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The project expanded on Ohio's current plug-in electric vehicle readiness activities and produce a replicable deployment plan for plug-in electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, safety trainings, consumer education, marketing, and associated policy solutions.

The Midwest Electric Vehicle Opportunities: Learning, Events, Experience (Midwest EVOLVE) project is an effort to promote plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in a seven-state area including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This effort educated the general public, workplaces, corporate fleets, and auto dealer staff about the benefits and advantages of PEVs in a variety of settings such as auto shows, ride and drive showcases, dealership trainings, and workplace charging challenges. The seven Clean Cities coalitions partnering to host these events across the Midwest also distributed and analyzed pre-, post-, and follow-up surveys of attendees to determine the outcomes of these outreach efforts.

As of 2018, Midwest EVOLVE has executed a total of 78 ride and drive showcase events, 12 PEV dealership training events, 29 workplace charging challenge showcases, 10 extended test drive programs, 27 PEV forum events, and over 90 educational outreach events. In total, over 90,000 attendees have participated in these events. Notably, the project had displays and ride and drives at the Chicago Auto Show, the Milwaukee Auto Show, the Twin Cities Auto Show, and the Ohio Auto Show in 2018. From the analysis of pre- and post- surveys, the project partners determined that over 21% of those surveyed have purchased a PEV since attending an event. As part of the project, Argonne National Laboratory launched the Evolution Consumer Choice Tool which helps consumers understand the different powertrain technologies and connects them to PEV information on the DOE-supported Alternative Fuels Data Center and FuelEconomy.gov.

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.

This project demonstrates an operationally and economically beneficial model for electric vehicle (EV) adoption and charging station deployment by transportation service fleets, such as taxis, carsharing fleets, and transportation network companies (TNCs), and by major parking providers, such as universities, airports, hotels, and corporate campuses. The decentralized mobility ecosystem hubs deployed in this project minimize the financial risks of EV usage for drivers (both commercial drivers and the general public) while strategically locating mobility hubs to maximize EV utilization across multiple use cases (taxi, TNC, delivery, carsharing). This innovative project addresses the main operational and economic barriers to vehicle electrification in the mobility and transportation services sectors. Additionally, the project is designed to create and disseminate a complete "Replication Playbook" geared toward transportation fleet or parking service providers. The playbook includes a fully framed business plan, design and engineering plans, new commercialized software applications and tools for turn-key scaling, and marketing tools.

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

The Electric Vehicle Smart program will assist local governments in setting and achieving their EV readiness goals as well as promoting equitable access to electric mobility. Four overarching project objectives drive the Recipient’s approach to maximize program impact:1. Facilitate technical assistance (TA) and designation of at least 60 EV Smart communities. 2. Prioritize key objectives identified in the Justice 40 Initiative by developing tools to support equitable access to EVs and EV charging.3. Collaboratively work with four Clean Cities Coalitions (CCCs) to provide TA across communities in Virginia, Colorado, north Texas, southern California, and continuation of Great Plain’s Institute’s (GPI) pilots in Michigan, Ohio, & Minnesota, and Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus’ (MMC) work in the Chicago area. 4. Develop and test an EV Smart Infrastructure Modeling Tool to enable local leaders and planning agencies to quickly and easily develop a sense of the EV charging infrastructure demand based on anticipated levels of EV adoption.

While adoption of light-duty electric vehicles (EVs) has increased and more models have become commercially available, medium-duty (MD) and heavy-duty (HD) EVs have not seen the same widespread success. MD and HD EVs offer tremendous potential economic benefits to fleets and wider energy and environmental benefits to communities. This project confronts that disparity to highlight the importance and uses of MD and HD EVs. Clean Fuels Ohio designed this project to prove the operational and financial effectiveness of MD and HD EVs in fleets and communities that had not previously used this technology. Through diverse partnerships, the project utilizes commercially available EVs, electric vehicle supply equipment, facilities, and app platforms to ensure seamless technology deployment and showcase significant return on investment. As part of this project, Clean Fuels Ohio and partners operate three demonstration projects of MD and HD EVs with the goal of leading to Class 4–8 EV adoption in various fleet applications across the country.

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

The Midwest DRIVES Initiative: Demonstrating Reliable Innovative Energy Solutions Project will reduce barriers to Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) deployment in a 4 state area by offering a wide range of medium-term (30-90 day average) AFV demonstrations to fleets. Through these demonstrations, fleets will gain operational experience and the project can collect data to provide validation for AFV purchases. Based on this data, the project will perform analyses and create case studies to reveal cost-and fuel-saving opportunities relative to conventional vehicle models. Using these analyses, case studies, and information about financial incentives and leasing models, the project will present fleet education and outreach programming so similar fleets across the nation can gain confidence in AFV adoption.