​-- THE CHALLENGE

TWO ENDURING BURDENS

Hunts Point, a peninsula in the southern tier of the poorest urban congressional district in the United States, confronts two enduring challenges: environmental inequity and economic insecurity.

Tractor trailers carry waste and wholesale food through the neighborhood each morning while resources — from fresh food to paychecks — flow out each evening. Smaller local delivery trucks traverse the community day and night, passing dense residential blocks and historic rowhouses adjoining a vast industrial zone.
​
These twin challenges have yielded undercapitalized small businesses, a disadvantaged labor force, and households with disproportionately high healthcare needs compared to other New York City neighborhoods.
Environmental Inequity
Diesel truck traffic through residential streets creates disproportionate air quality burdens for Hunts Point residents, contributing to chronic health disparities.
Economic Insecurity
​The industrial zone offers residents few opportunities for meaningful economic participation. Wealth flows through the neighborhood, but rarely stays in it.
Brownfield Legacy
​Long-vacant contaminated land has sat idle, a persistent environmental burden with unrealized potential for community-driven revitalization.

$10M
--
NYSERDA Clean Transportation Prize

Awarded November 2022 to reduce air pollution, advance freight electrification,
​and support clean mobility in one of New York's most underserved communities.
​-- THE SOLUTION

Three Pillars of Change

The Bronx is Breathing addresses public health and economic development through community-scale charging infrastructure, refrigerated freight electrification, and cooperative electric truck ownership  — all rooted in Hunts Point.

Charging Hub

​The Charging Hub will be a public, freight-focused electric vehicle charging site and adjacent amenity space on a 3.2 acre remediated brownfield site in the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center (FDC). It will feature 42 chargers, including 10 Direct Current Fast Chargers, and the amenity space will include restrooms, local food and beverage vendors, publicly available green space, and workforce training space. The site will help establish a supportive ecosystem for zero-emission freight in Hunts Point and address the often-prohibitive cost of fast charging deployment on space-constrained sites.

Refrigerated Battery Electric Fleet

​​With food rescue organization City Harvest as a deployment partner, the project will deliver a fleet of thee all-electric refrigerated Volvo VNR Electric trucks, which will feature battery-electric transport refrigeration units (eTRUs) and utilize the EV charging hub for charging.​ The trucks will model emissions reduction in a refrigerated fleet while addressing food insecurity in the Bronx.

Cooperative Electric Truck Ownership and Refuse Truck Deployment

​The Fulton Fish Market Cooperative (FFM) will deploy up to four Mack MD Electric trucks to add a transportation service to its members and other businesses in the area.  This approach will advance decarbonization at FFM, enabling zero-emissions delivery, and promoting greater delivery efficiency for its members and customers throughout the tri-state area. In addition, Royal Waste Services will deploy a Mack LR Electric refuse truck in activities throughout the Hunts Point community. 

-- HUNTS POINT ELECTRIFICATION ROADMAP

$1.7M DOE AWARD

In 2023, the project team was awarded $1.7M by the U.S. Department of Energy to engage Hunts Point stakeholders in electric vehicle planning through a series of community listening sessions and a published replication toolkit.
① 

Engage the Community

Empire Clean Cities forms an Advisory Committee and holds in-person Community Listening Sessions in Hunts Point to gather feedback on electrified transportation needs and inform the Roadmap.
② 

Deploy EV Charging Stations

The Advisory Committee — made up of planning and electrification experts and experienced fleets — shapes project implementation and updates the community-driven EV deployment plan.
③ ​

Publish & Replicate

The project team publishes the Hunts Point Electrification Roadmap and a replication toolkit for deploying EV charging equipment and hubs on former brownfields across the country.