Ten years ago, you could count on crisp fall mornings by mid-September. Now, the heat often sticks around until late October. As global warming becomes more visible, city planners are looking to smart cities as the future of urban planning.
Smart cities use technology and data collection to operate and monitor resources in order to use them most efficiently, promote sustainability, and improve the quality of life of their residents.
Just like for any city, transportation is an impactful part of smart city urban development. Over the past few decades, significant improvements to clean transportation technology like electric vehicles (EVs), fuel cell vehicles, and flexible-fuel vehicles mean the transit industry has the potential to greatly improve or hinder smart cities depending on the public transit a city adopts.
Public transit choices have an impact on cities that goes beyond traffic congestion, wait times, and rider fares. For many people, accessible transportation determines whether there’s food in the fridge and healthcare within reach.
Mobility options help keep smart cities smart.
Almost every recognized smart city makes sustainable transportation an integral part of its city model. Electric vehicles (EVs) are one of the most common means to driving those sustainability goals.
EVs and smart cities have an obvious connection: smart cities depend on tech-driven solutions and EVs deliver them.
EV technology and data help smart cities achieve their three main goals:
Smart cities understand that environmental changes aren’t coming, they’re already here, and urban transitions need to happen in tandem with these changes as opposed to being afterthoughts.
EVs are inherently sustainable as they help cities lessen their reliance on greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Want to enjoy a peaceful outdoor picnic, go for a run and fill your lungs with fresh air, or use your local community garden without worrying? Look no further than EVs! They help reduce air and noise pollution, no small feats.
Air pollution isn’t always visible, but it’s something that impacts everyday activities. It can make simple things, like going for a walk or taking a deep breath, more difficult. It quietly takes a toll on our health over time. According to The State of Global Air 2024 report with UNICEF, air pollution contributed to 8.1 million deaths in 2021, making it one of the world’s leading health risks.
Noise pollution has been associated with heightened stress, high blood pressure, and sleep disruption which each have their own long-term health effects, says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In addition to the impact on your daily life, noise pollution has significant environmental health impacts. Excess noise confuses wildlife and disrupts their communication about food, predators, and migration, all of which are necessary survival tools. Communication issues can shatter the balance of ecosystems causing certain species’ populations to boom while others shrink.
For example, chickadees communicate with each other about food through song. If chickadees are unable to effectively communicate, their population may decline while populations of spiders and other insects they eat grow. These imbalances contribute to much larger issues like biodiversity loss.
Beyond the baseline sadness of species going extinct, biodiversity directly affects the quality and quantity of air we breathe, the pollination of plants that give us food security, and many other vital resources. This type of loss is a one health problem, it affects humans, animals, and the environment alike.
Don’t panic, these issues are solvable. If you’re wondering how to reduce air pollution, noise pollution, or improve mobility, the answer is EVs. EVs give smart cities the tools to improve mobility as well as these prominent public and environmental health issues for their communities. EVs help cities operate more sustainably every day and build resilience against the impacts of global warming.
The operational efficiency of EVs gives residents smarter mobility, especially when working in tandem with existing public transportation, another important element of smart cities. These smart transportation systems use IoT to optimize routes, reduce traffic congestion, make streets safer, and help residents easily access everyday essentials.
We’ve seen this type of smart, connected transit in Fort Lauderdale, FL where Circuit’s EVs deliver residents to and from Tri-Rail, a mass transit hub in the area. Circuit’s EVs in Fort Lauderdale delivered over 135k riders this past year. Now, that’s smart.
The positive environmental and public health impacts of EVs also improve residents' quality of life. EVs reduce cities’ reliance on fossil fuels which directly strengthens public and environmental health. For individuals, this may mean not having to worry about asthma or cardiovascular disease, which have been linked to air and noise pollution respectively, because of where they live. That’s a huge mental and financial stress reliever and potentially a life saver. Psychologically, a healthy environment allows for biofilia, the innate human joy that comes from connecting and interacting with nature.
EV integration can transform urban communities into smart cities of the future. This means less traffic, safer streets, healthier humans, animals, and environment (all of which strengthen each other), and a generally more pleasant human experience.
Having used an entirely EV fleet since our inception in 2011 means that we’re EV experts at Circuit. We use our 300+ EVs to service microtransit programs in more than 40 communities across the country making them each a little bit smarter.
To learn more about smart cities and EVs, contact us, sign up for our newsletter, or get early bird tickets to Tomorrow.City USA in West Palm Beach, FL, the country’s leading event for urban innovation!