Engineering Proposal

This one took me a lot longer than expected. I kept putting off making the draft for it and had to really rush to finish it on time, pretty much at the last minute. Not exactly my best work, but helped me realize I have major issues with scheduling and planning ahead.

Engineering Proposal

Date:               November 20, 2020

To:                   Nicholas G Otte, Adjunct Faculty at The City College of New York

From:               Muaj Mirza, Freshman at City College of New York

Subject:           Proposal for the promotion of Electric Vehicle across New York

Purpose

The purpose of this proposal is to promote the use of Electric vehicles from the installation of electric vehicle charging stations as well as replacing public transport vehicles with electric vehicle variants, all in order to reduce pollution from vehicles.

Summary

My fellow students and I were asked by Professor Nicholas Otte to write a proposal for an engineering innovation. We were to identify the need for a specific engineering innovation, within New York City, and make a proposal for its design and production. After some thought, I have decided to propose the promotion of the use of electric vehicles across New York City.

New York City is among some of the most polluted cities in the U.S. It is #12 on the American lung association’s stateoftheair.org for high amounts of ozone. According to nyc.gov, motor vehicles produce 11% of the local fine particulate matter and 28% of the nitrogen dioxide emissions, yearly. Motor vehicles also large producers of ground-level ozone, which has been linked to adverse health effects such as breathing problems, aggravation of asthma, and even development of asthma, as well as permanent lung damage.

To cut down the use of motor vehicles, I propose that we make the alternative to motor vehicles, i.e. Electric vehicles, more convenient and attractive to use, to persuade more people to get electric vehicles instead of relying on traditional motor vehicles. A survey would be distributed to find out which areas have people already using electric vehicles. Then we start installing electric vehicle charging stations these areas, and then slowly spread out to areas where there are fewer electric vehicles being used. Transportation like busses would then be replaced with their electric vehicle counterparts.

The cost for conducting the survey, installing the charging stations, replacing public transport, along with the subsidies, would cost up to $201,800. The survey would take two months to complete and analyze the data and installing stations across New York City would take approximately one year to complete along with the replacement of transportation vehicles.

Introduction

My fellow students and I were asked by Professor Nicholas Otte to write a proposal for an engineering innovation. We were to identify the need for a specific engineering innovation, within New York City, and make a proposal for its design and production. After some thought, I have decided to propose the promotion of the use of electric vehicles across New York City.

New York City is among some of the most polluted cities in the U.S. It is #12 on the American lung association’s stateoftheair.org for high amounts of ozone. According to nyc.gov, motor vehicles produce 11% of the local fine particulate matter and 28% of the nitrogen dioxide emissions, yearly. Motor vehicles also large producers of ground-level ozone, which has been linked to adverse health effects such as breathing problems, aggravation of asthma, and even development of asthma, as well as permanent lung damage.

In order to cut down on the usage of motor vehicles, and cut down on emissions, I propose that we make electric vehicles more convenient to use. To do this, I have devised a plan to perform these tasks:

  • Determine which areas of New York City have more people already using electric vehicles
  • Determine whether people are willing to own or switch over to using electric vehicles, and their main issues with using electric vehicles.
  • Installing electric vehicle charging stations in gas stations, parking lots, buildings, etc., starting in areas where more people are already using electric vehicles, then slowly installing them in areas where there are being used less.
  • Reducing fares for MTA electric buses
  • Subsidizing smaller electric vehicle manufacturers to create a more competitive market and make electric vehicle prices more affordable.

Proposed Program/Tasks

Upon approval, to improve the percentage of electric vehicle usage and hence try and improve and reduce vehicular pollution, the following tasks would be done.

Task 1: Determine the types of vehicles that people are using in different areas of New York City, and their willingness to switch over.

To start off, we must fist find out what kinds of vehicles people are driving, be it electric, non-electric or hybrid. We will also make a record of which areas have the most vehicles, and which areas have more people already using electric vehicles and which areas have little to none. They will also be asked if they are willing to switch over to using electric vehicles, and if not, their reasoning for not wanting to use electric vehicles or their main problems with it. This will be accomplished by sending a simple survey to vehicle owners via e-mail or regular mail, and the results sent back to us electronically or physically. The survey would be open for submissions for one month, after which all the submissions will be reviewed, recorded and categorized in the following month.

Task 2: Installation of electric vehicles in gas stations, certain parking lots and buildings, etc.

After the data is analyzed, we will find out which areas of New York City currently use the most electric vehicles. We will start with the installation in these areas to further promote the use of electric vehicle charging stations there, as it may solidify the use of electric vehicle in the area and may promote more people to switch over. After the areas more comfortable with the use of electric vehicles are covered, we will begin to install the stations in areas with a less amount of electric vehicle usage. This is so as the popularity spreads through the areas where more people are using them , people willing to switch to using electric vehicles in areas where less people are using them, will be more enticed to and may find it more convenient to switch as well.

The type of charging station we will be installing will be level 2 stations, as they seem to be more cost effective for time required for a quick charge providing about 15 to 40 miles of range per hour of charging, according to Enel X’s article, “How Long Does it Take to Charge an Electric Car?” Level two stations use 240V power sources for residential and 208V for commercial, so they charge faster than level one stations which use 120V. Level three stations provide DC charging straight to the battery, and us a higher voltage. They are the fastest when it comes to charging, 1 hour of charge give about 120 to 150 miles. However, they are much more expensive costing around $25k to $50k, while level 2 stations cost 1k to 4k per port and installation costs 2k to 10k inclusive of labor materials and permitting (ny.gov).

Fig 1: How level 1, 2 and 3 charging stations charge an electric vehicle battery.  (EVSE=Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, OBC=On-board Charger, BMS=Battery Management System) (CircuitDigest.com)

Circuit Digest says that with AC Level 1 and 2 charging stations, the On-board charger will regulate the voltage and current as required for the electric vehicle, so it isn’t mandatory for the charging station to communicate to the EV. However, it has low output power, which causes the charge times to be longer than with DC level 3 charging stations.

Task 3: Reduce fares for MTA electric bus public transportation

The next step we will take will be to reduce fares for MTA electric buses. The MTA already plans to purchase 500 electric busses as part of their Capital Plan for 2020-2024, to serve all five boroughs, and has already deployed some of the new buses. Busses already help to reduce vehicle emissions, as less people have to get their own personal cars and can use the bus instead. And if these buses were replaced with electric buses, which have zero tailpipe emissions it would help even further. In an MTA Press Release in 2019, it is stated that the MTA removes 17 million metric tons of carbon emissions from the air per year, and that an all-electric bus fleet would lower New York’s carbon footprint even more. Reducing the fare will incentivize people to take the bus more, instead of their own cars.

Task 4: Subsidize or give financial incentives to smaller electric car manufacturers

Subsidies could be given to smaller electric car manufacturers to make and sell electric vehicles in New York City. This would create a more competitive market for electric vehicles here and would drive the price down and help to prevent any monopolies on the electric car market in New York City. This would make electric cars more affordable to consumers and more people would buy them.

Budget

Number of Employees hours Rate (per hour) total
10 120 $15 $1,800

 

Number of EV Charging stations Cost Per Station total
50 $4,000 $200,000

                                                                             

                                                                           Total Cost: $201800

 

Appendixes/References

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