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In 2013, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore added one propane pickup truck and three plug-in electric vehicles to its fleet and installed four electric vehicle charging stations and an air pump that will allow drivers to keep their tires properly inflated. These measures will reduce the environmental impact of the park's fleet by about 15%, as compared to a 2010 baseline. The new vehicles and infrastructure will help educate the park's 1.3 million visitors about alternative fuels and fuel-efficient driving. Working with Michigan's Clean Energy Coalition, the park developed an extensive training and outreach program to educate staff, concessioners, and visitors on the benefits of idle reduction.

The overall goal of the smart compressed natural gas (CNG) station deployment project is to develop an advanced vehicle and station solution for maximizing a CNG fill with or without pre-cooling of the natural gas. The project includes the development, demonstration, and field deployment of sensors, software, and communication systems on multiple smart vehicles and dispensers, programmed with an advanced control algorithm to maximize full fills. In addition, several of the demonstration locations include CNG pre-cooling to help overcome the heat of compression during a fill that causes CNG tanks to reach their pressure limit before they are full. The combination of these technologies helps solve the issue of elevated pressures from heat of compression that result in natural gas vehicles being under-filled and alleviates driver uncertainty about the vehicle's remaining range.

For more information on this project, check the Technology Integration 2020 Annual Report or Annual Merit Review presentation.

The objective of this project is to design, test, and evaluate a solution for a scalable curbside electric vehicle charging station solution utilizing existing infrastructure to meet the growing market demands for electric vehicles. Project results and the resulting concept will be broadly disseminated to ensure a meaningful and lasting market impact.

The Southeast AFV Demonstration Initiative (SADI) will carry out a multi-fuel, multi-state vehicle demonstration program complete with vehicles, driver education and marketing strategies to help incorporate alternative fuels into new fleets and industry sectors in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This project will focus on non-existent or under-utilized markets for compressed natural gas, propane, electric, E85 and biodiesel in the transportation sector, targeting applications such as school buses, delivery vehicles, state/local government, and commuter vehicles. The project seeks to both reach a considerable number of drivers/fleet operators and ensure that adequate fueling infrastructure is in place to allow for continued use after the project ends.

The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is partnering with the Clean Cities Coalition Network and fleets in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina to support the integration of a variety of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and fueling infrastructure. CTE and its partners will offset the initial capital cost of AFVs and infrastructure, promote opportunities for collaboration and strategic partnerships among alternative fuel market players, and support the development of alternative fuel corridors.

As of 2019, CTE has incentivized the purchase or installation of approximately 194 alternative fuel vehicles for six public and private fleets. The vehicles are a mix of compressed natural gas (CNG), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and electric. CTE is currently evaluating initial key performance indicators related to operations and maintenance for these vehicles and will publish a report upon completion. Additionally, CTE identified gaps in EV, CNG, and LNG infrastructure along key highway corridors in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. This information will be used to determine locations of future alternative fueling infrastructure.

The Southeast Propane Autogas Development Program is a large-scale alternative fuel project aimed at building propane infrastructure in the Southeast United States and encouraging public and private fleets to adopt propane. The program converted 1,189 vehicles from conventional gasoline to run on propane, and opened 11 propane Autogas refueling stations in 10 southeastern states. This resulted in millions of gallons of petroleum displacement. In addition, a wide-ranging communications campaign was launched to increase awareness and usage of propane in the Southeast.

The Southeast Regional Alternative Fuels Market Initiatives Program, which includes Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee, will provide first responder and vehicle maintenance technician training; develop Alternative Fuels Readiness Workbooks to guide alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) deployment readiness; assist municipalities with AFV readiness; and create and provide procurement policies and incentive models.

The primary objective of the project was to establish a comprehensive, tri-state (Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina) readiness and deployment strategy for EVs and EV infrastructure and begin implementation of the community-based Southeast Regional EV Deployment Readiness Plan.

The objective of the South San Joaquin Valley Zero Emissions Vehicle Talent Pipeline project is to develop a workforce talent pipeline to support the installation, operations, and maintenance of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and emerging charging technologies including wireless inductive charging, and hydrogen fueling stations. The project will provide workers transitioning from oil-and-gas jobs and participants from traditionally under-represented and underserved/Justice 40 communities with training and pathways to union and well-paying jobs in clean transportation. In doing so, the project will aid the transition to a new clean energy transportation sector in the South San Joaquin Valley.

Florida experiences the most hurricane landfalls, third most tornado events, and fifth most wildfires by acreage in the country. The objective of the project is to complete a comprehensive Statewide Alternative Fuel Resiliency Plan that utilizes multiple alternative fuels to provide redundancy, and therefore resilience, in Florida's transportation fuels. The project helps develop a best practice resiliency guide for alternative fuels for transportation as well as stationary alternative fuel generators, and documents lessons learned. The best practice guide provides insight regarding using alternative fuel vehicles as emergency response vehicles, alternative fuel supply chain strengths and weaknesses, and utilizing alternative fuel generators for emergency management facilities.

For more information on this project, check the Technology Integration 2020 Annual Report or Annual Merit Review presentation.