • Greater Portland Council of Governments
  • Sea Meadow Marine Foundation
  • Shred Electric

Federal Award

$883,435

Cost Share

$163,738

Work Locations

  • ME: Machias, New Gloud, Portland, Rockland

Speeding Up Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) E-Mobility Solutions

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Shared-Use Mobility Center

Location

Chicago, IL

Description

Regulatory inconsistency regarding low-speed vehicles (LSVs) and other ultralight e-mobility options is a major barrier to adoption. Gaps or contradictions in policy and conflicts among users add friction and confusion. This project will convene a diverse public-private-community stakeholder working group to develop model regulation, policies, and design guidelines to facilitate adoption of these lower impact, lower cost ultralight e-mobility modes.

Partners

  • Cityfi Partners LLC
  • Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works
  • Michigan Central and the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification
  • The City of Detroit
  • The Portland Bureau of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation
  • The South Bay Cities Council of Governments

Federal Award

$750,753

Cost Share

$0

Work Locations

  • CA: Los Angeles, South Bay Cities
  • CO: Denver
  • FL: Miami-Dade County
  • IL: Chicago
  • MI: Detroit
  • NY: New York
  • OR: Portland
  • PA: Pittsburgh
  • Washington, DC

Spreading Shared Use Mobility for Fleets and TNCs

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

Mitra EV, Inc.

Location

Los Angeles, CA

Description

The project will install seven community charging hubs for depot or enroute charging, enable the deployment of over 130 electric vehicles (EVs), demonstrate a model for gig-economy, logistics drivers, pioneer an EV truck trial program, and conduct project evaluation and planning services for communities in non-EV MOU states. This project will demonstrate how developing community charging hubs in communities is an effective and replicable approach to reducing emissions, supporting local workforces and providing social and economic benefits. 

Partners

  • Clean Cities Georgia
  • Downtown Ford Sacramento
  • Drive Clean Colorado
  • Lime
  • Sacramento Clean Cities Coalition

Federal Award

$2,150,000

Cost Share

$6,627,822

Work Locations

  • CA: Elk Grove, Gold River, Los Angeles, McClellan Park, Sacramento
  • CO: Arvada, Aurora, Denver
  • GA: Atlanta

Twin Cities Electric Bike Share Feasibility Study

Topic: 2 – Expanding E-Mobility Solutions through Electrified Micro, Light and Medium-Duty Fleets

Project Lead

The Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development, Inc.

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Description

This project will provide the knowledge and engagement necessary to stand up a new, fully electric and equitable bike share system that will be comprehensively integrated with existing public transit and electric car share options in the Twin Cities region. 

Partners

  • City of Minneapolis
  • City of Saint Paul
  • The Alliance

Federal Award

$458,792

Cost Share

$50,000

Work Locations

  • MN: Minneapolis

Additional Information

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