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The objective of the project is to deploy an innovative study approach forecast electric charging demand at traffic stops on freight corridors across the Northeast (ME, MA, NH, VT, RI, CT, NY, PA and NJ). This will then serve as the basis for developing a Regional Charging plan for an infrastructure deployment roadmap. The project is being lead by National Grid and involves five Clean Cities Coalitions: Clean Communities of Central New York, Eastern Pennsylvania Clean Transportation Alliance, New Jersey Clean Cities, Greater New Haven Clean Cities, and Vermont Clean Cities.

The objective of the project is to test and evaluate delivering supplies to mobility-impaired, historically disadvantaged, or individuals without reliable means of transportation using low- or zero-emission autonomous transportation modes. The Recipient will partner with a local food bank to utilize “A/B” testing – measuring the number of emissions from current delivery operations against the use of a multimodal low or zero-emissions solution. It is anticipated the use of this multimodal system, once scaled, will reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide overall efficiencies to the delivery system and the transportation system in the project area.

The objective of the project is to conduct community-driven strategic planning through detailed listening and strategic planning sessions in underserved communities as identified throughout Michigan. Insights gathered through listening sessions will be used to inform strategic plans to assist communities in developing new opportunities for growth and development to offset losses and prepare for the transportation decarbonization transition - that is a more just transition - through access to technical assistance and workforce training initiatives. This planning will ease or overcome negative impacts on underserved communities, contribute to higher than projected quality jobs, and acceptance of decarbonized transportation options, as well as manufacturing related industry wage growth and stability. The project approach is innovative and first-of-its-kind forward-thinking, using a proven, equity-centered engagement process developed to overcome the impact of bias in planning activities.

The goal of this project is to prove the operational and financial effectiveness of medium-duty (MD) and heavy-duty (HD) electric vehicles (EVs) in commercial fleets. Through diverse partnerships, the project employs commercially available EVs, electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), facilities, and app-platforms to ensure technology deployment and to showcase significant return on investment. While original equipment manufacturer (OEM) models are newly becoming available, many fleet questions remain about the real-world operational and economic viability of MD and HD EVs. This project is designed to provide fleets the real-world experience needed to answer these questions for themselves and disseminate this information from trusted fleet and Clean Cities coalition peers. Clean Fuels Ohio is partnering with OEMs and EVSE equipment providers to operate three demonstration projects of MD and HD EVs (refuse truck, delivery trucks) with a goal of spurring Class 4-8 EV adoption in fleet applications nationwide.

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.

Heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles still face technological and market challenges that need to be overcome to advance the adoption and commercialization of hydrogen technologies. In particular, the integration and packaging of the different components of a fuel cell electric powertrain is complex and remains costly. In addition, hydrogen fuel prices remain high, the cost of fuel cell stacks and hydrogen fuel storage solutions is still high, and there is a need to increase hydrogen storage energy density. Cummins proposes to design, build, test, and demonstrate a fuel cell electric powertrain for heavy-duty trucks and buses that can help reduce costs and advance the commercialization of hydrogen vehicles. The proposed fuel cell powertrain technology offers the following benefits: 1) Vertically integrated powertrain, 2) Modular and scalable, 3) Highly integrated and manufacturable, 4) Increased driving range, 5) Increased fuel economy, 6) Rapid refueling, 7) 1:1 replacement of conventional vehicles, and 8) Total cost of ownership reduction.

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

The objective of the project is to provide a small-scale pilot project for electric vehicle (EV) fleet adoption by Shelby County. The focus of this project is the installation of charging infrastructure along with the acquisition of a limited number of EVs. Piloting a small number of EVs and installing charging infrastructure helps provide proof of concept for the future expansion of electric vehicles in the county fleet. The project team is purchasing five new electric vehicles—either original equipment manufacturer (OEM) factory-produced or conventional vehicles that are converted by OEM-authorized/warranted Qualified Vehicle Modifiers—for use by Shelby County's Roads, Bridges, and Engineering Department. The project includes the installation of vehicle charging infrastructure in appropriate fleet parking areas to support these new vehicles as well as future electric fleet vehicles. The project also involves implementation of appropriate maintenance and operations training for key fleet services staff. Finally, an analysis and evaluation of vehicle performance, associated cost savings, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions helps provide a better understanding of the impact and return on investment of this project.

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.

West Virginia University, multiple Clean Cities coalitions, and Wale Associates, Inc., are partnering to develop a tool to estimate the vocation dependent variations in maintenance costs of heavy- and medium-duty vehicles fueled by alternative fuels, including natural gas, propane, and electricity. Vocation Integrated Cost Estimate (VoICE) for maintenance and repair (MR) compares cost estimates of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) with conventional diesel vehicles of the same vocation to illustrate vocation-specific benefits of adopting AFVs. The study addresses medium- and heavy-duty vehicles operating in urban delivery, port drayage, school bus, refuse truck, and transit bus applications. The overall goal of the cost model estimate tool is to build a user-friendly application for fleets operating nationwide. The study will model the maintenance costs of AFVs as a function of duty cycle parameters, which is a critical knowledge gap for fleets that would consider adopting AFVs to replace conventional diesels.

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.

Currently, railroads are operating inefficient legacy diesel locomotives with emissions substantially higher than proposed Tier 5 requirements that are costly to maintain. Reducing criteria pollutants is of critical importance because rail yards tend to be in areas where underserved populations have some of the poorest air quality. In this project, Gas Technology Institute (GTI), in collaboration with OptiFuel Systems, LLC, and other partners, is conducting a field demonstration of a 4,300 horsepower, Tier 5-compliant, hybrid line-haul locomotive that can operate on compressed or renewable natural gas (CNG/RNG) with near-zero emissions. GTI has a multi-engine approach that increases fuel efficiency by 20% and, with the use of RNG, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40%. The utilization of proven, commercially available equipment (i.e., engines, CNG storage, CNG refueling) and usage of domestic CNG and RNG has both emissions and cost advantages for the railroad industry.

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