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The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): An Overview
9/4/2019
Established by Congress in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS mandates that U.S. transportation fuels contain a minimum volume of biofuel. This report provides a basic description of the RFS, including some of the widely discussed policy issues related to it.
Curb Enthusiasm: Report for On-Street Electric Vehicle Charging
8/15/2019
A critical barrier to the successful large-scale adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in metropolitan areas is the availability of public access charging infrastructure. Charging PEVs in areas with limited off-street parking, where charging equipment is typically installed, becomes a perceptual and logistical barrier for prospective PEV drivers who primarily park on-street. The targeted deployment of curbside Level 2 charging stations is one of the most cost-effective and catalytic ways that local government can support a shift toward PEVs in cities. Through original research, analysis, and case studies, this report seeks to define the potential for curbside Level 2 charging station implementation in New York City and to establish guidelines to ensure success. The report and its accompanying guidebook are intended to be a resource for New York City agencies as well as local governments looking to pilot curbside charging.
Exploring Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Urban Mobility Strategies: An Initial Framework to Curate Data/Models, Measure Performance, and Diffuse Innovation
8/12/2019
Many cities across the United States seek to understand the maturity of data and models that are available to help manage challenges, opportunities, and uncertainties associated with the shifts in technologies, human behaviors and sustainable urban mobility strategies. One key question identified for smart city action planning includes how to best shape continuous improvements for urban populations at the intersection of mobility, energy, and quality of life? With the emerging megatrends of urbanization (more than 70% of world population in cities by 2050), on-demand shared mobility, vehicle electrification, and automated vehicles, initial 'urban science' studies to date have demonstrated the potential and need for maturing the related data and model ecosystems and on-going performance measurement across multiple urban system goals: e.g., from more mobility, clean and efficient energy use, accessibility and safety to less air pollution, traffic, and resource-intensive urban sprawl. To build on emerging literature and understand city responses to disruptive change, this initial study engages researchers and practitioners across four smart city finalists (Columbus, Denver, Austin and Portland) that competed in the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Smart City Challenge. The initial results emphasize the need for a suite of datasets and diverse analytical approaches that support U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) relevant research with cities. Considering desirable energy and mobility outcomes as a first step to advancing smart city solutions strategies, we systematically review approaches of and shortcomings in four U.S. cities, and suggest improvements in three areas: measurement, modeling effectiveness of new mobility technologies, and data-driven governance.
Authors: Sperling, J,; Young, S.; Beck, J,; Garikapati, V.; Hou, Y.; Duval, A.
Interoperability of Public EV Charging Infrastructure
8/1/2019
The electric vehicle (EV) market is rapidly accelerating, as is investment in the charging infrastructure needed to support this growing market. While the vast majority of EV charging now takes place at home and at work, widespread, open-access public charging infrastructure is essential to support EV drivers beyond early adopters. This paper identifies challenges, creates awareness, and provides perspective to achieve greater interoperability and open standards in the U.S. EV charging market.
Federal Vehicle Fleets: Agencies Have Continued to Incorporate AFVs into Fleets, but Challenges Remain
7/25/2019
Since 1988, a series of laws have been enacted and executive orders issued related to federal goals of reducing federal fleets’ petroleum use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For fiscal year 2017, federal agencies were required to: acquire certain types of vehicles, use more alternative fuel, and meet targets for reducing petroleum and per-mile GHG emissions. Federal agencies were also under a directive to increase acquisitions of zero emission (electric) vehicles. This report reviews federal agencies’ efforts related to these fiscal year 2017 requirements. It addresses how agencies reported meeting fleet energy requirements and how agencies efforts changed their fleets as well as challenges agencies face related to further meeting fleet energy goals.
Propane Autogas Repair & Maintenance Facility Requirements
7/23/2019
This guide discusses specific facility requirements for propane, beyond those required for gasoline and diesel vehicle repair and maintenance. It explains the general design, safety, and code guidelines for constructing or modifying repair and maintenance garages for propane-powered vehicles including passenger cars, vans, buses, and trucks.
Notes:
This copyrighted publication can be accessed on the Propane Education and Research Council's Propane website.
Get Your Building Ready for Electric Vehicles
7/3/2019
By the year 2030, there may be as many as 19 million plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) on the road in the United States, representing a market share of 10%. With effective PEV charging implementation, commercial building owners and managers can add value to properties, increase the convenience and affordability of driving PEVs for tenants and employees, and show leadership in adopting advanced, sustainable technologies. This fact sheet provides recommendations for building owners to make commercial buildings and new construction PEV-ready.
Effects of Buy America on Transportation Infrastructure and U.S. Manufacturing
7/2/2019
Buy America refers to several similar statutes and regulations that apply when federal funds are used to support projects involving highways, public transportation, aviation, and intercity passenger rail. Unless a nationwide or project-specific waiver is granted, Buy America requires the use of U.S.-made iron and steel and the domestic production and assembly of other manufactured goods, particularly the production of rolling stock (railcars and buses) used in federally funded public transportation. This report examines the effects of Buy America on iron and steel manufacturing, rolling stock manufacturing, and transportation.
Analytical White Paper: Overcoming Barriers to Expanding Fast Charging Infrastructure in the Midcontinent Region
7/1/2019
This white paper highlights the main considerations in designing a demand charge tariff structure that is suitable for encouraging direct current fast charger investment, highlights approaches taken by some utilities, and presents information for utilities and regulators to consider as they are seeking their own solutions to this problem. Note: This copyrighted publication can be accessed on the Great Plains Institute website.
Authors: McFarlane, D.; Prorok, M.; Jordan, B.; Kemabonta, T.
Notes:
This copyrighted publication can be accessed on the Great Plains Institute website.
Summary of Best Practices in Electric Vehicle Ordinances
6/18/2019
This document is a summary guide to electric vehicle (EV) and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) ordinances in the United States. The guide is sorted into best practice categories and provides a summary of typical provisions used by cities for each category. Each category includes a table with key points and text examples from actual ordinances, as well as recommendations from model codes for that topic, drawn from one of several model ordinances or ordinance guidance documents that have been developed to inform cities on developing EV-ready zoning standards. This summary is provided as a reference to cities seeking to develop EV zoning standards or development regulations.
Authors: Cooke, C.; Ross, B.
Fuel Diversification to Improve Transportation Resilience: A Backgrounder
6/6/2019
Transportation fuel (like most other necessities) can be made more resilient to natural disasters by improving the redundancy of its supply, increasing local storage, strategizing access to that storage, expediting resupply, and improving the efficiency at which that fuel is used for transportation purposes. Alternative fuels such as natural gas, propane, and electricity have very different sources and distribution, and therefore add resilience to the fuel supply through redundancy. However, it is important to examine the inter-dependencies of these fuels and timing that may present vulnerabilities during a hurricane. This workshop presented a variety of perspectives to assist in making Tampa Bay's transportation system more resilient through the strategic use of alternative fuels.
Authors: Johnson, C.
Renewable Fuel Standard: Information on Likely Program Effects on Gasoline Prices and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
6/3/2019
This report examines what is known about the effect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has had to date on retail gasoline prices in the United States, the RFS’s effect on greenhouse gas emissions, and whether the RFS will meet its goals for reducing those emissions. The report also details how renewable identification numbers (RINs) are used to show compliance with the RFS, historical RIN prices, how RINs affect retail fuel prices, and steps the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken to improve the RIN market.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, April 2019
5/30/2019
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for April 2019 is a quarterly report on the prices of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue describes prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders between April 1, 2019 and April 15, 2019, and then averaged in order to determine regional price trends by fuel and variability in fuel price within regions and among regions. The prices collected for this report represent retail, at-the-pump sales prices for each fuel, including Federal and state motor fuel taxes.
Table 2 reports that the nationwide average price (all amounts are per gallon) for regular gasoline has increased 49 cents from $2.27 to $2.76; diesel increased 11 cents from $2.98 to $3.09; CNG increased 3 cents from $2.19 to $2.22; ethanol (E85) increased 32 cents from $1.99 to $2.31; propane decreased 1 cent from $2.91 to $2.90; and biodiesel (B20) increased 8 cents from $2.80 to $2.88.
According to Table 3, CNG is $.54 less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis, while E85 is $0.24 more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Bourbon, E.
Foothill Transit Agency Battery Electric Bus Progress Report, Data Period Focus: Jul. 2018 through Dec. 2018
5/28/2019
This report summarizes results of a battery electric bus (BEB) evaluation at Foothill Transit, located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. Foothill Transit is collaborating with the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the buses in revenue service. The focus of this evaluation is to compare the performance and the operating costs of the BEBs to that of conventional technology buses and to track progress over time. Previous reports documented results from April 2014 through June 2018. This report extends the data analysis through the end of 2018. The data period focus of this report is July 2018-December 2018. NREL plans to publish progress reports on the Foothill Transit fleet every 6 months through 2020.
Authors: Eudy, L.; Jeffers, M.
Impact of Time-Varying Passenger Loading on Conventional and Electrified Transit Bus Energy Consumption
5/24/2019
Transit bus passenger loading changes significantly over the course of a workday. Therefore, time-varying vehicle mass as a result of passenger load becomes an important factor in instantaneous energy consumption. Battery-powered electric transit buses have restricted range and longer 'fueling' time compared with conventional diesel-powered buses; thus, it is critical to know how much energy they require. Our previous work has shown that instantaneous transit bus mass can be obtained by measuring the pressure in the vehicle's airbag suspension system. This paper leverages this novel technique to determine the impact of time-varying mass on energy consumption. Sixty-five days of velocity and mass data were collected from in-use transit buses operating on routes in the Twin Cities, MN metropolitan area. The simulation tool Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator was modified to allow both velocity and mass as time-dependent inputs. This tool was then used to model an electrified and conventional bus on the same routes and determine the energy use of each bus. Results showed that the kinetic intensity varied from 0.27 to 4.69 mi-1 and passenger loading ranged from 2 to 21 passengers. Simulation results showed that energy consumption for both buses increased with increasing vehicle mass. The simulation also indicated that passenger loading has a greater impact on energy consumption for conventional buses than for electric buses owing to the electric bus's ability to recapture energy. This work shows that measuring and analyzing real-time passenger loading is advantageous for determining the energy used by electric and conventional diesel buses.
Authors: Liu; L.; Kotz, A.; Salapaka, A.; Miller, E.; Northrop, W.F.
