The Bronx is Breathing: Reimagining a Cleaner
Hunts Point
Hunts Point
A Finalist in the New York State Clean Transportation Prize competition and candidate for a $10M environmental
justice grant
Hunts Point confronts two enduring challenges: environmental inequity and economic insecurity. Tractor trailers carry waste and wholesale food into our neighborhood each morning and resources—from fresh food to paychecks—flow out each evening. Smaller trucks traverse the community day and night, passing dense residential blocks and historic rowhouses adjoining a vast industrial zone that offers residents few opportunities for meaningful economic participation. These twin challenges impact health outcomes and economic well-being in the area and have yielded undercapitalized small businesses, a disadvantaged labor force, and households with disproportionately high healthcare needs.
To address these challenges, The Bronx is Breathing team, which includes The POINT, the Greater Hunts Point Economic Development Corp., City Harvest, Empire Clean Cities, Collective Diaspora, Volvo Technology Group, and Shell Recharge, seeks to catalyze the adoption at scale of medium and heavy-duty electric trucks in Hunts Point. The project’s keystone is a new multi-user freight charging hub, proposed for a former brownfield site in the Hunts Point industrial area, which is responsible for as many as 15,000 truck trips through the Hunts Point peninsula every work day. Alongside a new worker-owned electric truck cooperative and the deployment of refrigerated electric trucks by food rescue organization City Harvest, the project team is designing a supportive ecosystem for zero-emission freight vehicles while also addressing economic and food insecurity in the area.
Our Solutions
First Public Charging Hub for Electric Freight in US
Charging Hub in the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center:
- 4 Charging Islands
- <12 Fast Chargers (250KW) for trucks
- <10 Fast Chargers (180KW) for cars & trucks
- 10-12 Level 2 Chargers (<32KW) for cars
First Public Charging Hub for Electric Freight
Additional Elements:
- Solar Canopies
- Locally owned Food & Beverage/Concessions
- EV Workforce Training
- Hands-On Education for drivers & fleet managers
- Potential CDL certification program
- Greenspace and Picnic tables
- E-bike Charging
Electric Trucks for City Harvest
Electrify City Harvest’s Hunts Point Fleet with:
- 1 Class 8 Volvo E-Truck w/electric refrigeration
- 5 Class 7 Volvo VNR w/electric refrigeration
Electric Trucking Worker-Owned Cooperative
Build an EV Trucking Cooperative for South Bronx independent truckers:
- In collaboration with 3,500 member NYC-based Drivers Cooperative
- Will provide access to EVs& exposure to EV technology
- Will offer driver education & EV workforce development