TDEC Commissioner Salyers, Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development Commissioner McWhorter, TDOT Deputy Commissioner Elliot, and Lang Wiseman, former Deputy Governor and Chief Counsel to Governor Lee. Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development

Earlier this month, the Tennessee Smart Mobility Expo, presented by TennSMART in partnership with the State (TDEC, TDOT, and the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development) and Tennessee Clean Fuels, welcomed over 350 attendees at the Music City Center in Nashville for the Tennessee Smart Mobility Expo. Sessions addressed a variety of topics, including urban mobility solutions, emission reduction planning efforts, medium- and heavy-duty fleet electrification, mobility workforce development initiatives, and equity and access for rural transportation. Speakers and attendees included representatives from federal, State, and local governments, private industry, academia, non-profits, and research institutions. Attendees are invited to complete a brief survey to provide feedback on the event.

The Transportation Network Growth Opportunity (TNGO) initiative, supported by the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development in partnership with Launch Tennessee and TEAM (Technology Enabled Advanced Mobility) TN, is an economic development tool designed to connect statewide research assets, communities, and talent to spark new research and innovation in the transportation sector.

The TNGO Mobility and Automotive Discovery initiative aims to partner communities, companies, and/or economic development applicants with researchers across the state to provide innovative solutions to the state’s most pressing mobility and transportation-related issues.

Applications are due February 2, 2024.

The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (Knoxville TPO) is requesting feedback on its Mobility Plan 2050 project, which will examine all modes of transportation within and around the Knoxville region to recommend a strategic regional transportation investment strategy over the next 25 years. The Mobility Plan 2050 is a federally required long-range plan that will outline policies as well as both short- and long-term actions to support an integrated and intermodal transportation system for the effective and efficient movement of people and goods.

Feedback can be submitted through a survey and an interactive map. The feedback will help guide decision-making and impact which transportation projects rise to the top of the list when funding becomes available.

Knoxville-based Pilot Travel Centers LLC, General Motors, and EVgo Inc. recently announced the opening of the first 17 locations of their new national EV fast charging network. The locations span 13 states and will continue to expand to include a total of 2,000 fast chargers at 500 Pilot and Pilot Flying J locations. Charging stations are open at Knox County's Watt Road travel center and in White Pine in East Tennessee.

TEAM TN, a partnership with the National Science Foundation and an alliance of academics, industry, and technical societies, invites its partners to the inaugural TEAM TN Summit from January 30-31, 2024, in Cleveland, Tennessee. TEAM TN working group leaders will update partners on their progress toward positioning Tennessee at the leading edge of transportation electrification and digitization. Additionally, attendees will learn about industry technology trends and have the opportunity to provide feedback on how Tennessee can capture these trends to benefit our diverse communities, workforce, entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems, and economy.

Subsequent summits will highlight different focus areas of TEAM TN’s working groups and provide opportunities for community feedback and networking. Summit feedback will inform TEAM TN’s strategic roadmap.

Register for the TEAM TN Summit here.

The 2024 Appalachian Carbon Forum, hosted by the University of Kentucky and Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), will take place March 7-8, 2024, in Lexington, KY.  The two-day forum brings together a diverse range of thought leaders and innovators to identify and develop energy solutions for the Appalachian region. 

The forum will feature discussions on the representative needs, challenges, and opportunities unique to the area with participants from local communities, private industry, national laboratories, academia, and government located along the Appalachian mountain range. A session on mobility and buildings in Appalachia will highlight the EV ecosystem, emerging construction technologies, and innovative processes to reduce emissions in both sectors.

View the agenda here and register for the 2024 Appalachian Carbon Forum here.

EPA recently announced a prize competition, My Electric Ride: An EV Transportation Video Challenge, that encourages people to share their personal experiences with electric transportation. The challenge aims to showcase real-world experiences of electrified transportation in everyday life and help inform the public about more sustainable transportation. Interested participants are asked to submit a short one- to two-minute video for a chance to win up to $3,000. 

Participants can submit videos in one of three categories:

EPA will select up to three winning videos in each category, which may be featured on EPA’s website and social media channels. Submissions are due January 23, 2024.

The U.S. DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office recently announced $59 million to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of affordable clean-hydrogen technologies and support the vision of the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap. Projects supported by this funding will reduce the cost and improve the performance of critical elements of hydrogen infrastructure, demonstrate innovative end-use applications for clean hydrogen, and streamline and improve processes essential to the efficient, timely, and equitable deployment of clean hydrogen technologies.

Funding is available for the following topic areas:

U.S. DOE encourages applicant teams that include stakeholders within academia, industry, and national laboratories across multiple technical disciplines. U.S. DOE is compiling a teaming partner list to facilitate the formation of project teams for this funding opportunity.

View the funding opportunity announcement for additional information. Concept papers are due January 26, 2024, and full applications are due March 22, 2024.

EPA recently announced the 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate Program, which anticipates awarding at least $500 million in funding. Eligible applicants can apply to receive funding for the purchase of up to 25 zero-emission and/or clean school buses, along with charging infrastructure and eligible workforce development costs. Selectees may also be eligible for tax credits, such as the Clean Vehicle tax credit, applicable to their bus and infrastructure purchases.

Eligible applicants include:

EPA is prioritizing applications that will replace buses serving high-need local education agencies and rural areas, view the detailed list of prioritized school districts here. EPA will host information webinars on the program through January 2024; view the list of upcoming webinars here. Additional resources are available from the World Resource Institute on electricschoolbusinitiative.org. Applications are due January 31, 2024.

U.S. DOE recently announced $37 million in funding to reduce costs associated with recycling EV batteries. This funding opportunity is the second phase of $200 million provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for electric drive vehicle battery recycling and second life applications. This second phase will reduce the costs associated with transporting, dismantling, and preprocessing end-of-life electric drive vehicle batteries for recycling of plastic and polymer electric drive battery accessory components.

View the funding opportunity announcement for additional information. Concept papers are due February 7, 2024, and full applications are due April 19, 2024.

Tennessee Tech University and Tennessee Clean Fuels are actively welcoming fleets interested in testing a medium-duty all-electric step van for their organizational operations. The Medium-Duty eTruck Pilot Project is a federally funded testbed initiative that offers the opportunity for Tennessee fleets to test the all-electric Xos FXSV01 at no cost to evaluate how it performs within their operations. Participating fleets will be able to trial the vehicle for up to one month and will be provided with Level 2 charging infrastructure at no cost.

Fleets will provide information and feedback to the project team on successes and challenges related to driving and charging the vehicle, as well as utilization data, and will receive valuable insight into how an EV can be the right fit for their organization. Interested fleets are encouraged to complete the form linked here. For more information or for answers to any questions, please contact Mark.Finlay@tn.gov.

Tennessee Clean Fuels announced the launch of the EMPOWER TN Workplace Charging assistance program. The program provides up to $2,000 in no-cost technical assistance and consulting to assist workplaces with implementing EV charging through funding from the U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office. The first round will allow for 24 workplaces to participate.

Available assistance includes:

Complete the interest survey to get started. Additional workplace charging guidance is available on the EMPOWER TN Workplace Charging website, including the newly released Drive Electric Tennessee Workplace Charging Guide, which covers how employers can get started on a workplace charging plan

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), as part of its EVs2Scale2030 initiative, recently launched a grid planning resource, eRoadMAP, an interactive online resource intended to help electric power companies and industry stakeholders effectively plan for the power and infrastructure needed to serve light-, medium-, and heavy-duty EVs. The grid planning resource helps to identify when and where EVs will be deployed and how much grid load they will represent. The tool is a work in progress and will continue to be updated and improved with additional data.

The Livewire Data Platform makes it easy to search and share transportation and mobility-related data. The platform is a repository for U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Energy Efficient Mobility Systems (EEMS) Program data. The Livewire Data Platform includes behavioral, experimental, modeled, analytical, and raw data at the vehicle, traveler, and system levels to support research efforts.

Mobility researchers, transportation planners, or those otherwise engaged in energy-efficient mobility efforts can use the Livewire Data Platform to access a variety of datasets to support projects and inform community-level decision-making around new mobility technologies. Register for the Livewire Data Platform here.

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

Past Monthly Newsletters: 

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

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.