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Quantifying the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Gap Across U.S. Markets
1/23/2019
The electrification of the United States vehicle market continues, with the most growth occurring in markets where barriers are addressed through policy, charging infrastructure, and consumer incentives. This report quantifies the gap in charging infrastructure from what was deployed through 2017 to what is needed to power more than 3 million expected electric vehicles by 2025, consistent with automaker, policy, and underlying market trends. Based on the expected growth across the 100 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas, this report estimates the amount of charging of various types that will be needed to power these vehicles.
Authors: Nicholas; M.; Hall, D.; Lutsey, N.
Increasing Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Deployment: Electricity Rate Design and Site Host Options
1/1/2019
Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) provide customer, environmental, energy grid, and national security benefits. However, limited access to charging infrastructure remains a major hurdle to more rapid PEV adoption. While most PEV charging occurs at home, additional publicly located charging stations – both Level 2 and direct current (DC) fast charging stations – are needed. This paper presents a range of options to increase the deployment of DC fast charging infrastructure, either through rate design or through implementation by the site host. Given the early stages of DC fast charging infrastructure deployment, learning-by-doing is an important option to consider.
Notes:
This copyrighted publication can be accessed through the Brattle Group's website.
Fuel Cell Buses in U.S. Transit Fleets: Current Status 2018
12/31/2018
This report, published annually, summarizes the progress of fuel cell electric bus (FCEB) development in the United States and discusses the achievements and challenges of introducing fuel cell propulsion in transit. The report provides a summary of results from evaluations performed by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This annual status report combines results from all FCEB demonstrations, tracks the progress of the FCEB industry toward meeting technical targets, documents the lessons learned, and discusses the path forward for commercial viability of fuel cell technology for transit buses. The data from these early FCEB deployments funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, state agencies, and the private sector help to guide future early-stage research and development. The 2018 summary results primarily focus on the most recent year from August 2017 through July 2018.
Authors: Eudy, L.; Post, M.
Clean Cities Coalitions 2016 Activity Report
10/10/2018
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) national network of Clean Cities Coalitions advance the nation's economic, environmental, and energy security by supporting local actions to promote the use of domestic fuels within transportation. The nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions, whose territory covers 80% of the U.S. population, bring together stakeholders in the public and private sectors to use alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction (IR) measures, fuel economy improvements, and new transportation technologies as they emerge. To ensure success, coalitions leverage a robust set of expert resources and tools provided by national laboratories and DOE. Each year, Clean Cities coordinators submit annual reports of their activities and accomplishments for the previous calendar year. Data and information are submitted via an online tool that is maintained as part of the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Coordinators submit a range of data that characterize the membership, funding, projects, and activities of their coalitions. They also submit data about sales of alternative fuels; use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs); IR initiatives; fuel economy improvement activities; and programs to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT). NREL analyzes the submitted data to determine how broadly energy use in the U.S. has shifted due to coalition activities, which are summarized in this report.
Authors: Johnson, C.; Singer, M.
Foothill Transit Agency Battery Electric Bus Progress Report, Data Period Focus: Jan. 2018 through Jun. 2018
10/8/2018
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 December 2017. This report extends the data analysis through June 2018. NREL plans to publish progress reports on the Foothill Transit fleet every six months through 2020. 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 December 2017. This report extends the data analysis through June 2018. NREL plans to publish progress reports on the Foothill Transit fleet every six months through 2020.
Authors: Eudy, L.; Jeffers, M.
Policies that Impact the Acceleration of Electric Vehicle Adoption
9/26/2018
To better understand the influence of policy initiatives that relate to electric vehicles (EVs) have on accelerated deployment, this project focused on a number of successful public and private initiatives and policies designed to encourage the adoption of EVs and related infrastructure. This report highlights programs that have influenced adoption, provides a critique of best practices, and includes references to databases EV policy initiatives.
Authors: Kettles, C.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, July 2018
9/25/2018
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for July 2018 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 July 1, 2018 and July 16, 2018, 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 21 cents from $2.67 to $2.88; diesel increased 21 cents from $3.03 to $3.24; CNG increased 4 cents from $2.18 to $2.22; ethanol (E85) increased 14 cents from $2.21 to $2.35; propane decreased 2 cents from $2.83 to $2.81; and biodiesel (B20) increased 19 cents from 2.87 to $3.06.
According to Table 3, CNG is $.66 less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis, while E85 is $0.17 more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Bourbon, E.
Ethanol Basics
9/11/2018
Ethanol is a widely used, domestically produced renewable fuel made from corn and other plant materials. Ethanol can be blended with gasoline in different amounts. In fact, more than 98% of gasoline sold in the United States contains ethanol to oxygenate the fuel and help to reduce air pollution. Using ethanol in fuel also helps the nation increase the use of domestic alternative fuels, thereby potentially reducing reliance on imported oil. Gasoline and gasoline blendstocks can also use ethanol as an octane enhancer to increase vehicle performance.
A Life-Cycle Analysis of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Corn-Based Ethanol
9/5/2018
This analysis, conducted by ICF for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This report has analyzed the current GHG profile of U.S. corn ethanol and two projected emissions profiles for 2022. The starting point is the GHG life-cycle analysis (LCA) done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2010 for U.S. corn ethanol as part of its Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) for the Revised Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2). In the RIA, EPA projected that in 2022, the life cycle emissions associated with ethanol would be 21 percent lower than those of an energy equivalent quantity of gasoline.
Electrification Futures Study: Scenarios of Electric Technology Adoption and Power Consumption for the United States
8/8/2018
This report is the second publication in a series of Electrification Futures Study publications. The report presents scenarios of electric end-use technology adoption and resulting electricity consumption in the United States. The scenarios reflect a wide range of electricity demand growth through 2050 that result from various electric technology adoption and efficiency projections in the transportation, residential and commercial buildings, and industrial sectors.
Authors: Mai, T.; Jadun, P.; Logan, J.; McMillan, C.; Muratori, M.; Steinberg, D.; Vimmerstedt, L.; Jones, R.; Haley, B.; Nelson, B.
Model Year 2018: Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles
8/7/2018
The fact sheet details the model, vehicle type, emission class, transmission type/speeds, engine size, and fuel economy of a variety of flexible fuel vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, all-electric, and extended range electric vehicles, as well as CNG and propane vehicles.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, April 2018
6/14/2018
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for April 2018 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, 2018 and April 16, 2018, 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 17 cents from $2.50 to $2.67; diesel increased 7 cents from $2.96 to $3.03; CNG increased 1 cent from $2.17 to $2.18; ethanol (E85) increased 15 cents from $2.06 to $2.21; propane remained the same at $2.83; and biodiesel (B20) increased 3 cents from 2.84 to $2.87.
According to Table 3, CNG is $.49 less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis, while E85 is $0.20 more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Bourbon, E.
Foothill Transit Agency Battery Electric Bus Progress Report, Data Period Focus: Jan. 2017 through Dec. 2017
5/16/2018
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 December 2016. This report extends the data analysis through December 2017. NREL plans to publish progress reports on the Foothill Transit fleet every six months through 2020.
Authors: Eudy, L.; Jeffers, M.
