The Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC) in partnership with the Urban Freight Lab, CityFi Partners LLC and numerous municipal entities, was awarded a grant of just more than $750,000 from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to lead research and collaboration into drafting the public policy needed to enable use of such light urban vehicles (LUVs) for delivery and other needs.
The project was awarded as part of the Communities Taking Charge Accelerator. The program aims to grow at-home charging opportunities for cars, bikes and other mobility devices, and to expand electrified fleets. On Jan. 15, the Joint Office announced $43.7 million in grant funding for 25 projects around the country.
“There is no grant agreement yet,” Benjamin de la Peña, Shared-Use Mobility Center CEO, said via email. “And no disbursement. We haven’t received any money.”
The federal memo Monday evening, from the White House Office’s Acting Director Matthew J. Vaeth, triggered confusion and chaos across many organizations that interact with federal government for funding.
“The Liaison from DOE [the federal Department of Energy] has advised us that they cannot communicate with us until further notice,” de la Peña added.
A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Tuesday blocked the funding freeze by the White House, which stood to interrupt the flow of trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans.
LUVs fall into what officials call a regulatory “gray zone.” They are more substantial than a bike, while smaller than a car. Federal vehicle design and safety regulations seem to sidestep LUVs, offering little guidance to manufacturers or insurers, even as this type of vehicle has been regarded as well-suited to the mobility needs of cities.
“LUVs and other ultra-light-duty vehicles are well-suited for short local trips and could replace many full-size vehicles,” de la Peña said. “They are lighter, slower, less expensive, and have the potential to reduce transportation insecurity, and also lower road stress and speeds.”
When asked why LUVs have been slow to emerge in the United States, de la Peña pointed to multiple obstacles, most centering on a lack of regulations at local, state and federal levels to enable their use.
“That is part of the work we proposed for the grant, to survey what is out there and to create model policies and regs that can eliminate barriers or provide incentives or unlock infrastructure and manufacturing incentives,” he said.
LUVs, which involve less manufacturing, fewer battery resources and low-speed charging infrastructure compared to full-size cars, could be the ideal mobility option for a majority of the trips Americans take. In fact, more than 50 percent of trips are shorter than five miles, and more than 25 percent of trips are shorter than two miles, de la Peña said, citing statistics from the Federal Highway Administration.
“While converting from internal combustion engines to battery propulsion is certainly good for the climate, full-size, full-speed automobiles have a number of negative impacts — especially with regard to roadway safety for vulnerable road users,” the SUMC proposal reads.
Developing infrastructure and public policy to support LUVs and the growing fleets of micromobility devices is needed by cities as they aim to solve traffic congestion and other transportation issues, experts say. A number of projects awarded funding from the Communities Taking Charge Accelerator program were geared toward developing easy-to-use charging infrastructure for electric bikes and scooters.
“A lot of people want to use these modes to get around, and being able to help cities and the operators recharge the devices, so they can go back into service, so people can take more trips, is really critical,” said Debs Schrimmer, the Joint Office’s senior adviser for community and urban charging, in a Jan. 19 interview with Government Technology.
