Tullahoma

Tullahoma Utilities Authority, TDEC, TVA, and Seven States Power Corporation recently held a ribbon-cutting for a new electric vehicle (EV) fast charging station on SW Atlantic Street near State Route 55 in downtown Tullahoma. The station is part of the Fast Charge TN Network.

Lebanon

Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE), TDEC, TVA, Seven States Power Corporation, and Tritium also recently held a ribbon cutting for a new EV fast charging station located at MTE’s Lebanon office at 201 Maddox-Simpson Parkway, just a few miles from Tritium’s global assembly center where the charging equipment was manufactured. Also part of the Fast Charge TN Network, the chargers are less than one mile from Interstate 40 exit 238.  

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced awards under the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, part of the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) Program. Three Tennessee entities were selected for funding, to total over $47 million. Additional information on all awarded projects is available here.

Knoxville

Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation was awarded over $42.6 million in funding for the project Reconnecting Knoxville. Reconnecting Knoxville is a civic infrastructure plan to restore connections to emerging economic growth centers among formerly displaced populations. Once implemented, residents will gain nearly 10 miles of urban greenspace and transportation pathways, having the freedom to move safely within the community to reach jobs, schools, businesses, and parks.

Memphis

The City of Memphis and Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was awarded over $2.6 million for the project Over and Under I-40. The project proposes a community-driven planning effort to mitigate the barrier and impacts of Interstate 40 for seven historically disadvantaged neighborhoods in North Memphis. The goal of the planning project is to engage the affected communities in a design process with the assistance of a team of professionals to develop innovative strategies to reconnect these neighborhoods through the enhancement of twelve crossing points.

Chattanooga

The City of Chattanooga was awarded $2 million for its Community-Led Reconnection of the Westside Neighborhood project. The project will complete feasibility and design studies to implement the transportation recommendations in the recently adopted Westside Evolves Plan. These recommendations include two crucial new street connections as well as street improvements that will reconnect the disadvantaged neighborhood to economic, recreational, and social opportunities in Downtown Chattanooga and the Riverfront district.

The City of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recently announced that they were awarded $2 Million in funding as one of 34 projects awarded under DOT’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grants program. The project will deploy Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies at high-risk, mid-block crossings along two major corridors near downtown Chattanooga. These technologies will enable researchers to gather data to inform recommendations for citywide street and road improvements. The initiative aims to create a safer, more efficient urban environment for all Chattanooga residents and visitors, regardless of their mode of transportation.

View the Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles - Phase 3 pages for additional information.

EPA and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office) will host a series of webinars covering technical assistance topics related to clean school buses, supporting the EPA Clean School Bus Program. Register here for any webinar in the series.

The Technology Enabled Advanced Mobility (TEAM) TN Summit will take place May 6-7 in Memphis. The summit will include updates from TEAM TN working groups, a session on generating a workforce for BlueOval City, and the opportunity for attendees to provide input on TEAM TN’s governance structure, feedback on potential projects, and progress reports from all five working groups. View the agenda and register for the TEAM TN Summit here.

Drive Electric Tennessee (DET) will hold its second annual DriveElectricTN Momentum Summit on May 9 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. The Momentum Summit will focus on transportation electrification efforts, including workplace charging, economic and environmental benefits, and workforce/manufacturing efforts tied to the EV industry. The event will also include an EV demonstration and ride and drive.

Sessions will include an opportunity to provide feedback on the DriveElectricTN Roadmap Refresh, led by TDEC OEP Director Molly Cripps, and a panel on propelling the EV transition, which will discuss EV tax credits and incentives. Additional sessions will address workforce development, acceleration of rural EV infrastructure deployment, and charging at workplaces and multi-family dwellings. 

The EV demonstration ride and drive will include a variety of vehicles, including a Tesla Model 2, S, and Y, a Ford F-150 Lightning, and an electric school bus.

View the draft agenda and register here. For questions about the Summit, contact DET Coordinator Alex Strong at alex@driveelectrictn.org.

The Company Lab is hosting the 2024 CO.MOBILITY Summit May 20-22 in Chattanooga. The event will highlight innovative startups, industry experts, and legislators who are changing the way we move and consume energy. The event will include networking, panel discussions, and interactive events, such as keynotes, fireside chats, and panel discussions with networking hours and interactive workshops. View confirmed speakers on the event website and register for the CO.MOBILITY Summit here.

The Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo will take place May 20–23 in Las Vegas, NV. The Expo unites the transportation sector in an effort to reduce emissions from goods movement, the service industry, and passenger transportation while also driving economic sustainability. This annual event offers attendees access to the latest technologies, services, and vehicles driving the transition to low- and zero-emission transportation solutions.

The 2024 agenda will feature case studies from fleets that have deployed low- and zero-emission vehicles across applications; the lucrative financial incentives available to reduce total cost of ownership for advanced clean vehicles; climate and environmental policy developments being driven by federal, state, and local agency commitments; and technology advancements taking place with battery technology, charging infrastructure, biofuels, hydrogen, and autonomous vehicles. 

View the agenda here and register here.

The 2024 Forth Roadmap Conference, an annual event that convenes leaders in the electric transportation space, will take place September 24-26 in Detroit, MI. The conference will allow attendees to forge relationships and gain valuable insights in a highly interactive format from industry and community leaders, including utilities, local governments, vehicle original equipment manufacturers, charging providers, technology startups, public interest groups, communities, and drivers.

Forth is currently accepting applications for the Forth Roadmap Conference Mobility for All Scholarships. These scholarships provide free conference access and a travel stipend to individuals from community-based organizations working to increase accessibility to clean transportation in historically underserved communities and communities of color. Applications are due May 3. 

Register for the 2024 Forth Roadmap Conference here.

The East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and TDEC have opened applications for the Reducing Diesel Emissions for a Healthier Tennessee (RDE4HT) Program. The program is funded by the U.S. EPA Diesel Emissions Reductions Act (DERA) State Formula Grant, which provides funding to states to reduce diesel emissions.

The RDE4HT Program will fund several categories of projects in this funding round, including:

Additional information, including information on eligible applicants for each project funding category, can be found in the Request for Proposals, as well as on the RDE4HT website. Applications are due April 23.

The Federal Transit Administration released a notice of funding opportunity for two programs, with approximately $1.5 billion in funding for the Low- or No-Emission Grant Program and the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program.

The Low- or No-Emission Program will make $1.1 billion available to help transit agencies buy or lease U.S.-built zero- and low-emission transit buses along with charging equipment and supporting facilities. The Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program will make $390 million available to support transit agencies in buying and rehabilitating buses and vans and building bus facilities.

Eligible applicants include states and local government authorities or local government entities that operate fixed-route bus services. Additional information, including eligible projects can be found on the notice of funding opportunity. Applications for both programs are due April 25 on Grants.gov.

The U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) recently announced $45.8 million in new funding for projects that will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment to drive innovation in clean transportation, aligned with strategies detailed in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization.

Topic areas for the VTO Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 research and development (R&D) funding opportunity include:

VTO has created an informational video series explaining VTO’s Funding Opportunity Announcement process and application components; the sessions are available here. Additional information is available on the VTO FY24 R&D webpage and in the Funding Opportunity Announcement. Concept papers are due May 2, and full applications are due June 24.

The Ford Urbanite Memphis Mobility Challenge offers over $600,000 in mobility pilot grants, startup investment, and comprehensive support. The Memphis Challenge offers successful entrepreneurs up to $150,000 each to support community-focused mobility solutions that leverage Memphis's existing assets and infrastructure. Solutions must address one or more opportunity areas:

Applications are due May 10.

The CO.LAB Sustainable Mobility Accelerator, powered by gener8tor, is a 12-week program supporting startups at the forefront of sustainable mobility. Participants can test pilot projects through access to an urban testbed for connected and autonomous vehicles, have the opportunity to work with a quantum network, and have access to a network of industry experts, technologists, and business domain experts. Industries currently supported include EVs and EV infrastructure, smart traffic solutions, and autonomous vehicles and infrastructure. Applications are due May 26.

U.S. DOE recently announced $180 million in funding available through the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize for schools engaging in strategic partnerships to build capacity and implement energy upgrades at K-12 schools, lowering energy use and costs and improving indoor air quality. Competitive proposals will implement energy assessments and building improvement projects across a portfolio of 10 or more school facilities, which may be composed of school facilities from one or more districts.

Awards will focus on schools that serve disadvantaged communities, including those with a high percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, and/or which qualify as rural. Eligible improvements include alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure (including EVs).

Additional information is available on the Renew America’s Schools page and in the Fact Sheet, and a Teaming List is available on the HeroX Platform. U.S. DOE will host office hours on April 24 at 1:00 PM Eastern and May 29 at 2:00 PM Eastern. Applications are due June 13.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced the Clean Bus Planning Awards Program (CBPA), funded by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. The CBPA program reduces barriers to zero-emission bus deployment by providing school and transit bus fleets with free technical assistance to develop comprehensive and customized fleet electrification transition plans. Fleets also have the option to receive free deployment assistance from NREL upon completion of their plan.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through September 30.

EPA announced $2 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for the Community Change Grants Program. Funding is available for projects that deploy clean energy, reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input.

There are two separate tracks available:

Eligible applicants include partnerships between two community-based non-profit organizations and partnerships between a community-based non-profit organization and a local government, institution of higher education, or federally recognized tribe. View the Notice of Funding Opportunity and the Grants.gov page for additional information. Applications are due November 21.

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, in partnership with the U.S. DOE’s Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program, recently released the Public EV Charging Infrastructure Playbook, a web-based resource built by experts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and World Resources Institute, that offers interactive modules to help communities plan and build infrastructure to support a zero-emission transportation system. 

The playbook offers interactive resources for communities, planning organizations, local and state governments, applicants and awardees of the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, and other decision-makers to help navigate important considerations when planning and deploying EV charging infrastructure. Modules can be followed in order or used as standalone resources to meet the community’s unique needs. 

Visit the TDEC Office of Energy Programs Website at http://www.tn.gov/environment/energy.

Past Monthly Newsletters: 

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

For more information or to submit an idea for a future Monthly Transportation Edition, contact:

Audrey Jackson, Communications Officer
TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-917-6683 or audrey.jackson@tn.gov

OR

Alexa Voytek, Deputy Director, OEP Programs
U.S. DOE State Energy Program / Innovation & Transportation / Communications
TDEC Office of Energy Programs
 615-613-1096 or alexa.voytek@tn.gov

OR

Mark Finlay, Senior Energy Analyst, TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-772-6011 or mark.finlay@tn.gov

Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the State Energy Program Award Number DE-EE0009487

Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government.  Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.