All-Electric Delivery Vehicles for United Parcel Service (UPS)
With the help of: New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP)About
Unique Electric Solutions, LLC, (UES) was founded in 2017 and is currently located in Smithtown, New York, with three employees and five consultants. They are a provider of electric propulsion systems for trucks and buses for operations in highly congested cities where there is a high sensitivity to airborne emissions and noise and is fielded with major fleets. UES sells its products via existing vehicle retrofits, and selling kits to manufacturers.
The Challenge
As UES has been focused on fleet conversions to electric propulsion systems, UES is also gearing up to address and supply the OEM markets as well. Since this is a new market, most fleet managers do not have experience in electric propulsion or battery energy storage.UES had to meet UPS's performance metrics for operation in NYC while aiming for an increase in fleet conversions up to 1,500. UES needed the assistance of additional staff and new equipment to support the next phase of their upscaling.
MEP's Role
MTRC manages award funding to support small to medium-sized manufacturers through supplemental awards. There are "objectives" specified by NYSERDA as part of MTRC grants' obligation for providing supplemental awards with qualified projects. This mechanism of funding is unique to MTRC, which works through partners for SME. UES received the supplemental award as a match to the NYSERDA grant and company cash investment allocated to this project. The MTRC supplemental award helped UES to increase the expenditure capability of their project beyond the scope of work granted by NYSERDA.
With just three employees, the award funding from MTRC provided through the Supplemental Awards and Feasibility Agreement at both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the projects provided direct assistance to stretch their operational budget and allow for growth in workforce, equipment and in-turn, sales.
MTRC also provided a forum for UES to increase the reach of their message and product knowledge to the surrounding area and beyond. In addition, the MTRC team has provided a forum for direct mentorship for the entire UES team and created opportunities for them to develop additional business-to-business relationships through events, meetings and symposiums.
