Sample Employee Survey for Workplace Charging Planning
8/29/2016
Employers considering whether workplace charging is right for their organization or employers considering how many plug-in electric vehicle charging stations to install will want to start by assessing employee demand. Partners in the Workplace Charging Challenge set a minimum goal of providing charging access for a portion of PEV-driving employees and a best practice goal of meeting all PEV-driving employee demand. This sample employee survey will help employers to assess interest in workplace charging, and determine the appropriate type and amount of charging stations to install.
Authors: Committee, N.
The Growing Presence of Propane in Pupil Transportation
8/2/2016
School districts all over the United States are turning to propane autogas to fuel their buses. In 2014, an estimated 7,000 propane autogas buses drove a half a million students to school in 45 states. This white paper highlights the added safety from the quieter propane engine, the environmental benefits from propane, and the reduced total cost of ownership of owning a propane bus.
Case Study: Natural Gas Regional Transport Trucks
8/1/2016
Learn about Ryder System, Inc.'s experience in deploying nearly 200 CNG and LNG heavy-duty trucks and construction and operation of L/CNG stations using ARRA funds. Using natural gas in its fleet, Ryder mitigated the effects of volatile fuel pricing and reduced lifecycle GHGs by 20% and petroleum by 99%.
Authors: Laughlin, M.; Burnham, A.
Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at the Workplace
7/1/2016
Level 1 charging (110-120 V) can be a good fit for many workplace charging programs. For electric vehicles typically purchased by most employees, Level 1 charging often has sufficient power to fully restore vehicle driving range during work hours.
Authors: Smith, M.
Utilities Power Change: Engaging Commercial Customers in Workplace Charging
6/29/2016
As stewards of an electric grid that is available almost anywhere people park, utilities that support workplace charging are uniquely positioned to help their commercial customers be a part of the rapidly expanding network of charging infrastructure. Utilities understand the distinctive challenges of their customers, have access to technical information about electrical infrastructure, and have deep experience modeling and managing demand for electricity. This case study highlights the experiences of two utilities with workplace charging programs.
Authors: Lommele, S.; Dafoe, W.
Electric Vehicles as Distributed Energy Resources
6/15/2016
Several key forces are combining to accelerate the pace of EV adoption, such as customer interest, increased scale of production, and availability of charging infrastructure. This report focuses on the changing incentives and emerging technological options that are shifting the way utilities and other grid operators perceive EV charging opportunities. Together, these two sets of forces are creating new opportunities and increased scale for smart EV-charging solutions. It also covers the important questions that emerge for regulators, policymakers, and utilities.
Authors: Fitzgerald, G.; Nelder, C.; and Newcomb, J.
Notes:
This copyrighted publication can be accessed on the Rocky Mountain Institute's website.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, April 2016
6/8/2016
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for April 2016 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, 2016 and April 15, 2016, 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 8 cents from $1.98 to $2.06; diesel decreased 10 cents from $2.23 to $2.13; CNG price decreased 7 cents from $2.09 to $2.02; ethanol (E85) decreased 2 cents from $1.86 to $1.84; propane decreased 8 cents from $2.85 to $2.77; and biodiesel (B20) has decreased 18 cents from $2.41 to 2.23.
According to Table 3, CNG is $.04 less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis, while E85 is $0.33 more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Bourbon, E.
Zero Emission Bay Area (ZEBA) Fuel Cell Bus Demonstration Results: Fifth Report
6/1/2016
This report presents results of a demonstration of fuel cell electric buses (FCEB) operating in Oakland, California. Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) leads the Zero Emission Bay Area (ZEBA) demonstration, which includes 13 advanced-design fuel cell buses and two hydrogen fueling stations. The ZEBA partners are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the buses in revenue service. NREL has published four previous reports describing operation of these buses. This report presents new and updated results covering data from January 2015 through December 2015.
Authors: Eudy, L.; Post, M.; Jeffers, M.
Emissions Associated with Electric Vehicle Charging: Impact of Electricity Generation Mix, Charging Infrastructure Availability, and Vehicle Type
4/11/2016
With the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transportation sector, policy-makers are supporting a multitude of measures to increase electric vehicle adoption. The actual level of emission reduction associated with the electrification of the transport sector is dependent on the contexts that determine when and where drivers charge electric vehicles. This analysis contributes to our understanding of the degree to which a particular electricity grid profile, vehicle type, and charging patterns impact CO2 emissions from light-duty, plug-in electric vehicles. We present an analysis of emissions resulting from both battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for four charging scenarios and five electricity grid profiles. A scenario that allows drivers to charge electric vehicles at the workplace yields the lowest level of emissions for the majority of electricity grid profiles. However, vehicle emissions are shown to be highly dependent on the percentage of fossil fuels in the grid mix, with different vehicle types and charging scenarios resulting in fewer emissions when the carbon intensity of the grid is above a defined level. Restricting charging to off-peak hours results in higher total emissions for all vehicle types, as compared to other charging scenarios.
Authors: McLaren, J.; Miller, J.; O'Shaughnessy, E.; Wood, E.; Shapiro, E.
Case Study - Propane Bakery Delivery Step Vans
4/1/2016
A switch to propane from diesel by a major Midwest bakery fleet showed promising results, including a significant displacement of petroleum, a drop in greenhouse gases and a fuel cost savings of seven cents per mile, according to a study recently completed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory for the Clean Cities program.
Authors: Laughlin, M.; Burnham, A.
Assessment of Vehicle Sizing, Energy Consumption and Cost through Large Scale Simulation of Advanced Vehicle Technologies
3/28/2016
The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) supports new technologies to increase energy security in the transportation sector at a critical time for global petroleum supply, demand, and pricing. VTO works in collaboration with industry and research organizations to identify the priority areas of research needed to develop advanced vehicle technologies to reduce and eventually eliminate petroleum use, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide from carbon-based fuels. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the benefits of the DOE-VTO for a wide range of vehicle applications, powertrain configurations and component technologies for different timeframes and quantify the potential future petroleum displacement up to 2045, as well as the cost evolution. While it is not possible to simulate all the different combinations, more than 2000 vehicles were simulated in the study.
Authors: Moawad, A.; Kim, N.; Shidore, N.; Rousseau, A.