This startup helps food carts switch loud, dirty generators for batteries

In New York City, a startup called PopWheels is testing a way to get food cart vendors off gas generators and onto batteries. Instead of buying and charging their own battery systems, vendors swap dead batteries for charged ones at cabinets set up near their carts. A six-month pilot launched in July at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, with two cabinets serving 10 vendors, paid for by $46,000 from the City Parks Foundation and $30,900 from the nonprofit Resilient Cities Catalyst.

Right now the batteries are free to participating vendors, but PopWheels eventually wants to charge a monthly subscription plus a fee for the inverter that holds the batteries in the cart, aiming to keep costs competitive with running a generator, which can cost several hundred dollars a month in fuel. One vendor in the pilot said his batteries have worked well and cost far less than the generator he used to run. The same battery type already powers PopWheels' e-bike delivery network in the city, so the two systems could eventually share infrastructure. The technology isn't ready for very power-hungry vendors like ice cream trucks, though.

This isn't a homeowner program, but it points to where battery-swapping and portable power technology is headed. Other cities, including Washington, D.C., and the Denver area, are also funding grants to help food trucks switch from generators to batteries.