Clean Cities Coalitions 2022 Activity Report
1/29/2024
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) works with local Clean Cities coalitions across the country as part of its Technology Integration Program. These efforts help businesses and consumers make smarter and more informed transportation energy choices that can save energy, lower costs, provide resilience through fuel diversification, and reduce emissions. This report summarizes the success and impact of coalition activities based on data and information provided in their annual reports.
Authors: Singer, M.; Johnson, C.; Wilson, A.
Electric Mobility Opportunities for Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
1/1/2024
This report outlines steps that Brooklyn Park, Minnesota can take through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Communities Local Energy Action Program in order to expand electric mobility access for its residents, particularly those residents who are most historically underserved. The report provides an overview of different options for increasing mobility for residents, including personal electric vehicles, electric carshares, electric micro mobility, and on demand services. The report additionally highlights the importance of ongoing community engagement and education.
Authors: Weigl, D; Bopp, K; Rosner, N
The Future of Biofuels in the United States Transportation Sector
12/29/2023
This article analyses conversion options for biomass to fuels in the U.S. transportation sector, particularly for heavy duty transportation and aviation, based on regional carbon dioxide transportation and injection costs and current U.S. tax credits. The article found that that under current credits biofuels play a role only in some regions of the U.S., but a range of policy scenarios, including combining biofuel production with carbon-capture and storage, can lead to biofuels playing a significant role nationally.
Authors: Geissler, C; Ryu, J; Maravelias, C
Corridor-Level Impacts of Battery-Electric Heavy-Duty Trucks and the Effects of Policy in the United States
12/18/2023
Electrifying freight trucks will be key to alleviating air pollution burdens on disadvantaged communities and mitigating climate change. The United States plans to pursue this aim by adding vehicle charging infrastructure along specific freight corridors. This study explores the coevolution of the electricity grid and freight trucking landscape using an integrated assessment framework to identify when each interstate and drayage corridor becomes advantageous to electrify from a climate and human health standpoint.
Authors: McNeil, W; Tong, F; Harley, R; Auffhammer, M; Scown, C
AFLEET Assesses Vehicle, Fuel, and Infrastructure Impacts
12/13/2023
AFLEET is a free tool from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that fleet managers can use to quantify the environmental and economic impacts of new fuels and vehicle technologies. The AFLEET fact sheet explains how the tool works and how to access it.
A Deep Decarbonization Framework for the United States Economy – a Sector, Sub-Sector, and End-Use Based Approach
12/8/2023
Using the recently developed Decarbonization Analysis Model, this report analyzes the estimated greenhouse gas mitigation potential for projected energy demand based on several sector-level and cross-sectoral decarbonization pathways, including electrification, low-carbon fuels, and the reduction of fugitive emissions. The report analyzes the remaining projected emissions and highlights the need for developing low-carbon and carbon-negative alternatives to mitigate the fossil-based carbon emissions resulting from the fossil-based fuels in heavy-duty transportation.
Authors: Kar, S; Hawkins, T; Zaimes, G; Oke, D; Singh, U; Wu, X; Kwon, H; Zhang, S; Zang, G; Zhou, Y; Elgowainy, A; Wang, M; Ma, O
Charging Ahead: How Government Agencies Can Support the Electrification of Private Fleet Vehicles
12/1/2023
This toolkit is a resource for government agencies seeking ways to encourage private fleet operators and private sector stakeholders to transition to electric vehicles. It is designed to help government agencies consider, plan, coordinate, and support this adoption. Government agencies can use the toolkit to identify key partners, advance high-impact policy tools, and assist firms in pursuing or advancing fleet electrification.
Electric Vehicle Program Designs and Strategies to Enhance Equitable Deployment
12/1/2023
This report synthesizes and categorizes information from more than five dozen sources published between 2015 and 2023 – including national, regional, and state-level electric vehicle charging station program summaries, as well as updates, policy briefs, proposals, whitepapers, and reports – and describes three key activities to support informed decision-making for equitable electric vehicle charging station programs: cultivating partnerships, identifying a community’s unique needs, and developing an iterative program design.
Authors: Ball, J; Forrester, S; Grayson, A; Satchwell, A
Evaluating EV Charger Reliability and Performance
12/1/2023
This report analyzes processes for measuring, verifying, and evaluating charger reliability and performance, including gaps in current processes. The report discusses the importance of easily obtainable charger reliability data as well as consistency and standardization of collecting and processing this data.
Authors: Blongewicz, K; Di Filippo, J; Latham, S
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, October 2023
11/29/2023
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for October 2023 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 October 1, 2023 and October 15, 2023, 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 13 cents from $3.59 to $3.72; diesel increased 64 cents from $3.88 to $4.52; CNG decreased 1 cent from $2.86 to $2.85; ethanol (E85) increased 10 cents from $2.95 to $3.05; propane increased 4 cents from $3.25 to $3.29; and biodiesel (B20) increased 65 cents from $3.77 to $4.42.
According to Table 3, CNG is 87 cents less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis and E85 is 24 cents more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Bourbon, E.
Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Analysis of U.S. Light-Duty Vehicle-Fuel Pathways: A Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment of Current (2020) and Future (2030-2035) Technologies
11/1/2023
This study provides a comprehensive life cycle analysis (LCA), or cradle-to-grave (C2G) analysis, of the cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a variety of vehicle-fuel pathways, the levelized cost of driving (LCD) and cost of avoided GHG emissions. The C2G analysis assesses light duty midsize sedans and small sport utility vehicles (SUVs) across a variety of vehicle-fuel technology pathways, including conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), flexible hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with varying vehicle ranges, and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
Authors: Kelly, J.C.; Elgowainy, A.; Isaac, R.; Ward, J.; Islam, E.; Rousseau, A.; Sutherland, I.; Wallington, T.J.; Alexander, M.; Muratori, M.; Franklin, M.; Adams, J.; Rustagi, N.
Cold Weather Impacts on Electric School Buses
11/1/2023
School bus fleets considering electric school buses (ESBs) can start here to learn how cold weather impacts ESBs and considerations for optimizing bus performance when temperatures drop. ESBs are proven to operate effectively in cold weather; however, cold temperatures will impact their range and efficiency. School bus fleets can effectively manage these impacts on ESB operations by considering effective safeguards during deployment planning.
Grid Capacity – What is it, What Determines it, Does One Number Work, and How Does it Relate to Electric Vehicles?
11/1/2023
Electrical power is used in many facets of modern life and electricity demand continues to grow. The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), migration from natural gas to electric heat pumps, and other decarbonization efforts are expected to grow this demand even further. With this increased demand, questions arise on if the power grid can handle this load and questions of “grid capacity” emerge. This report discusses common questions about what grid capacity is and how EVs impact grid capacity.
Authors: Tuffner, F