OPmobility, a sustainable mobility and technology partner to actors across the mobility sector, recently announced a $3 million expansion at its Spring Hill plant. The expansion will allow OPmobility to expand its product offerings for customers and further support EV production lines. The expansion is expected to create 186 new jobs.

The Tennessee Board of Regents recently celebrated the opening of its newest Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT) campus in Stanton, not far from Ford’s BlueOval City. The new campus is a workforce training center for regional business and industry and an open-access institution for anyone interested in its career, technical, and academic programs.

The campus will welcome its first students with its first course offerings later this summer. The initial career and technical education programs include Automotive Technology, Electric Vehicle Production Technology, Industrial Maintenance Technology with Integrated Automation, Tool and Die Machining Technology, and Welding Technology.

The City of Memphis was recently awarded over $21 million from U.S. DOT for a project to fill in the final gaps of the Wolf River Greenway. The project will construct approximately one mile of trail to complete the greenway in Memphis and will require the construction of a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over a railroad and an underpass under Highway 14.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers recently demonstrated the first 270 kW wireless power transfer to a light-duty electric vehicle (EV). The demonstration was conducted in collaboration with Volkswagen Group of America, using a Porsche Taycan with the ORNL-developed polyphase wireless charging system. The achievement surpasses ORNL’s recent 100 kW wireless charging demonstration and is a breakthrough for fast wireless charging.

The U.S. DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office released a Request for Information (RFI) on renewable propane production technologies and uses. The RFI seeks input from industry and other stakeholders who produce or are considering producing renewable propane on the potential to increase its viability to pursue new production pathways to sustainable aviation fuels and other high-impact products.

View the full RFI here. Responses must be submitted as Microsoft Word attachments to RenewablePropaneRFI@ee.doe.gov by August 5.

TVA’s Connected Communities program hosts regular webinars on a variety of topics. Past webinars have addressed workforce development, resiliency, and creating a community benefits plan. On August 13 at 1:00 PM Eastern, Connected Communities will host the webinar Fleet Electrification: The Benefits, Processes, and Considerations of Electrifying Your Community. The webinar will overview the benefits of fleet electrification and the impacts on the grid, provide firsthand stories of how other organizations and communities have tackled this process, and provide information on how TVA can help. Slides and recordings from past webinars are available here.

The inaugural Tennessee Drone Symposium will provide a forum for Tennessee stakeholders to collaborate on the future of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Future Mobility. The event, hosted by Middle Tennessee State University on August 13-14 in Murfreesboro, will bring together industry thought leaders, policymakers, and high-impact end-users from both local and national entities. On day one, speakers will address funding opportunities, UAS projects and research, and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Compliance in Tennessee. Day two will include technical demonstrations, flights, and skill testing. Register for the Symposium here.

TVA’s inaugural Connected Communities Conference will take place September 24-25 in Franklin. Highlights of the two-day event include an interactive exhibition to learn about Connected Communities resources and projects, insights from TVA leadership about transformative initiatives underway across the service area, and dynamic panel sessions featuring Connected Communities’ Pilot Project and Community Partnership leaders. To learn more about the event or to request an invitation, contact connectedcommunities@tva.gov.

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.

U.S. DOE recently announced $65 Million in funding for Connected Communities 2.0 to drive innovation to manage growing building, transportation, and industrial electric loads on the grid. The funding opportunity seeks to validate grid-edge technology innovations in real-world situations and provide tools for utilities, grid planners and operators, automakers and smart charge management service providers, and the communities they serve. 

The funding opportunity has two major topical areas:

Eligible applicants must be domestic entities and include institutions of higher education, for-profit entities, nonprofit entities, and state and local governmental entities. U.S. DOE will host an informational webinar on July 29 at 9:30 AM Central, and a Teaming Partner List is available here. Concept papers are due August 20, and full applications are due October 10.

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.

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.

U.S. DOE recently released The Future of Vehicle Grid Integration: Harnessing the Flexibility of EV Charging as part of the EVGrid Assist initiative. The document, developed with stakeholder input, outlines a vision for vehicle grid integration (VGI) where EVs are safely and securely connected to, reliably served by, and harmonized with the electric grid. The document offers direction for stakeholders developing products, identifying opportunities for standardization, and designing new policies, rates, and services.

The U.S. DOE Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office has created the webpage Breaking It Down: Next-Generation Batteries to explain the different types of batteries, as well as the uses and benefits of next-generation batteries. As the nation transitions to a clean, renewables-powered electric grid, batteries will need to evolve to handle increased demand and provide improved performance in a sustainable way, which is where next-generation batteries come in. The webpage addresses common battery components, uses, advantages, and challenges.

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

Past Monthly Newsletters: 

June 2024

May 2024

April 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.