DOE, DOT eye greater decarbonization in medium and heavy-duty vehicle corridors, expanding EV charging in underserved areas
The Biden administration recently announced that $7.4 million in funding will accelerate zero-emission freight vehicle corridors and expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure across 23 states.
Through the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Transportation (DOT), the White House provided funding to seven projects and added that more will be released to address barriers to an EV charging network that is cleaner, safer, more affordable, and more reliable than what the country currently faces. In keeping with the administration’s focus, underserved communities will remain a major focus of this push.
“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,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “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.”
The different selected projects have a broad range of scope. National Grid, for example, was chosen for a Northeast Electric Highways Study that will forecast electric charging demand at traffic stops on freight corridors across northeastern states, forming a picture for future large-scale, cost-effective deployment or EV charging. Similarly, Rocky Mountain Institute was chosen for its San Francisco and Bay Area Regional Medium-and Heavy-Duty Electrification Roadmap, which will craft a roadmap for charging infrastructure and support full electrification of drayage, regional haul, and long-haul trucking markets in California’s Bay Area.
At the same time, funds will benefit efforts like those at Utah State University. There, through the Wasatch Front Multi-Modal Corridor Electrification Plan, the university will create a community, state, and industry-supported plan to improve air quality in underserved communities most affected by high-density medium and heavy-duty traffic in the Salt Lake City area. Other selected projects include efforts by CALSTART, Cummins Inc., Gas Technology Institute, and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator.
The administration emphasized that these funded projects will be undertaken alongside additional transportation announcements to build out a national network of 500,000 EV chargers and advance the White House’s goal of making 50 percent of new light-duty vehicle sales electric by 2030. Improving air quality around major American cities while advancing these deployment and decarbonization plans will be key.
