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| Technical Assistance, Incentives, and Funding Opportunities:
Upcoming Events and Activities:
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| TDEC Hosting Volkswagen Diesel Settlement Public Information Sessions In 2015, Volkswagen (VW) publicly admitted that it had secretly and deliberately installed a defeat device—software designed to cheat emissions tests and deceive federal and state regulators—in approximately 590,000 model year 2009 to 2016 motor vehicles containing 2.0 and 3.0 liter diesel engines. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint against VW, alleging that the company had violated the federal Clean Air Act.
$2.9 billion in settlement funds from the resulting 2.0 and 3.0 liter partial settlements with the federal government will be placed into an Environmental Mitigation Trust, which will fund environmental mitigation projects that reduce NOx emissions. Trust funds will be allocated among beneficiaries (states, certain territories, and tribes) based on the number of impacted VW vehicles in their jurisdictions.
Tennessee’s initial, combined allocation under the approved 2.0 and 3.0 liter partial settlements is $45,759,914.40. The TDEC Office of Energy Programs (OEP), the lead agency administering the Volkswagen Diesel Settlement funds for TN, has been hosting public information sessions about the settlement. Sessions were previously held in Nashville on October 31, Knoxville on November 7, and Memphis on November 17. TDEC OEP will also hold a public information session in Chattanooga and via webinar in December (details will be released as they are available). These meetings will provide an overview of the VW Diesel Settlement, the Environmental Mitigation Trust, TDEC's process for developing a proposed Beneficiary Mitigation Plan for Tennessee, and the types of eligible mitigation actions that can be funded by Tennessee’s Environmental Mitigation Trust allocation.
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| Metro Nashville and Davidson County Department of General Services Deploys New Electric Vehicles for Employees The Metro Nashville and Davidson County Department of General Services’ Office of Fleet Management has acquired ten new all-electric Nissan LEAFs. To date, four of them have been delivered to the administrative offices of Metro Nashville Public Works and the Parks Department for pool sharing. Employees may use these zero emission electric vehicles (EVs) for Metro business during business hours, saving fuel and protecting air quality. Check out the Socket Bulletin, a news resource from Metro Nashville Government’s sustainability outreach program, for more information.
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| Featured Fleet: Sevier County Switches Over to Natural Gas
Sevier County Utility District installed a CNG station in 2014 and soon began switching over its fleet to natural gas. A nearby Dollywood theme park resort took notice and began operating all six of its resort trolleys with natural gas supplied by the station. Other area fleets continue to do the same, and, since installation, the station has displaced around 94,000 gallons of diesel! Click here or below to watch a video from Clean Cities TV on the station.
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| Annual JEC Automotive Conference Returns to Knoxville
Day one sessions covered topics such as 3d printing and lightweigting trends. The focus of day two was on the wide scale use of thermoplastics in the automotive industry. Other topics included mass production applications, development of glass/carbon hybrid compound, and a multi-scale modeling platform for a more affordable and predictable use of composites.
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| UPS Shows Off its CNG Equipment and Vehicles to Tennessee Clean Fuels UPS is the largest alternative fuel fleet in Tennessee in both number of alternative fuel vehicles and amount of alternative fuel consumed. The company operates over 300 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tractors and trucks out of Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis, with many of the trucks in Memphis running on renewable natural gas (RNG, in this case renewable LNG).
Earlier this month, UPS allowed Tennessee Clean Fuels (the U.S. DOE Clean Cities Coalition made up of East and Middle-West TN Clean Fuels) to bring its coalition meeting attendees on a tour of UPS’s Chattanooga distribution facility. There, attendees got to learn about and visit the facility’s CNG equipment and vehicles. Click here to see photos from that tour and find information on UPS’s CNG use in Tennessee.
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| Nashville Increases Access to Jobs by Transit
The Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota released research this month showing that several U.S. cities have increased access to jobs through increased access to transit. For example, job accessibility by transit in Cincinnati, OH, and Charlotte, NC, improved by more than 11%. The new rankings, which are part of a national study that began in 2013, focus on accessibility in terms of both land use and transportation systems. The study found that Nashville grew its own access to jobs through transit by 4.35% from 2015 to 2016. Check out the full report here.
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| TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, INCENTIVES, AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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| NOI: TDEC OEP to Issue Second Round of Funding for Tennessee Natural Gas and Propane Vehicle Grant Program
The second round of the program, managed by TDEC OEP, is limited to one application per grantee, per location. Applications may address a variety of eligible vehicle types (heavy, medium, and light-duty) and uses. Application forms for the second round of the Tennessee Natural Gas and Propane Vehicle Grant Program are expected to be released in the coming months. For more information about this program, or about other TDEC OEP sustainable transportation efforts, contact Alexa Voytek at Alexa.Voytek@tn.gov or 615-532-0238.
Funding: - $1,700,000 will be available under this competitive funding opportunity.
- Each grant will provide up to 70% of the incremental purchase cost of eligible vehicles, with a maximum grant of $25,000 for each eligible vehicle.
- The maximum amount that may be awarded to a grantee shall not exceed $250,000.
Eligibility: - A project must propose to receive funding for a minimum of one vehicle.
- Eligible vehicles must either (1) be purchased new, from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or OEM-authorized dealer or (2) be converted to run on natural gas or propane through an EPA-certified, after-market conversion.
- Vehicles must be registered within the State of Tennessee, unless the vehicle is to receive International Registration Plan (IRP) apportioned registration. In the case of the latter, the entity applying for a grant must submit a letter, certifying the percentage of time that the vehicle is expected to operate within the State of Tennessee.
- Eligible vehicles include dedicated compressed natural gas vehicles, dedicated liquefied natural gas vehicles, and dedicated propane-powered vehicles. Natural gas or propane-powered bi-fuel vehicles, or vehicles that are capable of operating on gasoline or diesel in addition to natural gas or propane, shall be eligible for emergency response vehicles only. (All bi-fuel vehicles will be required to utilize either natural gas or propane for no less than 75% of the vehicle's fuel use for a period of no less than five years. The grant amount available to bi-fuel vehicles will be 75% that of dedicated vehicles. Bi-fuel vehicles will therefore only be eligible to receive no more than 52.5% of the conversion or incremental purchase cost, up to $25,000 for each eligible vehicle.)
- Light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles will be considered eligible, as there will be no gross vehicle weight restrictions or requirements.
- Applicants must intend to maintain operations in Tennessee for a minimum of six years.
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| Request for Proposals: Guidance for Planning and Implementing Multimodal, Integrated Corridor Management
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has released a request for proposals to develop guidance for agencies planning and implementing multimodal, integrated corridor, or area management. The guidance should address, among other items, the following: - Defining the purpose and need of the integrated traffic management approach.
- Demonstrating the value of the integrated approach to agency administrators and policy makers (including alignment with agency directions in a broader geographical area).
- Identifying and engaging needed partner agencies and defining their respective roles.
- Developing memoranda of understanding or other policies (internal and cross-agency) to support the traffic management system(s) and facilitate those strategies.
- Developing and implementing a deployment plan for the traffic management system(s).
- Developing a plan for ICM maintenance, sustainability, and continuous improvement.
For more information on the RFP, click here. Proposals are due December 7, 2017.
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| New Funding to Develop Framework for Public-Sector Assessment of Mobility-on-Demand and Automated Driving Systems
TRB has released a request for proposals to establish a framework for the assessment of mobility-on-demand services’ and automated driving systems’ influence on transportation demand and supply. The framework should focus on the needs of transportation agencies at the state, regional, and local levels. It should also have relevance beyond transportation, including environmental impacts, information technology management (e.g., rights-of-way and radio spectrum allocation for telecommunications), land use planning, economic development, and social welfare. While targeted to agencies, the framework should also be relevant to private sector and research audiences. Proposals are due December 27, 2017. For more information on the RFP, click here.
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| Grants for Propane Powered School Buses
In late August, IC Bus announced an opportunity for school districts to qualify for $5,000 grants when purchasing a new propane autogas CE Series school bus. This grant gives those school districts that would like or are planning to make the switch to propane more flexibility in their purchase decision. The grant can be used towards items such as buying additional buses, investing in new technology, hiring additional drivers, and infrastructure updates to maintenance facilities. Districts interested can learn more from their IC Bus dealer or at icbus.com.
Another grant opportunity for propane school buses comes from AmeriGas, a propane autogas seller and distributor. With the AmeriGas Clean Community Grant, eligible school districts have the opportunity to replace their diesel buses and receive up to $5,000.00 per newly purchased propane school bus (bi-fuel engines not eligible). This Clean Community Grant can be combined with other funding, including the Tennessee Natural Gas and Propane Vehicle Grant Program. The Clean Community Grant amount is dependent on the total number of propane powered buses acquired and placed into operation during the specified grant timeline. Buses funded by this grant must be powered by AmeriGas propane AutoGas under a minimum three-year agreement. These funds are dispersed on a one-time annual basis. For more information and to apply, please contact David Rigney, AmeriGas National Accounts Manager, at David.Rigney@AmeriGas.com or 386-299-9422.
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| UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
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| Register Now to Receive Discount for 2018 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting
Register by November 30 to take advantage of lower fees and to obtain a hotel guest room for TRB’s 97th Annual Meeting, to take place January 7-11, 2018, in Washington, D.C. The meeting program will cover all transportation modes, with more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 800 sessions and workshops, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. Among these presentations are 160 dealing with energy and environmental topics as it pertains to transportation fuels, efficiency, emissions, planning, and more (you can review the full program here). More than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world are expected to attend.
Professional Development Hours (PDHs) may be claimed by professional engineers for attending the meeting, and each hour of participation earns one PDH. For more information, click here. TRB is also an approved provider of American Institute of Certified Planners Certification Maintenance (AICP CM) credits. The approved sessions will be identified in the Interactive Program and available on the TRB Annual Meeting website in December.
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| Energy Independence Summit 2018
The 2018 Energy Independence Summit is the nation's premier clean transportation policy event and will be held February 11-14, 2018 in Washington D.C. The Summit provides a unique opportunity for leaders in the clean transportation industry to network and build partnerships with each other, and with key Congressional and Administration policymakers.
East TN Clean Fuels is in the process of gathering a team from Tennessee to represent the state’s unique alternative fuels market and needs at the Summit. This team will meet prior to the Summit to discuss the importance of continued support for alternative fuels in Tennessee and across the U.S. Please contact East TN Clean Fuels Coordinator Jonathan Overly at jonathan@etcleanfuels.org to become involved. For more information on the Summit, click here.
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| Four Reports on the Future of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
1. National Plug-in Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Analysis
As sales of EVs increase in the United States, a key question comes to mind—how many charging stations are needed to support these new vehicles? A recent report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) outlines several potential EV and charging station scenarios, with an estimated 15 million EVs on the road in 2030. It suggests that just a few hundred corridor fast-charging stations could support long-distance travel between U.S. cities and that roughly 8,000 of them would be needed to serve urban and rural areas nationwide. Click here for more information and to access maps from the report. 2. Choosing the Electric Avenue – Unlocking Savings, Emissions Reductions, and Community Benefits of Electric Vehicles
The U.S. vehicle market will undergo a massive technology disruption from electric vehicles in the coming decades. Many analysts see the potential for surging sales of these efficient vehicles to enable smart grid management, but few have explored the local impact of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles offer a natural use for solar energy, creating a pathway to pump more local solar power onto the grid, and a source of resilient power when the grid goes down. Ultimately, electric vehicles are another tool to miniaturize the electricity system, providing unprecedented local control. A recent report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) examines these issues and more.
3. Accelerating Investment in Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
New analysis from the nonprofit organization Ceres and M.J. Bradley & Associates finds that the benefits of increased investment in EV charging infrastructure outweigh the costs by more than 3 to 1.
The report evaluates the need for charging infrastructure – including both private and public chargers – in twelve of the largest utility service territories in seven US states. In these utilities’ territories, which include 42 million residential customers and 80 million vehicles, an infrastructure investment of $17.6 billion (for a high EV penetration market model) would yield benefits of $58 billion by 2035.
4. Enabling Fast Charging: a Technology Gap Assessment
U.S. DOE’s Alternative Fuel Data Center has released a report that identifies gaps in EV fast charging infrastructure, namely in extreme fast charging or XFC. This report identifies the barriers for XFC deployment as well as potential R&D responses to these obstacles, including vehicle charging and battery hardware, utility power and infrastructure demands, and more.
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| Report: Electric Vehicles Emit Less Greenhouse Gases than Diesels, Even in Coal-Heavy Regions
A new report from Belgium’s VUB University has found that electric cars emit significantly less greenhouse gases over their lifetimes than diesel engines even when they are powered by the most carbon intensive energy. As battery technology improves and more renewables enter the electricity grid, the study found that emissions from battery production itself could be cut by 65%.
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| Report: What Fleets Need to Know About Alternative Fuel Vehicle Conversions, Retrofits, and Repowers
U.S. DOE’s Alternative Fuel Data Center has released a report that provides information about modifying existing vehicles to use alternative fuels and other advanced technologies. This report is intended to provide guidance for fleet managers who wish to retrofit their current vehicles in order to achieve emissions and environmental goals at lower costs. It includes information about conversions, retrofits, and repowers to natural gas, propane, E85/ethanol, biodiesel, hybrid technology, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology.
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| Transportation TV Special Report: Automated Vehicles in America
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| Fuel Economy Going Up While Vehicle Prices are Holding Steady
Recently, The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that average vehicle prices have remained mostly flat over the past 15 years, even as average fuel economy improves. The finding rebuts claims that boosting vehicle fuel economy makes cars and trucks unaffordable for American consumers. ACEEE’s finding complements EPA’s 2016 technical report on the subject, which found that savings at the pump from better fuel economy would far offset the cost of the technologies needed to meet the standards.
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| Assessment of Compliance and Enforcement Programs for Vehicle Emissions and Energy Efficiency
As vehicle pollution and fuel efficiency regulations have become more stringent, the technologies required to mitigate emissions and reduce fuel consumption become increasingly complex. One consequence is that government agencies around the world must improve their compliance and enforcement efforts to ensure that the intended outcomes from emission-control and fuel-efficiency programs are achieved. The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has released a report that reviews existing compliance and enforcement programs regarding emission control in major vehicle markets.
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