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| U.S. DOE, DOT Release Guidance for $5B EV Infrastructure Program
U.S. DOE and U.S. DOT recently released guidance on the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). The NEVI Formula Program will provide dedicated funding to states to strategically deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure and establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability. Initially, funding under this program will be directed to designated Alternative Fuel Corridors for electricity. When the national corridor network is fully built out, funding may be used on any public road or in other publicly accessible locations.
The total amount available to states in Fiscal Year 2022 under the NEVI Formula Program is $615 million. States must submit an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan by August 1 before they can access these funds. A separate, competitive grant program designed to further increase electric vehicle charging access in locations throughout the country, including in rural and underserved communities, will be announced later this year.
For more information, review the White House Fact Sheet on actions taken to date to prepare for this historic electric vehicle investment.
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| Tritium to Establish EV Charging Manufacturing Facility in Wilson County
Governor Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe, and Tritium officials recently announced that the company will establish its U.S. manufacturing base in Tennessee. Tritium, a global leader in the electric vehicle charging industry, currently expects to create more than 500 new jobs over the next five years in Lebanon, more than doubling its existing workforce across operations in Australia, Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Tritium’s Tennessee site will serve as the company’s sole U.S. facility for manufacturing modular direct current (DC) fast chargers, including the company’s RTM and new PKM150 models.
The facility is expected to house up to six production lines, which will produce 10,000 DC fast charger units per year. Tritium also notes a potential to increase production to approximately 30,000 units per year at peak capacity in the future. Production at Tritium’s Lebanon facility is targeted to begin in the third quarter of 2022 and will help the company expand its global impact to surpass the more than 3.6 million high-power charging sessions across the 41 countries where it currently has a presence.
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| U.S. DOE to Invest Nearly $3B for Advanced Batteries
U.S. DOE recently issued two notices of intent to provide $2.91 billion to boost production of advanced batteries, which are critical to rapidly growing clean energy industries of the future such as electric vehicles and energy storage. U.S. DOE intends to fund battery materials refining and production plants, battery cell and pack manufacturing facilities, and recycling facilities that create good-paying clean energy jobs. The funding is expected to be made available in the coming months and will ensure that the United States can produce batteries, as well as the materials that go into them, to increase economic competitiveness, energy independence, and national security.
Funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will allow U.S. DOE to support the creation of new, retrofitted, and expanded domestic facilities for battery recycling and the production of battery materials, cell components, and battery manufacturing. The funding will also support research, development, and demonstration of second-life applications for batteries once used to power electric vehicles, as well as new processes for recycling, reclaiming, and adding materials back into the battery supply chain.
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| White House Releases Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Guidebook
The White House released the first edition of its Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act guidebook to help tribal, state, local, and territorial governments unlock benefits from the recent historic investments in the nation's infrastructure. The guidebook is a one-stop-shop on the law and contains the most comprehensive information to date on the more than 375 programs included in the legislation. To this end, the White House has also published an accompanying data file that allows users to quickly sort programs funded under the law by fields like agency, amount, recipient, or program name. Future phases of the guidebook will update due dates, key timelines for program implementation, best practices, case studies, and links to key resources developed by the White House and other partners. The White House will continue to update this resource online at Build.gov.
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| ORNL Targets Electric Grid Security, EV Battery Charging
ORNL researchers are taking innovative steps to meet energy challenges of national interest. At ORNL’s Grid Research Integration and Deployment Center (GRID-C) in Knox County, they are addressing the following questions:
- How can the efficiency and resilience of the U.S. electric grid be improved?
- Can the grid be better protected from weather-related outages and cyberattacks?
- Can American batteries be manufactured using materials from domestic rather than foreign sources?
- Can these batteries be recharged faster?
- Can spent batteries and their materials be reused, recycled, and kept out of landfills to protect the environment?
- Can high-power battery charging technology be embedded in parts of interstate highways so potential consumers of electric vehicles will be less concerned about driving range and the availability of battery recharging stations?
Research and federal support has culminated in the development of novel technology to fuel the drive toward answering these and many more questions about the future of transportation electrification. This includes ORNL’s dynamic wireless battery charging infrastructure, a technology that has been licensed to a company called HEVO. U.S. DOE recently unveiled a Technology Commercialization Fund award in which HEVO and ORNL will co-develop and demonstrate this system based on the innovative ORNL converter and associated power electronics.
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| UPCOMING EVENTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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| EV Mythbusters Series: Testing EV Range Across Tennessee
Drive Electric Tennessee will host a webinar on March 3 from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM Eastern as part of its continuing effort to debunk electric vehicle myths and misconceptions for potential adopters. This webinar will focus on three electric vehicle owners who have tested their vehicles’ driving ranges throughout East, Middle, and West Tennessee. Each of the drivers has taken a special long-distance trip in their area of the state and will report back during this webinar with information and photos about their journey, including insights on their charging needs throughout the drive, whether they had to go out of their way to charge, what kind of charging infrastructure they used, and more, all in an effort to answer the big question—can you take a road trip in an EV? Click here to register and find out.
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| Mobility and Transit: Keys to Successful Collaboration
The Transportation Research Board will host a webinar on March 9 from 2:00-3:30 PM Eastern that will address how transit agencies can partner with organizations to deploy micromobility options. While much of the existing research around micromobility has focused on what cities can do to regulate it, this webinar will identify how transit agencies can work with others to deploy shared bikes and scooters. Presenters will discuss case studies and lessons learned from transit agencies already offering micromobility options. Click here to view the full agenda and register.
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| 2022 AARP Community Challenge
The AARP Community Challenge provides small grants to fund quick-action projects that can help communities become more livable for people of all ages. This year, applications will be accepted for projects to improve public spaces, housing, transportation, and civic engagement; support diversity, equity, and inclusion; build engagement for programs under new federal laws; and pursue innovative ideas that support people aged 50 or older.
Eligible projects include, but are not limited to, those that deliver a range of transportation and mobility options that increase connectivity, walkability, bikeability, wayfinding, access to transportation options, and roadway improvements. Eligible applicants include 501(C)(3), 501(C)(4), and 501(c)(6) nonprofits as well as government entities. Other types of organizations will be considered as eligible on a case-by-case basis. Applications are due March 22. Click here to apply.
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| Nominations Open for 2022 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards
TDEC is inviting Tennesseans to submit nominations for the 2022 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards, which honor outstanding accomplishments that support the protection and enhancement of Tennessee’s natural resources. Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2022 awards, which include the following categories: Agriculture and Forestry, Building Green, Clean Air, Energy and Renewable Resources, Environmental Education and Outreach, Materials Management, Natural Resources, Water Quality, Sustainable Performance, and Lifetime Achievement.
Any individual, business, organization, educational institution, or agency is eligible for nomination, provided the entity is located in Tennessee and their associated environmental project was completed during the 2021 calendar year. A panel of judges will select award recipients based on criteria including level of project or program completion, innovation, and public education. The deadline for nominations is March 31, and winners will be announced during the summer. Contact Kathy Glapa at (615) 253-8780 or Kathy.Glapa@tn.gov with any questions.
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U.S. DOT recently released a new, free resource to help rural communities across the country take full advantage of federal funding for electric vehicle charging stations. The guide, titled Charging Forward: A Toolkit for Planning and Funding Rural Electric Mobility Infrastructure, can help connect community members, towns, businesses, planning agencies, and others with partners needed for these projects. The toolkit contains best practices for planning electric vehicle charging networks and tips to navigate federal funding and financing to help make these projects a reality. U.S. DOT will also be holding workshops with rural communities to utilize the toolkit most effectively, including a workshop with stakeholders in Cumberland County, TN on March 10.
The toolkit was developed as part of the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative at U.S. DOT, which coordinates rural infrastructure policy at the Department. The ROUTES Initiative was first created in 2019 and codified in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. ROUTES provides technical assistance and easy-to-access resources for rural transportation stakeholders. More information on the ROUTES Initiative can be found at www.transportation.gov/rural.
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