C2SMART Deputy Director Joseph Chow served as an evaluator in the NYCx Climate Action Challenge. The Challenge posed the question of how NYC could replace all gas-powered vehicles in the city, calling for proposals for breakthrough electric vehicle charging technologies that can scale EV charging infrastructure and accelerate EV use in New York City.

Professor Chow, whose research expertise lies in transportation systems, particularly multimodal networks, behavioral urban logistics, smart cities and transport economics, was one of the evaluators who chose Ubitricity as the winner among the Challenge’s six finalists. Ubitricity has developed a technology that allows lampposts to be transformed into electric vehicle charging points that users can connect to with smart charging cables. The company’s technology is in use in Germany, the United Kingdom and France, but this is its first showcase in the U.S.

“I was thrilled to be on the panel of experts from all industries to evaluate the finalists in the NYCx Climate Action Challenge,” Chow said. “I am very impressed with the leadership of NYCx in putting forth the Climate Action Challenge and the outstanding cohort of companies that it rallied. Ubitricity will help propel the city toward a more sustainable mobility future.”

NYCx, an initiative of the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, works with communities to identify urgent priorities and invites entrepreneurs and technology professionals to propose solutions through its Challenge program. The Climate Action Challenge is one of the program’s Moonshot Challenges, which are designed to encourage entrepreneurs to work with the city to solve real-life problems and deliver groundbreaking business models that can have a transformative impact on city life.

A press release from the Mayor’s of the CTO provides more information about the competition and the other finalists.