New York City's food carts have long relied on fossil-fuel generators that are noisy, polluting, and costly to run. A Brooklyn startup called PopWheels is testing a different approach: a battery-swapping service where vendors exchange dead batteries for fresh ones at nearby charging cabinets. The six-month pilot, which began in July, serves 10 vendors in the Flushing Meadows Corona Park area and is currently free thanks to grant funding from the City Parks Foundation and Resilient Cities Catalyst.
PopWheels plans to eventually charge a monthly subscription fee, plus a fee for the inverter that connects the batteries to the cart's equipment. The company says the goal is to be price-competitive with buying and fueling a generator. One vendor in the pilot, William Arevalo, said he spends roughly $500 to $600 a month on generator fuel and would be willing to pay for the battery service. The startup already runs a similar battery-swapping program for e-bike delivery workers, using the same batteries and cabinets, which could allow both groups to share infrastructure.
The model has limits. Arevalo's cart still uses propane for its grill, and PopWheels says its batteries cannot handle the power demands of ice cream trucks. Buying a battery outright is another option for vendors, but that requires access to a place with reliable charging, which not all commissaries and depots provide. The pilot is still early, but it shows how shared clean-energy infrastructure could ease the transition for vendors who otherwise face high upfront costs and logistical hurdles.