Port Authority of Allegheny County

At a Glance

Industry

Transport and Warehousing

Project Type

Zero Emission Vehicles, Freight and Logistics

Year

2022

Location

Pittsburgh, PA

Summary

Prathit Dave analyzed the high-level financial implications of PRT owning a 100% ZEB fleet and developed multifaceted recommendations for the agency’s ZEB rollout plan in order to support the plan adoption more efficiently.

Goals

Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), formerly Port Authority of Allegheny County, aims to convert its entire fleet of 700+ buses into Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs). PRT’s challenge was to analyze the financial implications of owning a ZEB fleet and to explore the potential stakeholder landscape in the transit buses market ecosystem. PRT enlisted Prathit Dave to support these measures, with an additional focus on outlining a high-level ZEB rollout plan by 2045.

Solutions

  • Excel Based Financial Model: Prathit expanded on the bus procurement plan PRT had developed to make an interactive financial model. Three scenarios were explored: Base case, 100% battery electric bus fleet and a research pilot for hydrogen fuel cell buses. Prathit developed a financial model that provided a high-level cost breakdown of fleet ownership of all three scenarios, including incremental costs of owning a ZEB fleet. 

  • Outlined Funding Opportunities: Having identified a huge difference between total costs of ownership among all the scenarios, Prathit outlined federal and state level policy programs that could be leveraged to reduce the cost difference. 

  • Recommendations of Best Practices: Prathit also gave broad recommendations in three categories: technical, organizational, and financial recommendations that can complement its ZEB rollout plan adoption. These recommendations were given considering the existing organizational and operational structure.

Potential Impact

A detailed report and an Excel-based financial model submitted by Dave would help PRT draft their detailed and long-term ZEB rollout plan, which will include contracts with manufacturers, utilities and service providers. PRT can reduce the magnitude of uncertainties they might face in the ZEB rollout plan adoption, by having a high-level strategy. PRT can also build on to the living financial model by updating cost inputs and leverage them in negotiations with different stakeholders. Lastly, qualitative recommendations outlined in the report can help PRT significantly increase their operational efficiencies as well as chances of success of this project.

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