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Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Multi-Year Program Plan
5/31/2024
The Multi-Year Program Plan sets forth the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office's (HFTO's) mission, goals, and strategic approach relative to broader clean energy priorities of the U.S. Department of Energy. Aligned with the priorities in the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, the Multi-Year Program Plan identifies the challenges that must be overcome to realize the full potential of clean hydrogen and fuel cells and explains how HFTO's research, development, and demonstration activities will help to overcome those challenges in the near-, mid-, and longer-term.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, April 2024
5/15/2024
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for April 2024 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, 2024 and April 15, 2024, 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 59 cents from $3.06 to $3.65; diesel increased 13 cents from $3.94 to $4.07; CNG decreased 5 cents from $2.95 to $2.90; ethanol (E85) increased 41 cents from $2.55 to $2.96; propane decreased 4 cents from $3.49 to $3.45; and biodiesel (B20) increased 11 cents from $3.83 to $3.94.
According to Table 3, CNG is 75 cents less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis and E85 is 20 cents more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Bourbon, E.
SiLVERS: St. Louis Vehicle Electrification Rides for Seniors Final Report
5/1/2024
Program-specific electric vehicle (EV) use cases can be particularly helpful towards nationwide EV adoption, as they prove EVs can perform as well, if not better, than their internal combustion counterparts. This case study highlights the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from a 3-and-a-half-year pilot program that employed EVs to deliver and transport senior citizens around the St. Louis area. The study demonstrates how electrifying social services not only maintains performance, but simultaneously reduces carbon emissions and saves on operating costs, the latter being a particularly significant factor for programs receiving little funding.
Authors: Connor Herman
Powering Seattle Fleets: A Charging Infrastructure Strategy for Battery-Electric Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles
5/1/2024
Within the Puget Sound region, transit agencies are positioned to lead in a surge of electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs). Seattle City Light (SCL), the municipal electric utility of Seattle, is responsible for both ensuring sufficient infrastructure and grid capacity to meet the future energy requirements of electrification of these vehicles. This report serves to inform development of the charging infrastructure strategy for the utility through analysis of projected charging infrastructure development and local vehicle data. The analysis resulted in seven broad recommendations for the utility, addressing en-route charging, depot charging, internal operations, and communications with fleets.
Authors: Steimer, H; Allcock, C; Minjares, R; Brito, J; Buysse, C
Hot Weather Impacts on Battery-Electric Transit Buses
5/1/2024
This help sheet provides information about the impact of hot weather on battery electric buses (BEB) that transit fleets should consider when integrating BEBs into their fleets and a checklist of relative precautions that transit agencies can take during the deployment planning process to ensure optimal performance of BEBs in hot weather.
Clean Cities and Communities Overview
4/26/2024
Clean Cities and Communities is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) partnership to advance clean transportation nationwide. More than 75 DOE-designated Clean Cities and Communities coalitions work locally in urban, suburban, and rural communities to strengthen the nation's environment, energy security, and economic prosperity. As partners with DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office, coalitions work to deploy affordable, efficient, and clean transportation; energy efficient mobility systems; and fuel-saving technologies and practices.
The Role of Biofuels and Biomass Feedstocks for Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050
4/11/2024
Bioenergy holds significant potential to transform the transportation sector, helping to eliminate hard-to-abate sources of emissions, such as aviation, that lack viable electrification alternatives. Further, integrating more biomass-based electrification pathways will diversify the country’s electrical grid, increasing its stability in the future. This study uses process-based analyses of biomass resources and pathways to demonstrate the decarbonization potential and cost-efficiency of scaling bioenergy in the United States.
High-Power Electric Vehicle Charging Hub Integration Platform (eCHIP): Design Guidelines and Specifications for DC Distribution-Based Charging Hub
4/1/2024
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded EVs@Scale Consortium aims to expand direct current (DC), distribution-based, high-power charging systems through eCHIP. Further, the eCHIP program seeks to develop affordable, efficient, and interoperable DC-coupled charging hubs (“DC hub”). This report provides a step-by-step analysis of the DC hub platform, including design, development, and implementation. The report also offers metrics and considerations for DC hub system design, using results from a preliminary eCHIP experiment as benchmarking.
Authors: Mithat John Kisacikoglu; Jason D. Harper; Rajendra Prasad Kandula; Alastair P. Thurlbeck; Akram Syed Ali
Study of Electric Vehicle Range Loss Associated with Replacement Tires
4/1/2024
This technical report from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) examines how replacement tires affect the range of EVs, with a goal of supplementing the EV information made available to consumers on the FuelEconomy.Gov website. The report analyzes the change in range from worn tires versus replacement tires, paying particular attention to how tire friction impacts range losses. The report also compares worn, replacement, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) tires across five EV models from different EV manufacturers. ORNL concludes that, compared to OEM tires, tire replacements reduce estimated EV range whereas worn tires increase estimated range.
Authors: C. Scott Sluder; Stacy C. Davis; Robert G. Boundy
Advance Local Mobility Through Energy Efficient Mobility Systems Technologies
3/25/2024
Everyone deserves reliable, affordable, and safe transportation to connect people to jobs, healthcare, education, and recreation. Our transportation systems are interconnected, multimodal networks working together to move people and goods. These systems are dynamic and are being reshaped by factors such as population trends, new technologies, shifting labor models, economic forces, and changing climate. Energy efficient mobility systems (EEMS) technologies can help transportation planners ensure changes in our transportation systems are equitable and sustainable by improving energy efficiency, travel time, and affordability, as well as overall access to mobility. Transportation planners and decision makers can use the following EEMS tools and strategies to advance local mobility.
Authors: Reichelt, L.
Fuel Properties Comparison Chart
3/20/2024
This chart compares the physical fuel properties and considerations associated with gasoline/E10, low sulfur diesel, biodiesel, renewable diesel, propane, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen, and electricity for use as vehicle fuels.
Authors: Putzig, M.; Gonzalez, J.; Moriarty, K.; Brown, A.; Rahill, M.
Multi-State Transportation Electrification Impact Study
3/1/2024
This study was conducted to help answer technical and deployment questions about whether the electric grid can accommodate increasing demands from transportation electrification, particularly if it can accommodate the anticipated impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rulemakings if finalized as proposed on greenhouse gas emission standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty on-road vehicles The study analyzes charging infrastructure and distribution grid upgrade needs for California, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, which are indicative of a variety of transportation demand and utility distribution infrastructure in the United States.
Delivering Clean Air in Denver: Propane Trucks and Infrastructure in Mail Delivery Application
3/1/2024
This report analyzes the emission reductions, costs, and operational performances of six medium-duty propane Autogas delivery trucks that were deployed in Colorado in 2021 and compares them to conventional diesel vehicles. These vehicles were deployed with a goal of providing a proof-of-concept demonstration for mail delivery fleets around the country, and the analysis found that the new propane vehicles represented cost-effective and cleaner vehicle operations for fleets. The results of this program could be replicated by other commercial fleet operators in this vocation and other.
Authors: Kotz, A; Jeffers, M; Fakhimi, S; Miller. E; Squires, A; Meintsma, S; Mladenovic, K; Trowbridge, B; Woodruff, H
Refueling Infrastructure Deployment in Low-Income and Non-Urban Communities
3/1/2024
Following the need for increased investment in infrastructure that supports low- and zero-emission vehicles in low-income and overburdened communities identified in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization and the eligibility criteria in the alternative fuel infrastructure tax credit that encourages investment in underserved communities, this report quantifies how many fueling amenities are currently located in census tracts that qualify for the tax credit, as well as the percent of the U.S. population and the percentage of current vehicle registrations that are located in the eligible census tracts.
Authors: Gohlke, D; Zhou, Y; Wu, X
