DOE and DOT Announce $7 Million for New Projects to Accelerate Decarbonization of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Freight Transportation

 

DOE and DOT Announce $7 Million for New Projects to Accelerate Decarbonization of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Freight Transportation, Release Funding Notice of Intent to Increase Accessibility and Functionality of EV Chargers  

The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today announced funding to accelerate the creation of zero-emission vehicle corridors that expand the nation’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The Department has awarded $7.4 million to seven projects to develop medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle (EV) charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans that will benefit millions of drivers across 23 states. Additionally, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, DOE announced its intent to release funding to address barriers to a cleaner, safer, more affordable, and more reliable Made in America EV charging network. These funding measures, in coordination with additional clean transportation announcements from the Federal Highway Administration and the White House, will be critical to achieving President Biden’s goals of building out a national network of 500,000 EV chargers and ensuring that 50% of new light-duty vehicle sales are electric by 2030. 

“A clean transportation sector requires vast investments across the entire industry, including to decarbonize the trucks that move our goods and building more charging ports to get those trucks from coast to coast,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “President Biden’s historic clean energy laws are making it possible for us to get more EVs on the road by expanding charging infrastructure into underserved communities, while reducing range and cost anxiety among drivers who want to go electric.” 

Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Planning Selections 

The DOE-funded projects will focus on electrification plans for essential and heavily trafficked domestic freight corridors, including those serving Northern and Southern California, the Eastern Seaboard, the Northeast, Southwest, and much of the Midwest. The projects, administered by DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), will advance the President’s decarbonization goals by accelerating the deployment of medium- and heavy-duty EV charging and refueling infrastructure to reduce emissions from freight corridors and the depots, ports, and other facilities those corridors service. Selected projects support DOE’s Justice40 priorities by demonstrating the impacts and benefits of these freight corridors plans on underserved communities. The projects would also help improve air quality in underserved areas of major American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, and Salt Lake City. 

The selected projects are:

• CALSTART: East Coast Commercial ZEV Corridor. This project will launch an intensive strategic planning effort to spur the deployment of commercial medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure through the development of an East Coast Commercial ZEV Corridor along the I-95 freight corridor from Georgia to New Jersey. 
• Cummins Inc.: MD-HD ZEV Infrastructure Planning with Focus on I-80 Midwest Corridor. This project will develop an extensive two-phase MD-HD EV Charging and H2 Fueling Plan for the Midwest I-80 corridor serving Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, to support 30% of the MD-HD fleet using ZEV technologies by 2035.
• Gas Technology Institute: Houston to Los Angeles (H2LA)–I-10 Hydrogen Corridor Project. This project will develop a flexible and scalable blueprint plan for an investment-ready hydrogen fueling and heavy-duty freight truck network from Houston to LA (H2LA) along I-10, including the Texas Triangle region, and in the process develop methodology for future corridor plans across the country.  
• Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator: First to Last Mile: Creating an Integrated Goods Movement Charging Network around the I-710 Corridor. This project will create a plan for innovative infrastructure solutions at industrial facilities and commercial zones along critical freight arteries feeding into Southern California’s I-710 freeway. The project will explore how private sector fleets can establish an integrated network that leverages existing industrial and commercial real estate assets while providing greatest benefit to municipalities and communities.
• National Grid: Northeast Electric Highways Study. This project will forecast electric charging demand at traffic stops on freight corridors across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to help inform a blueprint for future large-scale, least-cost deployment of commercial EV charging and serve as an exemplar for other regions.
• Rocky Mountain Institute: San Francisco and Bay Area Regional Medium-and Heavy-Duty Electrification Roadmap. This project will create a roadmap for charging infrastructure to support the full electrification of three key trucking market segments – drayage, regional haul, and long-haul – in the Bay Area of California. 
• Utah State University: Wasatch Front Multi-Modal Corridor Electrification Plan - Greater Salt Lake City Region. This project will develop a community, state and industry supported action plan that will improve air quality in the underserved communities most impacted by high-density medium- and heavy-duty traffic in the greater Salt Lake City region. 

Notice of Intent to Issue Ride and Drive Electric Funding Opportunity Announcement

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation has issued a funding Notice of Intent to address challenges to achieving an equitable clean transportation future by improving the charging experience for EV drivers and expanding charging infrastructure into underserved communities. Anticipated topic areas include:

• Enhancing EV Charging Resiliency 
• Community-Driven EV Charging Deployment Benefits Planning, Implementation, and Tracking in Underserved Communities
• Workforce Development
• Increasing Commercial Capacity for Testing and Certification of High-Power EV Chargers
• Validating High-Power EV Charger Real-World Performance and Reliability 

These announcements will directly help companies implement the requirements included in the recently published minimum standards developed by DOT with DOE input for federally funded EV infrastructure and will support the forthcoming $2.5 billion in competitive grants to build alternative fueling infrastructure in communities across the nation. The combined measures will be critical to achieving President Biden’s goals of 500,000 EV chargers and 50% of new light-duty vehicles sales being electric by 2030 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. Today's slate of announcements exemplifies the administration's commitment to a transportation future that is cleaner, more equitable and affordable, and provides economic opportunities to boost domestic manufacturing of EV materials and infrastructure and create good-paying jobs. 

Learn more about the selected VTO projects and the Joint Office intended funding.  

Battery electric trucks emit 63% less GHG emissions than diesel

From the extraction of raw materials to its operational phase, battery electric trucks produced in Europe today can deliver the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions over their lifetime.— A new study compares the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of electric, hydrogen, natural gas, and diesel trucks and buses in Europe. Its results indicate a clear pathway to decarbonize the sector: Battery electric models can deliver the greatest emission reductions even when using the EU’s average electricity grid mix, which is not fully renewable but will continue to improve during the lifetime of the vehicles.

To reach the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 2°C, Europe needs to urgently decarbonize its trucks and buses, the highest emitting vehicles on the road. They represent only 2% of vehicles on the road but contribute to a quarter of transport-related emissions. The study, carried out by the non-profit research organization International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), offers a comprehensive picture of the life-cycle emissions of different powertrains and fuel options of these vehicles on a fully harmonized basis.

Its methodology addresses not only CO2 emissions resulting from vehicle tailpipes but also the GHG emissions arising from the manufacturing of the vehicles and their components, vehicle maintenance, fuel production, and electricity production. The study factors in the changes in the average electricity and fuel mix during the lifetime of today's vehicles.

A key finding of the study is that the greatest climate impact produced by trucks and buses over their whole life comes from the use or fuel consumption phase, not from the extraction of raw materials, construction, or maintenance.

“The problem is not the factory but the road. The high greenhouse gas intensity of driving a truck during its whole life offsets the GHG emissions generated during manufacturing or the production of the fuel, or the energy it consumes. Our study addresses the uncertainties surrounding the share of emissions in all stages of the vehicle’s life. It shows that only battery electric and some fuel cell electric trucks can meet the climate targets in the sector,” says Nikita Pavlenko, ICCT’s Fuels Program Lead.

The comparison of the different powertrains and fuel options reveals that battery electric trucks take the lead in reducing GHG emissions. When estimated over the whole lifetime of a battery-electric 40-tonne tractor-trailer entering service in 2021, these vehicle models produce at least 63% lower emissions compared to diesel. As the grid continues to decarbonize, the emissions of these will fall—the study shows an 84% reduction of emissions when using only renewable electricity.

Fuel cell electric trucks using hydrogen produced from fossil fuel produce 15% less GHG emissions compared to their diesel counterparts. The emissions reduction depends heavily on the source of hydrogen. With hydrogen produced with only renewable electricity, emissions fall by 85%. The GHG emission savings from hydrogen trucks are less than can be achieved from a battery electric model when using a non-renewable energy source.

“Increasing energy efficiency is the game-changing factor in shrinking the carbon footprint of battery electric trucks compared to the rest of the technologies. These models become the cleanest option even if the source of electricity is not fully clean. This is not the case for hydrogen trucks, which can become a promising option in the future if hydrogen is produced from a 100% renewable energy source. Today, their capacity to reduce emissions is still limited,” says Felipe Rodríguez, ICCT’s Program Lead.

In the various scenarios, natural gas trucks and buses provide, at best, marginal GHG emission reductions compared to diesel. We find that 2021 vehicle models have life-cycle emissions ranging from 4% to 18% lower than their diesel counterparts. Methane, which is a potent GHG that leaks from the vehicle and throughout the production and supply of natural gas, is a significant driver of the powertrain’s emissions. However, the benefits from natural gas vehicles disappear when looking at short-term warming impacts, which result in 0% to 21% greater GHG emissions than diesel vehicles over natural gas trucks’ full lifecycle.

“The climate benefits of natural gas urban buses compared to diesel are marginal at best when compared to diesel. Methane leakage may undermine the benefits of transitioning bus fleets to natural gas. Cities should consider their transport policy strategies with these numbers at hand,” says Mr. Pavlenko.

The analysis evaluates the current best-in-class diesel models against their natural gas and zero-emission alternatives in the European market. Its methodology provides innovative contributions that distinguish it from other life-cycle analyses. The authors estimate present and projected future GHG emissions of trucks and buses and factor in the life-cycle average carbon intensity of fuel and electricity mixes, as well as changes in the fuel mix over the vehicle’s lifetime considering present energy policies.