Electrifying the NYC Yellow Taxi Fleet: A simulation-based analysis of the relation between charging infrastructure requirements and lithium-intensity

Abstract

Road transportation electrification, a key element of the transition towards net-zero carbon emissions, is one of the lead drivers of demand for critical raw materials (CRM) for batteries such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt. While securing the supply of such materials is paramount to support the transition to green energy, mitigating their demand by making transportation operations more material-efficient can relieve some of the pressure on the supply side, enabling the development of more socially and environmentally sustainable supply chains. This study uses simulation and optimization to explore the charging infrastructure implications of potential strategies for reducing lithium demand in an electrified New York City taxi fleet. In particular, as strategies of interest, we consider battery downsizing and shallow charging, a charging dispatching rule that mitigates battery stress. Our analyses show that reducing the initial lithium intensity of mobility fleets by battery downsizing requires considering trade-offs between fleet investment and infrastructure investment. Further research integrating battery degradation models to the framework used in this study is however needed to evaluate long-term lithium consumption of taxi fleet operations.