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2017 Bioenergy Industry Status Report
2/20/2020
This report provides a snapshot of the bioenergy industry status at the end of 2017. The report compliments other annual market reports from the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) offices and is supported by DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). The 2017 Bioenergy Industry Status Report focuses on past year data covering multiple dimensions of the bioenergy industry and does not attempt to make future market projections. The report provides a balanced and unbiased assessment of the industry and associated markets. It is openly available to the public and is intended to compliment International Energy Agency and industry reports with a focus on DOE stakeholder needs.
Authors: Moriarty, K.; Milbrandt, A.; Lewis, J.; Schwab, A.
Assessing Financial Barriers to the Adoption of Electric Trucks
2/20/2020
Medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles (EVs) are a relatively new technology and many freight industry stakeholders lack access to independent analysis to help make informed decisions about electric trucks and charging infrastructure options. This paper assesses the market landscape, challenges, and opportunities for electric truck adoption among major shippers and their transportation partners by performing a total cost of ownership analysis for EVs under a wide range of procurement scenarios and comparing these results with those from an equivalent diesel vehicle procurement.
Authors: Satterfield, C.; Nigro, N.
A Decision Support Tool for Planning Neighborhood-Scale Deployment of Low-Speed Shared Automated Shuttles
2/18/2020
Increasing interest and investment in connected, automated, and electric vehicles, and mobility-as-a-service concepts are paving the way for the next major shift in transportation through automated and shared mobility. The initial excitement towards rapid deployment and adoption of automated vehicles has subsided, and low-speed automated shuttles are emerging as a more pragmatic pathway for introducing automated mobility in geo-fenced districts. Such shuttles hold the promise to provide a viable alternative for serving short trips in urban districts with high travel densities. As interest in low-speed automated shuttle systems (to improve urban mobility) increases, the need for tools that can inform communities regarding benefits or dis-benefits of automated shuttle deployments is imminent. However, most of the existing transportation planning and simulation tools are not capable of handling emerging shared automated mobility options. This presentation presents a microscopic simulation toolkit that can be used by cities and communities to plan for the deployment of low-speed automated shuttles systems, as well as other shared mobility options. Labeled as the Automated Mobility District (AMD) modeling and simulation toolkit, the proposed decision support tool can help cities evaluate the mobility and sustainability impacts of deploying shared automated vehicles in geofenced regions. This paper presents a description of the toolkit, as well as a sample scenario analysis for the deployment of low-speed automated shuttles in Greenville, South Carolina. Results from the scenario study demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed simulation toolkit in planning for advanced mobility systems.
Authors: Zhu, L.; Wang, J.; Garikapati, V.; Young, S.
Notes: Presented at the 2020 Transportation Research Board (TRB) 99th Annual Meeting, 12-16 January 2020, Washington, D.C.
A Novel and Practical Method to Quantify the Quality of Mobility: The Mobility Energy Productivity Metric: Preprint
2/13/2020
Recent technology innovations are enabling fundamental improvements in mobility systems, including options for new travel modes, methods, and opportunities to connect people with goods, services, and employment. A desire to quantify and compare both existing and emerging transportation options motivated development of the mobility energy productivity (MEP) metric described herein. The MEP metric fundamentally measures the potential of a city's transportation system to connect a person to a variety of services and activities that define a high-quality of life, relative to the convenience, cost and energy needed to provide these connections. Fundamentally derived from accessibility theory, the MEP advances practice by using readily available travel time data (either from web-based application programming interfaces (APIs) or outputs from an urban transportation model) combined with established parameters that reflect the energy intensity and cost of various travel modes, and relative frequency of activity engagement. The construction of the MEP metric allows for aggregation and disaggregation to the appropriate spatial, modal, and trip purpose resolution, as analysis needs dictate. The MEP could be used to compare alternative futures related to technology, infrastructure investment, or policy, providing a much-needed tool for planners, researchers, and analysts.
Authors: Hou, Y.; Garikapati, V.; Nag, A.; Young, S.; Grushka, T.
Notes: Presented at the 2020 TRB Annual Meeting, 12-16 January 2020, Washington D.C.
Public charging infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles: What is it worth?
2/7/2020
Lack of charging infrastructure is a significant barrier to the growth of the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market. Quantifying the value of public charging infrastructure can inform analysis of investment decisions and can help predict the impact of charging infrastructure on future PEV sales. This report focuses on quantifying the value of public chargers in terms of their ability to displace gasoline use for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and to enable additional electric vehicle miles for all-electric vehicles, thereby mitigating the limitations of shorter range and longer charging time.
Authors: Greene, D.L.; Kontou, E.; Borlaug, B.; Brooker, A.; Muratori, M.
Notes:
This Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment article (Vol. 78, January 2020, 102182) is copyrighted by Elsevier Ltd. and can be accessed through Science Direct.
Focus Forward: 2020 Ethanol Industry Outlook
2/3/2020
RFA's Ethanol Industry Outlook is an annual publication for information on America's ethanol industry. It provides thoughtful analysis of current issues facing the industry, along with current facts and statistics about the production and use of fuel ethanol.
Notes:
This copyrighted publication can be accessed on the Renewable Fuels Association website.
Assessment of BQ-9000 Biodiesel Properties for 2018
1/30/2020
Critical quality parameters from BQ-9000 member companies were analyzed for calendar year 2018. The National Biodiesel Board provided blinded and randomized data sets on 14 critical metrics for biodiesel quality. This report summarizes the results of the parameters and found that overall, biodiesel readily met the ASTM D6751 specification limits in 2018.
Authors: Alleman, T.L.
Assessment of BQ-9000 Biodiesel Properties for 2017
1/30/2020
Critical quality parameters from BQ-9000 member companies were analyzed for calendar year 2017. The National Biodiesel Board provided blinded and randomized data sets on 14 critical metrics for biodiesel quality. This report summarizes the results of the parameters and found that overall, biodiesel readily met the ASTM D6751 specification limits in 2017.
Authors: Alleman, T.L.
The Impact of Uber And Lyft on Vehicle Ownership, Fuel Economy, and Transit Across U.S. Cities
1/22/2020
The past decade saw the advent and growth of ridesourcing, a travel mode in which a passenger uses a mobile device to request a ride with a nearby driver at a transaction price determined in real time by a transportation network company (TNC), such as Uber or Lyft. During this period, the daily number of Americans traveling in for-hire vehicles more than doubled. This study estimates the effects of TNCs on vehicle ownership, fleet average fuel economy, and transit use in U.S. urban areas from 2011 to 2017.
Authors: Ward, J.; Michalek, J.; Samaras, C.; Azevedo, I.; Henao, A.; Rames, C.; Wenzel, T.
Clean Cities Coalitions 2018 Activity Report
12/27/2019
Clean Cities coalition activities resulted in an energy use impact (EUI) of over 1 billion gasoline-gallons equivalent (GGE), comprised of net alternative fuels used and energy savings from efficiency projects, in 2018. Participation in vehicle and infrastructure development projects remained strong, as did alternative fuel use and resulting overall EUI. Clean Cities coalition activities reduce emissions as they impact energy use. Coalition-reported activities prevented 5 million carbon dioxide-equivalent tons of emissions (only greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions are reported here; criteria pollutants and other emissions are not included in this report). Coalitions were successful in securing project grant awards from numerous (non-DOE) outside sources. For other Federal, State, and local agencies and private sector foundations, see funding section on page 25. The 84 project grant awards in 2018 generated $251 million in funds from coalition members and project partners along with $1.9 million in DOE grant funds. Coalitions also collected $1.1 million in stakeholder dues and $2.9 million in operational funds from host organizations. In macro terms, this supplemental funding represents nearly a 7:1 leveraging of the $37.8 million that was included in the VTO Technology Integration budget in Fiscal Year 2018. Clean Cities coordinators spent nearly 121,000 hours pursuing their coalitions' goals in 2018. The average coordinator is quite experienced and has held his or her position for at least eight years. Coordinators logged more than 3,805 outreach, education, and training activities in 2018, which reached an estimated 35 million people.
Authors: Singer, M.; Johnson, C.
Best Practices for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Installations in the National Parks - Challenges, Lessons Learned, Installation Best Practices, and Recommendations for the National Park Service
12/27/2019
This report captures challenges, lessons learned, and best practices from recent National Park Service (NPS) electric vehicle supply equipment projects based on interviews with NPS employees and stakeholders involved in the projects. The report summarizes notable takeaways and makes recommendations to help ensure the success of future charging installation projects. Preserving this information will be valuable for informing and ensuring the success of future charging installation efforts at national parks, as well as for organizations outside of NPS. Note that this report focuses on light-duty plug-in electric vehicle projects, though NPS is also pursuing medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle efforts.
Authors: Kelly, K.; Noblet., S.; Brown, A.
Preparing to Plug-In Your Bus Fleet: 10 Things to Consider
12/5/2019
The purpose of this guide is to identify some of the key areas where electric companies and their customers can work together to streamline the fleet electrification process. This guide is applicable to any company that operates a fleet, but it is particularly focused on medium- and heavy-duty vehicle fleets that likely will have higher power charging needs. Included in this guide is are 10 key considerations that fleets should know about electric companies and fleet electrification.
Notes:
This report is copyrighted and can be accessed on the American Public Transportation Association’s website.
Alternative Fuels Data Center
12/4/2019
The Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) provides a wealth of information and data on alternative and renewable fuels, advanced vehicles, fuel-saving strategies, and emerging transportation technologies. The site features a number of interactive tools, calculators, and mapping applications to aid in the implementation of these fuels, vehicles, and strategies. The AFDC functions as a dynamic online hub, enabling thousands of stakeholders in the transportation system to interact with one another.
