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| News and Events:
Alternative Fuels Training Opportunities: Funding Opportunity Announcement:
Upcoming Events and Activities: Resources and Guides:
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| TDEC Releases Solicitation for School Bus Projects under the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust, Holds Application Workshop for Potential Applicants
TDEC has released its first solicitation for projects under the Volkswagen Diesel Settlement Environmental Mitigation Trust (EMT). Under this solicitation, $8,710,353.78 in EMT funding is available for eligible Class 4-8 School Bus projects. The grant program, managed by TDEC’s Office of Energy Programs, will provide financial assistance to public, nonprofit and private fleets in Tennessee that apply to receive funding to replace a minimum of one eligible School Bus with any new diesel, Alternate Fueled or All-Electric School Bus. School Buses eligible for replacement include 2009 engine model year or older Class 4-8 School Buses sold or introduced into interstate commerce for purposes that include carrying students to and from school or related events. Eligible School Buses may include Type A-D School Buses. - Grants shall not exceed $750,000 per Grantee.
- Eligible applicants include both Government and Non-Government entities. “Government” shall mean a State or local government agency (including a school district, municipality, city, county, special district, transit district, joint powers authority, or port authority, owning fleets purchased with government funds), and a tribal government or native village. More information on applicant eligibility can be found in the Application Manual.
- School Buses eligible for replacement include 2009 engine model year or older Class 4-8 School Buses sold or introduced into interstate commerce for purposes that include carrying students to and from school or related events. Eligible School Buses may include Type A-D School Buses.
- Applications may include a variety of eligible vehicle and/or fuel types.
Applications must be submitted electronically through the TDEC Online Grants System by 4:00 PM CST on December 14, 2018. Please refer to TDEC’s “About the Online Grants System” webpage to learn more about the TDEC Online Grants Management System, including how to register and apply. Awards are expected to be announced in January 2019, and the expected timeframe for grant contracting efforts will be March 2019. TDEC will also partner with the Tennessee Department of Education to host an application workshop for the School Bus Grant Replacement Program on Tuesday, October 16 at the Wilson County Schools Administrative & Training Complex. Representatives of school districts, school bus contractors, and other interested persons are encouraged to attend and learn about the application process and program terms and conditions, including project eligibility, timelines for implementation, and reporting requirements. Click here to register for the application workshop.
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| Commuter Challenge in Nashville October 22-28 Nashville Connector, Davidson County’s first transportation demand management program, seeks to help employers and employees in the Nashville region to plan for a better commute. The program assists individuals and companies alike in identifying the bus, carpool, train, and walking/biking commuter options available to commuters in the Nashville area. Recently, Nashville Connector announced a Commuter Challenge, which will take place from October 22-28. As part of this challenge, Nashville’s downtown commuting participants must pledge to not drive alone for at least one trip to work during the week. To do this, commuters may carpool, ride a bike or scooter, take public transit, walk to work, or work from home. To find out more and to sign up for the challenge, click here: http://nashconnector.org/commuter-challenge.
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| SmartCharge Nashville Seeks EV Driver Participation SmartCharge Nashville is a new research opportunity to help local utility companies prepare Tennessee for greater electric vehicle (EV) adoption. If you drive an EV, SmartCharge Nashville needs your help to understand the needs of current and future electric vehicle owners by gathering information on how EVs charge today. Data gathered by the SmartCharge program will inform development of infrastructure and programs that support EV utilization and maintain low cost, reliable electric service in the future. Participants will gain access to their own driving and charging data, as well as information on emissions reductions achieved by driving an EV, via an online dashboard. Participants will also receive up to $100 in compensation for their participation in the study. Enrollment is open to anyone in the Greater Nashville area who currently drives a plug-in EV and is a customer of either Nashville Electric Service (NES) or Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation (MTEMC). Enrollment is limited, so those interested are encouraged to register soon! More details can be found on the signup website at https://www.FleetCarma.com/SmartChargeNashville/. SmartCharge Nashville is a voluntary program for EV drivers in the greater Nashville area. The program is being managed by FleetCarma ,a company specializing in electric vehicle data collection in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and local utility companies Nashville Electric Service and Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation. Please contact your local power company with further questions about the program.
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| Nashville and Chattanooga Transit Agencies Receive Federal Funding to Enhance Public Transit The local transit agencies for Nashville and Chattanooga were both recently awarded federal funding to enhance their respective public transit systems. Nashville’s WeGo Public Transit will receive $9 Million under the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Buses and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program to replace buses throughout its fleet. The project will help maintain WeGo’s state of good repair and improve air quality by replacing aging buses with new hybrid electric models. The Chattanooga Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) received $1.5 Million under the FTA Low or No-Emission Bus Program to purchase electric coaches, helping to replace older vehicles that have exceeded their useful life. CARTA will also receive $760,000 from U.S. DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office for a collaborative electric vehicle research project with SCOPE Lab at Vanderbilt University, the University of Houston, the City of Chattanooga Department of Transportation, the Enterprise Center, East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition, and Green Commuter. The project will enable the development and evaluation of tools to promote energy efficiency within a mobility-as-a-service transportation model in a mid-sized city. In addition to identifying energy efficiencies within each specific mode of operation, this project will identify mobility network efficiencies associated with Chattanooga’s current public transportation offerings.
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| Drive Electric Tennessee Invites Stakeholder Feedback on Draft EV Roadmap Drive Electric Tennessee is a consortium of stakeholder organizations who are working to make Tennessee an electric transportation leader in the Southeast. For the past several months, a core team of State agencies, electric utilities, cities, universities, electric vehicle OEMs, and others have been working together on the development of a shared vision for electric transportation in the state, including goals and guiding principles for increased electric vehicle adoption over the next 5-10 years. Drive Electric Tennessee will use these elements to develop and publish a final electric vehicle roadmap for the state, and the group began the process of inviting stakeholder feedback on a draft version of this roadmap at a Stakeholder Roadmap Forum on September 13, 2018 in Nashville. There, stakeholders were able to review the group’s identified electric vehicle opportunity areas and projects, including 1) making EVs a compelling alternative to traditional vehicles, 2) creating supportive policies to advance electric driving, 3) increasing consumer awareness, and 4) increasing electric vehicle charging infrastructure availability. Learn more about Drive Electric Tennessee at www.DriveElectricTN.org.
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| Tennessee Cities Push Forward with Zero-Emission Priorities Tennessee’s cities continue to push forward with zero-emission priorities in an effort to meet their sustainable transportation goals. In Nashville, the Livable Nashville initiative has a goal of reducing citywide vehicle emissions 70% by 2050, with even higher goals for the City’s transportation fleet. Nashville is also looking for partners to help launch an all-electric car-share service, similar to the one created by CARTA in Chattanooga. Additionally, the mayors of Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga participate as members of the Climate Mayors group, a bipartisan, peer-to-peer network of U.S. mayors working together to demonstrate leadership on climate change through meaningful actions in their communities. Learn more about the municipal sustainable transportation activities occurring across the state by clicking here.
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| ALTERNATIVE FUELS TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
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| Tennessee Clean Fuels to Host Memphis First Responder Training Session for Alternative Fuel Safety
Tennessee Clean Fuels will host an upcoming instructor-led classroom training provided by the National Fire Protection Association for first responders on alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and how to respond to electric, natural gas, and propane vehicle incidents. This training, scheduled for October 25 at the TAG Truck Center in Memphis, is designed to equip local trainers with the knowledge and materials to teach their own staff members about alternative fuels. The session will also feature a live demonstration of onsite AFVs, which will consist of vehicles that currently operate in and around the Memphis area. Click here to learn more and to register for the training. Registration will cost $40 per person. If your department or squad will have difficulty covering the cost to attend, please call Daniel Siksay, Project Manager at ETCleanFuels, at 865-974-9665 to discuss available discount options.
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| Free Gaseous Fuels Garage Modification Trainings
Clean Fuls Ohio is working with Marathon Technical Services to promote a series of Gaseous Fuels Garage Modification Trainings all around the U.S. These trainings are free for attendees and offer a great opportunity to learn about needed modifications to facilities that house and maintain gaseous fueled vehicles (which may run on propane autogas [LPG], compressed natural gas [CNG], liquefied natural gas [LNG], or gaseous hydrogen [GH2]). These opportunities include in-classroom training as well as tours of local facilities. Below are some upcoming training dates in and around the southeast: - October 17 – LPG and CNG – Kansas City, KS
- October 18 – CNG – Kansas City, MO
- October 31 – CNG – Richmond, VA
- November 1 – LNG – Chesterfield, VA
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| FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT
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| FOA Released to Advance Natural Gas Vehicle Research The National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to award up to $11 million for projects that focus on: (1) reducing the cost of natural gas vehicles; (2) increasing vehicle efficiency; and (3) advancing innovative medium- and heavy-duty natural gas engine designs. Projects selected through this solicitation will complement Vehicle Technologies Office research started in FY 2017 to improve the performance, reliability, durability, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency of natural gas vehicles. Cost-effectively achieving diesel-like efficiency in natural gas engines, while meeting emissions standards, will improve the viability of natural gas fueled medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Applications are due November 5, 2018 at 5:00 PM MST. For more information about the RFP, click here.
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| UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
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| GRIDSMART Technology's INTERSECT18
INERSECT18, an annual conference hosted by GRIDSMART Technologies, Inc., will be held on October 16-18, 2018 in Knoxville. The conference will cover major issues facing the transportation sector and how each of these issues can be impacted, and ultimately mitigated, by the ITS and technology industries. Some of these issues include cybersecurity, connected and autonomous vehicles, road safety, and more. Click here to learn more and register for the conference.
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| Tennessee Public Transportation Association Conference
The Tennessee Public Transportation Association (TPTA) will co-host the 2018 TPTA Annual Conference & Expo with Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) at the Knoxville Convention Center and the Holiday Inn Knoxville Downtown from November 6-9, 2018. This year’s event will include general sessions and workshops focused on the current issues facing public transportation and will provide attendees the opportunity to see transportation products, technologies, and services that can help move a transit agency forward. Click here to register or learn more.
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|  | Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 47090 |
| Ethanol Basics Fact Sheet U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy recently updated its Ethanol Basics fact sheet, which provides an introduction to ethanol—a widely used, domestically produced renewable fuel made from corn and other plant materials. Using ethanol in fuel can help the nation increase the use of domestic alternative fuels, thereby reducing reliance on imported oil. Gasoline and gasoline blendstocks can also use ethanol as an octane enhancer to increase vehicle performance. For more information, visit afdc.energy.gov.
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