Electrification of High-Mileage Mobility Services in Cities and at Airports

Abstract

High-mileage vehicles serving airports offer significant potential for the electrification of transportation, in ways that enhance the affordability and sustainability of mobility for people and electric vehicle infrastructure development. As one example, by mid-2018, transportation network company (TNC) electric vehicles (EVs) in California—as a high-mileage mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) vehicle platform—was estimated to represent 30% of total non-Tesla EV charging demand, despite being only 0.5% of EVs in the State, and having sixty times higher levels of charging energy demand relative to the other EVs. This chapter explores the potential importance of this phenomena, the emergence of urban electric mobility developments and the co-benefits for economic, environment and equity. Through focus on the synergies of electrification with shared-use vehicles and trips, and with mobility options that include higher mileage, utilization, and occupancy, this chapter identifies emerging concepts that will have potential for impacting adoption rates, management, modeling and control for urban electric mobility systems. More specifically, this chapter explores emerging trends at and adaptations for airports. City airports, as critical hubs for TNC trip demand, and engines of regional economic growth, may be a critical locale for siting fast-charging infrastructure and planning new urban electric mobility operations across many metropolitan areas and cities of the United States and globally.