The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) recently announced $2.9 million in funding to be awarded to seven collaborative teams through the Transportation Network Growth Opportunity Initiative (TNGO). TNGO serves as a tool to diversify the state’s economy by leveraging both public and private sector assets to attract mobility research and development investment to Tennessee.

Selected recipients and their projects include:

The Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative’s Waverly District office is now home to a new electric vehicle fast charging station. The station, which features two chargers with both CCS and CHAdeMO plugs, is the 19th site to go live as part of TDEC and TVA’s Fast Charge TN Network.

Nearly five years after the release of its Roadmap for Electric Vehicles in Tennessee, Drive Electric TN (DET) announced the kickoff of a "Roadmap Refresh" initiative at the DET Momentum Summit. The Roadmap Refresh will allow DET to revise goals and prioritize “Opportunity Areas" and associated initiatives. As part of the Roadmap Refresh, DET will work with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) on a new medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle (EV) and infrastructure section of the Roadmap and develop action plans for on-road freight electrification and charging infrastructure buildout at high-priority locations with engagement from stakeholders.

Whisper Aero, an electric propulsion company, celebrated a ribbon-cutting for the company’s new 8,000-square-foot flight test center in Crossville at the Crossville Memorial Airport. The company is working to develop the next generation of cleaner, quieter, and more efficient propulsion, and the new facility will increase the company’s ground and test flight capabilities.

Technology-Enhanced Advanced Mobility in Tennessee (TEAM TN) Engine, a coalition of advanced mobility stakeholder organizations, is committed to strengthening its workforce development initiatives to meet the evolving needs of the advanced manufacturing and information technology industry. TEAM TN invites stakeholders to share their insights and experiences in a Workforce Development Survey. Corporate, industry, higher education, government, and community feedback is welcome.

NACARATO Truck Centers will host an Electric Truck Ride and Drive event in La Verge on August 27, showcasing the latest innovations in electric trucking. Attendees can test drive or ride in electric trucks, including a Volvo VNR, TICO Electric Yard Spotter, and Bollinger B4. Staff will be available to answer questions. Register for the event here.

EPA and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation 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 Power of 10 Summit, presented by Cumberland Region Tomorrow, will take place September 17 at the Music City Center in Nashville. The summit addresses the challenges and opportunities surrounding regional mobility in Middle Tennessee. Power of 10 will bring together experts, policymakers, and community leaders to explore innovative transit solutions. Learn more and register for the Summit here.

The 17th Annual STRIDE Collaborative Partners Meeting will be held September 17-19 in Atlanta, GA. The STRIDE Collaborative is a public-private partnership dedicated to reducing diesel emissions and improving public health in the eight southeastern states. The in-person conference will feature speakers on a variety of topics dedicated to reducing diesel emissions, including electrification, alternative fuels, funding opportunities, workforce development, ports, and environmental justice. 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, and communities.

View the agenda here and register here for the 2024 Forth Roadmap Conference.

The Tennessee Smart Mobility Expo will return to the Music City Center in Nashville April 2-3, 2025. Sign up here for email updates on speakers, registration details, and sponsorship opportunities.

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation recently announced the second round of funding under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program.  This round of funding makes up to $1.3 billion available for electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative fuel infrastructure in urban and rural communities and along designated highways, interstates, and major roadways.

The CFI Program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and is open to state, regional, Tribal, and local government entities. CFI Round 2 will make $800 million available for new applications.

Additional information is available in the FHWA’s overview webinar slides here. New applications are due through Grants.gov by August 28.

The Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program, administered by U.S. DOT, funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. SS4A funds support communities in the development of road safety action plans and improve unsafe roadway corridors by implementing effective interventions. Additionally, these funds can be utilized to test out safety features such as separated bicycle lanes or curb extensions at intersections. 

Eligible applicants may come from individual communities or groups of communities and may include metropolitan planning organizations, counties, cities, towns, other special districts that are subdivisions of a state, certain transit agencies, federally recognized Tribal governments, and multijurisdictional groups of eligible applicants.  

Additional information is available on the SS4A FY 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity webpage and FAQs. Applications are due August 29.

Eligible applicants include higher education institutions, for-profit and nonprofit entities, and state and local governments. View additional information, including details on topic areas of interest, in the funding opportunity announcement. Concept papers are due September 9, and full applications are due October 30.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced the Clean Bus Planning Awards Program (CBPA), funded by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office). 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.

The Joint Office released a recording of the webinar, Overview for Electric School Bus Operators, to provide operators, technicians, and other school bus fleet members with a fundamental understanding of electric school bus technology.  Find additional resources on acquiring electric school buses on the World Resources Institute’s Electric School Bus Initiative website and Drive Electric Tennessee’s TN Bus Electrification, Education and Planning (TN BEEP) website.

The Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, administered by U.S. DOT, focuses on improving access to daily needs such as jobs, education, healthcare, food, nature, and recreation; fosters equitable development and restoration; and provides technical assistance to further these goals. Up to $607 million is available for community planning, capital construction, and technical assistance.

$457 million is available for capital construction projects to fund reconnecting-focused projects and smaller projects focused on reducing environmental harm and improving access in disadvantaged communities. Projects may address the removal of a dividing facility, enhance community connectivity, or improve access by building or improving Complete Streets.

$150 million is available for community planning projects to provide funds for planning activities to support future construction projects and allow for innovative community planning to address localized transportation challenges. Projects may address community engagement activities, planning studies to assess the feasibility of removing, retrofitting, or mitigating an existing eligible facility to reconnect communities (for example, mobility, safety, environmental and public health impacts, etc.), conceptual or preliminary engineering or design, or other needs including land-use and zoning reform, transit-oriented development, and housing supply.

Technical assistance for potential applicants is available from the Reconnecting Communities Institute. Applications are due September 30.

The U.S. DOE Office of Technology Transitions and the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) recently announced the TCF Open Voucher Call program to connect the public with researchers from U.S. DOE National Labs, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The program will award up to 21 vouchers for $100,000 technical assistance redeemable at one of eight U.S. DOE national labs.

Awardees will be selected based on innovative ideas and concepts for advancing energy, sustainability, or other lab-supported initiatives. Participating national labs will provide awardees with expertise and lab validation capabilities to help them advance their concept closer to commercialization. Applications are due October 3.

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 State Funding Readiness Project (SFRP) provides no-cost technical assistance to jurisdictions, including local governments, for preparing and applying for funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. SFRP can help jurisdictions identify specific investment opportunities, conduct a stakeholder mapping exercise, inform budget planning, meet Justice40 requirements, develop competitive grant applications, and strengthen linkages with administering agencies. SFRP has an open, rolling intake process and considers jurisdiction requests at any time. Learn more on the SFRP website.

The East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and TDEC will open applications for the Reducing Diesel Emissions for a Healthier Tennessee (RDE4HT) Program on October 1. 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.

Funding will be available in Tennessee to replace older diesel vehicles that are class 5-8 with a) new alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) that can run on propane, compressed natural gas (CNG), electricity, or that are hybrids, or b) new diesel vehicles. Any entity that owns and operates vehicles in Tennessee for a Tennessee-based fleet or fleet domicile site may apply. Additional information will be made available on the RDE4HT website. Applications will be due November 15.

EV Local Fuel Savings Calculator

U.S. DOE and Argonne National Lab created the Local Fuel Savings Calculator to compare the cost of driving an EV or plug-in hybrid EV to a conventional vehicle. Drivers can enter their ZIP code or state and any information about their vehicle size, model year, tank size, fuel economy, and annual mileage. The calculator then generates estimates of how much drivers can save.

Utility-Finder Tool for Transportation Electrification Incentives

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, created the Utility-Finder, or U-Finder, web-based tool to allow EV charger deployment stakeholders to identify local utility partners and known charger installation incentives. U-Finder draws incentive and utility contact information from the American Public Power Association, the Edison Electric Institute, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Laws and Incentives database from the Alternative Fuels Data Center.

TDEC OEP is hiring an Energy Program Administrator to oversee the design and implementation of its award under EPA’s Solar for All Program, which seeks to accelerate the deployment of solar infrastructure to benefit low-income households and disadvantaged communities. The Energy Program Administrator position requires a minimum of seven years of experience managing programs or projects, writing technical documents, and/or project financing. The position is expected to take on a supervisory role, with up to three direct reports.

 Applications should be submitted through tn.gov/careers by August 26.

TDEC OEP is hiring an Administrative Services Manager and Compliance and Procurement Specialist to oversee subrecipient and vendor compliance with numerous state and federal requirements regarding procurement of goods and services, prevailing wages/labor standards, government contracting, and required audits. This position will also serve as OEP’s lead for the multi-layer Accounts Payable process (e.g., submittals, reviews, approvals, tracking, reporting). The position requires a minimum of three years of experience managing procurement activities, accounts, or budgets; writing technical documents; and program or project management.

Applications should be submitted through tn.gov/careers by September 9.

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

Past Monthly Newsletters: 

July 2024

June 2024

May 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.