It’s Electric!

As we hit mid-summer, we at Cityfi reflect on how much our world continues to change–from geopolitical shocks and climate impacts to pandemic and economic ups and downs–as well as the speed at which this change happens.

Our team continues growing with the best and the brightest people to support our clients in navigating these shifts. Together, we are addressing the critical policy, regulatory, business model, finance, and strategic underpinnings of these changes and establishing the most resilient and implementable models in both the public or private sectors.

D.C.’s Mobility Innovation District is kicking off its first Call for Projects to advance the capital’s mobility ecosystem, and Cityfi is glad to support the Southwest Business Improvement District and the D.C. government with this effort.

Increasingly, energy and electrification have become significant areas of work for us. This month, Cityfi Partner Alex Kapur addresses why we should pay attention to information systems as much as or more than we do hardware when rolling out EV charging infrastructure.

We are always excited to connect with you and learn how we can support your current and upcoming needs, so drop us a line anytime!

New Team Members

With our senior leadership continuing to grow, we are thrilled to introduce you to Karina and Evan.

Karina Ricks

Karina Ricks is a Partner at Cityfi. She leverages her international, city, federal, and private sector experience to bring together government, community, and companies in collaborations that advance core values of equity, safety, climate preservation, and economic growth. Karina’s background and expertise span and integrate transportation and mobility with physical and digital infrastructure, systems and data, land use planning and urban design, and community and economic development.

Her previous professional roles include serving as Associate Administrator for Innovation, Research and Demonstration at the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT); founding Director of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure; Director of Transportation Planning for Washington, D.C.; and Office Director and Sector Leader for Nelson\Nygaard Associates.

Karina has led and championed a number of groundbreaking initiatives including Universal Basic Mobility, open interoperability specifications for transit data systems, integrated mobility payment systems, equitable telecommunications management, smart and adaptable traffic systems, and launching what was hailed as the nation’s first Mobility as a Service system, MovePGH, among others. Karina has led both system and organizational transformations to modernize processes, better deliver projects, and develop strategic roadmaps for planning, capacity building, and project funding. She is an experienced policymaker at both the municipal and federal levels and brings entrepreneurial solutions to leverage public-private partnerships for the public good.

Karina is rooted in a commitment to authentic collaboration, human centered design, and continuous learning. She is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a pre-law degree from the James Madison College of Michigan State University. She has served as a strategic advisor to the World Bank and international observer with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. She is the mother of two teens, an e-bike enthusiast, a tenacious transit traveler, and unequivocally pro-pedestrian.

Evan Corey Costagliola

Evan Costagliola has dedicated his career to building equitable, mobile, healthy, and resilient cities. He has over fifteen years of experience in multimodal transportation policy, planning, and concept design, and he is considered a national thought leader in emerging transportation technology policy, regulation, and pilot delivery. Evan is adept at developing and delivering on mobility strategies and offers expertise in shared mobility, mobility management, mobility hubs, curb management, and right-of-way management.

Prior to joining Cityfi, Evan cut his teeth at Nelson\Nygaard, leading complex urban mobility projects across the country. Evan managed Nelson\Nygaard's Emerging Mobility Practice and the firm's Seattle office, all while delivering projects related to new mobility policy, strategy and partnerships, curb management, mobility hub planning, design and implementation, transportation electrification, innovative transportation demand management, trip reduction and mode shift strategies, and mobility data.

Evan has also worked at the forefront of new mobility. Evan served as Lime’s global Director of Transportation Partnerships, coordinating GovTech initiatives with the product team and leading pilot partnerships, transit integration, and data policy for the company. Before Lime, Evan built one of the nation’s first new mobility programs at the Seattle Department of Transportation, where he led several groundbreaking initiatives including the New Mobility Playbook, of which he was the lead author; the nation’s first dockless bike share and curbside EV charging permitting programs; a shared mobility hub program; the city’s automated mobility policy framework; and citywide transportation network company management policy.

D.C.’s Mobility Innovation District Releases Its First Call for Projects

Calling all mobility innovators! Announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C.’s Mobility Innovation District is getting started with its first Call for Projects to explore innovative solutions to improve D.C.’s mobility ecosystem. The first round is focused on “On-Demand Mobility Service and Supporting Technology.” Cityfi is excited to support the Southwest Business Improvement District and the D.C. government in creating a global mobility innovation hub in Southwest D.C.

The Digital Infrastructure of EV Charging

The focus on transportation electrification in the public and private sectors is evident and exciting, but a primary focus on hardware and only a secondary consideration of software and data could undermine this critical rollout.

The Trend

With the urgency of climate change mitigation, the U.S. plants firmly in the direction of

transportation electrification with hundreds of billions of public sector dollars committed to developing a nationwide EV charging network. This significant infrastructure investment programming focuses mostly on vehicles, charging station installations, grid mitigation, and other hardware, including related support services for design, engineering, and maintenance of EV charging stations.

Cityfi’s analysis of hundreds of recent solicitations for EV solutions across jurisdictional levels describes the demands for these elements in detail. Critically absent or mostly neglected is the information infrastructure to best operate and inform this diverse and complex array of devices. Almost all solicitations reference that charging solutions need “operating software” and “connectivity,” but little else is specified.

Possible Implications

The downside of considering the software and data elements of the EV network only as after-thoughts is not trivial. This aspect of electrification infrastructure and device management is essential not only to continuously assess and refine the network quality but also to study critical utilization trends.

For example, lacking data and reporting can obstruct regulators and operators themselves from vital activities:

● Assessing device performance and uptime

● Diagnosing and identifying root causes of device downtime to coordinate network interventions across brands

● Studying charging levels and times for specific use-case applications

● Observing aggregate vehicle-level utilization to site and update the network

● Tracing trending charging vehicle impacts at various charging levels to assess battery life

● Aligning grid supply and demand

Remedies

In short, underdeveloped software and data governance will not support the needed visibility and coordination to deploy this network correctly. The standing Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) protocols that various charge point operators and device manufacturers have adopted offer a solid basis to encourage structured information resource management and device communications.

However, EV network regulators, investors, operators, and users should convene to consider creating a more rigorous and outcomes-based vision for the information backbone of this network. Value can be derived from borrowing the following practices from healthcare, energy, and capital markets:

● Setting minimal standards in lay terms for device and network software and data capabilities, not specs, especially in terms of defining what “jobs” technology and data must fulfill

● Outlining types of needed reports for device and network performance, utilization, functionality, interconnectivity, etc.

● Broadly educating state and local entities that will be procuring the infrastructure on these baseline capabilities

● Establishing minimal definitions and functionality for device “interoperability”

● Carefully drawing distinction between protocols, certifications, and compatibility designations that these brands seek

● Encouraging solution providers and government leaders to form collaborative working groups to constantly assess and upgrade this information infrastructure

The Knight Autonomous Vehicle Initiative Convenes Urban Thought Leaders

On June 24, Cityfi joined representatives from the Knight Foundation, Urbanism Next, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Miami-Dade County for a convening of the Knight Autonomous Vehicle Initiative in D.C. The group spent the day together discussing community engagement strategies, the importance of coalition building across cities, federal funding opportunities, and approaches to sustain this work for years to come. We always feel inspired and energized after getting together with this group in person and look forward to the next convening!

SMART Grants Are Coming

Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grants were established under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. States, metropolitan planning organizations, and other public agencies will be eligible to tap into the $100 million in annual funding through 2026. More information is now live on the USDOT website regarding eligibility. Cityfi advises numerous city governments and agencies leveraging smart technologies to tackle issues such as pedestrian safety, congestion, electrification, and efficient delivery. We would love to work with your agency to craft the right proposal and public and private partnerships to compete for SMART grants. In preparation for the September notice of funding opportunity, USDOT will be hosting a webinar July 28.