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Electric vehicles (EVs) are promising solutions for rural mobility due to lower fuel and maintenance costs. Rural areas and associated rural clusters in the United States are facing numerous challenges in adopting EVs and developing EV charging station networks due to low population density, lack of EV charging infrastructure, limited-to-no EV experience, and low consumer awareness. The objective of this project is to develop a rural EV testbed to demonstrate and evaluate the applications of EVs over a diverse range of activities, serving the rural and largely economically distressed Upper Cumberland region in Tennessee. This helps potential fleet owners and the public at large make informed decisions about EV adoption before making significant financial investments. This project serves as a proof-of-concept implementation to support knowledge gaining and transfer as well as outreach and education on EVs for rural applications. It also complements DOE's existing EV dataset with detailed EV operation and use data dedicated specifically to the challenges and needs associated with rural communities.

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

The objective of the EACH program is to educate multifamily (MF) housing stakeholders on the best practices of deploying electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure within a MF property-specific context, all while ensuring affordable access to charging for underserved communities. The project approach has three main elements that make it well designed to meet these objectives: (1) including multifamily housing (MFH) industry partners from the outset of the project and meeting MF stakeholders where they are; (2) centering equity by focusing efforts around addressing barriers to access for lower-income and historically underserved MFH residents; and (3) build a program that is financially sustainable to ensure the materials and website developed stay available to the MFH industry until they are no longer needed. The project goals include reaching 50,000 members of our key audience (including property management companies, homeowner’s associations, property developers, architects, property owners, public housing authorities, student housing stakeholders, parking management organizations, electric vehicle charging providers, transportation agencies, and electric utilities) via outreach strategies including conference attendance, webinars, virtual meetings with associations, social media, traditional advertising, and speaking engagements; securing 2,500 commitments from our key audience for EV charging infrastructure installation at their locations, at least 1,250 of which will be within Justice40 communities; and performing five speaking engagements at significant MFH industry conferences.

The goal of DRIVE Electric USA (DEUSA) is to greatly accelerate statewide, state-led "Drive Electric" initiatives in multiple states by educating consumers, utilities, utility regulators, and government officials; engaging auto dealers and fleet leaders; conducting EV infrastructure planning; and developing local EV chapters. All of this is occurring under the banner of branded, statewide EV initiatives, guided by each state's stakeholders. DEUSA is creating a Replication Playbook based on outputs and lessons learned that incorporates results from the project work and highlights specific successes from all the participating states. The project conducts EV infrastructure planning sessions for corridors and urban and rural areas, including a focus on disadvantaged and limited-income communities, builds relationships with dozens of utilities and utility regulators, and creates incentives and investment opportunities.

For more information on this project, check the Technology Integration 2021 Annual Report or the 2022 Annual Merit Review presentation and the 2023 Annual Merit Review presentation.

Rural communities are disproportionately impacted by current gaps in the transportation system, which limit access to opportunities such as health care, jobs, and social services. There is also a high concentration of poor, elderly, and zero-vehicle households in rural areas. The R.O.A.D.M.A.P. project aims to better understand how advanced vehicle technologies function in these rural settings and to enhance awareness of innovative solutions with the potential to fill transportation gaps sustainably. The objective of R.O.A.D.M.A.P. is to develop, demonstrate, and refine affordable, accessible, sustainable, and replicable mobility service-enabled electric vehicle shuttle service applications in rural Appalachian Ohio. The team analyzes data from several deployments of electric and automated vehicles across transit and private vehicle operations and develops insights that inform the team's Rural Mobility Action Plan. The project includes data collection and analysis to understand the energy efficiency and greenhouse gas impacts of the electric shuttle in providing rural transportation access.

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

Plug In America (PIA) partnered with Clean Cities Coalitions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont to boost consumer awareness and adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The project worked to overcome consumer confusion through educational ride and drive events and PEV showcase events that connected potential PEV owners with local dealers. PIA also explored and tested methods for educating car dealerships and salespeople in order to improve the PEV purchase experience for consumers.

The project succeeded in designing and implementing 42 PEV showcase events that delivered a total of 1,750 individual test ride and drive experiences which exposed over 72,500 individuals to PEVs. These showcases were a combination of community, workplace, and fleet events. Each event included a pre-drive and post-drive survey; the results of which proved the ride and drive experience resulted in a shift toward greater consumer awareness of PEVs. PIA also developed training content and conducted three in-dealership PEV training sessions in the Boston, Massachusetts areas. These sessions included instruction on how to access and use the PEV Dealer Dashboard, a tool that shares information on PEV incentives, utility rates, equipment options and qualified charging station installers.

The objective of this project is to develop and conduct a pilot launch of a nationwide network of public institutions for higher education (IHEs) and career and technical education institutions (CTEs) that will provide a sustainable, standardized, hybrid online/in-person training. The training will focus on electric vehicle (EV) maintenance for the current automotive technician workforce that work outside Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) dealership networks and/or those workers seeking to transition from legacy energy and transportation jobs to new green energy jobs. Upon completion of the training, the participant will be prepared to take a hybrid/EV specialist test, such as the L3 administered by the ASE Education Foundation of the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). The project will incorporate equity considerations to ensure inclusiveness that embraces traditionally underserved and marginalized communities in alignment with the Department of Energy’s Justice40 initiatives. The goal is a “one-stop-shop” where individual technicians or small groups of technicians such as in fleet maintenance are seeking EV training within easy geographic reach of their employers.

The objective of the Helping Rural Counties Transition to Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles project is to create models for effectively transferring advanced clean fuel and vehicle technologies to underserved county governments and rural communities and to share those models and lessons learned through a nationally distributed Replication Playbook. Rural county governments often lack the staff capacity to learn about new technologies, implement new training and maintenance systems, and educate their workforces. The lack of funding and financing options, combined with staff capacity to research and pursue existing incentives, can also be a significant barrier to exploring alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles. Transportation Energy Partners is coordinating and supporting Clean Cities coalitions in eight states as they work with rural county leaders to overcome these and other barriers and find models that work for increasing adoption of cleaner fuels and vehicles.

For more information on this project, check the Technology Integration 2021 Annual Report or the 2022 Annual Merit Review presentation and the 2023 Annual Merit Review presentation.

In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Solid Waste Services (SWS) for the Municipality of Anchorage is implementing a pilot demonstration of two heavy-duty electric refuse trucks and an electric box truck. In addition, SWS will partner with the Alaska Energy Authority and eCamion, Inc., to install and test a battery-tied fast charging station that will charge both refuse trucks while mitigating costly demand charges.

For more information on this project, check the Technology Integration 2021 Annual Report or the 2022 Annual Merit Review presentation and the 2023 Annual Merit Review presentation.

This project purchases and deploys five propane-powered delivery trucks along with propane fueling infrastructure in the metro Denver area. The trucks are Ford's Class 7 (F-750) straight box trucks with Roush CleanTech's ultra-low (.02) NOx 7.3L V8 propane engines, commercially available across the United States, and certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB). The demonstration fleet, Hi-Pro, Inc., is located in Commerce City, a close suburb of Denver. This fleet moves mail from the United States Postal Service (USPS) main hub to the individual post offices daily. Hi-Pro, Inc., has a fleet of 35 vehicles in Colorado; five diesel trucks are being replaced by the trucks purchased as part of this project. By demonstrating the advantages of propane as a clean and cost-effective alternative to diesel and its viability in the test fleet, the project shares data, best practices, and lessons learned to catalyze other fleets nationwide to adopt propane trucks for mail delivery (and other applications). By reducing the risk of first adoption, the potential exists to transform the USPS mail delivery system into a low-carbon national fleet.

For more information on this project, check the Technology Integration 2021 Annual Report or the 2022 Annual Merit Review presentation and the 2023 Annual Merit Review presentation.

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.