Congress

 

House

 

Regan Back On The Hill To Defend EPA Rulemaking — “EPA chief Michael Regan this week will be on Capitol Hill, where he’ll likely field questions from lawmakers on a host of recent hot-button agency actions. Regan will appear before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, which will hold a hearing Wednesday advertised as a chance to examine the agency’s use of science in its regulatory process. Just this year, EPA has proposed numerous regulations, including tighter air quality standards for fine particulate matter, emissions limits for heavy-duty vehicles and restrictions for power plants’ carbon pollution. Republicans have decried all of those proposals. At a hearing of House Energy and Commerce subcommittee last week, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the full committee, said that the new standards for particulate matter, or soot, were too strict and would harm industry. ‘I urge the EPA to pull back on this radical proposal,’ she said, arguing that the tighter standards, which Democrats say would benefit health, would move manufacturing overseas.” [E&E News, 9/25/23 (=)]

 

 

Truck Manufacturers

 

Geely

 

Volvo’s Fuel Cell Truck Advances But Battery-Electric Is Biggest Push — “The plume of white smoke from Volvo’s fuel cell truck matched the white clouds in the Scandinavian sky. Stand too close and you feel the descending mist of water vapor. The hydrogen tanks sweat just droplets at first. Then comes the release of about a liter of water, approximately the amount the 100-kilowatt fuel cell produces per kilometer traveled. On a spin around the track at Volvo’s high-security proving ground about an hour east of its Gothenburg headquarters in southern Sweden, the company’s first fuel cell-equipped test truck performed admirably. There was little compressor noise from the oversize radiator. Most importantly, it emitted no planet-warming carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxides from burning fossil fuels. Volvo demonstrated its fuel cell truck less than five years after all but shunning the technology in favor of battery-based electrification.” [FreightWaves, 9/25/23 (=)]

 

 

Battery & Charging Companies

 

ChargePoint Holdings Inc.

 

ChargePoint Scores Another Electric Truck Partnership, The Latest In A Long Line Of Them — “In a recent article, I covered Ryder’s fancy new electric vans from Brightdrop. But one part of the story that kind of slipped through the cracks was the company’s partnership with ChargePoint to power the trucks. In a recent press release from Isuzu, I learned about another electric truck deal, and then learned about several more from a rep of the company. So, let’s look at a few of these deals and what they mean for the future of ChargePoint and electric trucking.” [CleanTechnica, 9/23/23 (+)]

 

 

Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

 

Electric Big Rigs Are Going Farther And Charging Faster — “There’s only one way to know if electric trucks can really replace diesel-fueled trucks: load them up with cargo, put them on the road and collect the data to see how far they can go. That’s exactly what 10 freight depots in North America have been doing over the past two weeks. And so far, the data indicates that the latest electric medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks are increasingly ready to handle a lot of North America’s freight-hauling needs. The data comes from trucks participating in Run on Less – Electric Depot, a three-week-long test-drive event organized by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, a nonprofit research group. Back in 2021, NACFE did its first electric truck test, and the findings showed that the vehicles available then were capable of handling the shorter-haul routes of about 100 miles or less that make up roughly half of all daily freight movement in the U.S.” [Canary Media, 9/25/23 (+)]

 

Pepsi Isn’t The Only Company Hauling Sodas With Electric Trucks — “When it comes to electric semi trucks, the Tesla semi seems to get most of the attention. Every move a Tesla semi makes on the open road seems to get filmed by somebody and posted to social media. For Tesla fanatics, the Semi is the end-all-be-all of electric trucks, and they just aren’t very excited about other manufacturers’ offerings, assuming they’re aware of them at all. Today, the Semi is working for a few relatively small test fleets for notable companies like Frito-lay and Pepsi. And, when it comes to Pepsi, the Tesla semi is an ideal vehicle. Like other soda bottling companies, Pepsi doesn’t bottle everything in one factory and ship sodas all over the United States. Instead, it ships things like syrup around and does the bottling regionally. This makes heaps of sense, because soda is mostly water, and getting water locally means you don’t need to ship water around at great expense.” [CleanTechnica, 9/24/23 (=)]

 

 

States & Local

 

California

 

Op-Ed: Eco-Tip: National Drive Electric Week Goes Commercial — According to David Goldstein, “‘Like a lot of people my age, I live in an apartment, so it isn’t practical to charge an electric vehicle at home,’ said Nick Benitz, who nevertheless has been driving an impressive 2022 Ford Lightning electric pickup truck for almost a year. He uses the truck for his business, Nick’s Window Cleaning & Services. His company, which does window, solar panel and gutter cleaning as well as window screen repair and replacement, operates out of the back of his new truck. The truck’s battery does not just power the vehicle. It also powers a 220 volt plug in the truck bed and 110 volt plugs in the front for his pressure washer, pumps and screen fabrication equipment. He charges the Lightning’s batteries during the day at Electrify America power stations. At night, he plugs in at his mother’s house. He received federal, state and utility company incentives to purchase the Lightning, and his mother received incentives for installation of the charging station.” [VC Star, 9/24/23 (+)]

 

Maine

 

Op-Ed: Maine Clean Trucks Proposal Carries Major Economic And Environmental Benefits — According to Emily Green, “Mainers have made their voices heard about a proposal to gradually bring more clean vans, trucks and buses to our roads. The state’s mandatory 45% cut in greenhouse-gas emissions looms, and this rule – the Advanced Clean Trucks program – is necessary for the state to hit this target. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, while only comprising around 5% of the vehicles on our roads, contribute more than a quarter of climate-damaging transportation emissions. And Mainers would also breathe easier if these vehicles were cleaned up: Trucks disproportionately release air pollution that causes cancer and is harmful to people even at low doses and for short periods of time.” [Courthouse News Service, 9/24/23 (+)]

 

New York

 

N.Y. Gov. Hochul Announces 53 New Electric Bus Chargers Under Construction At MTA Depots — “Gov. Kathy Hochul announced construction is moving forward on 53 overhead bus chargers at Metropolitan Transportation Authority depots in Staten Island, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. The announcement coincided with the conclusion of Climate Week. The first phase of the multi-year $54 million project, managed by the New York Power Authority, includes building 67 overhead and cabled dispensers to prepare for 60 new electric buses expected to arrive early next year. All of the work is set to be complete by mid-2024. ‘Electrifying our metropolitan bus fleets in the greatest city in the world enables us to showcase New York’s leadership when it comes to climate actions that will have a lasting impact,’ Hochul said in a rstatement. ‘The progress at these in-city bus depots is the latest example of New York building clean energy infrastructure that will improve our air quality and benefit communities that have borne the brunt of a fossil-fuel economy. This major transformation of our bus fleet will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide system efficiencies, and enable our transition to a zero-emission bus fleet by 2040.’” [SI Live, 9/23/23 (=)]

 

New York Bus Electrification Moves Forward With 53 Overhead Bus Chargers — “In celebration of Climate Week, Governor Kathy Hochul today announced construction is progressing on 53 state-of-the-art overhead electric bus chargers at Metropolitan Transportation Authority depots in Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn. The first phase of the multi-year project, managed by the New York Power Authority, includes building a total of 67 overhead and cabled dispensers for New York City Transit across five locations to prepare for 60 new electric buses expected to arrive early next year. The modernized electric infrastructure will support the MTA’s growing zero-emissions bus fleet throughout New York City, reducing carbon emissions, addressing climate change and serving as a model for other metropolitan bus fleet operators. Justin E. Driscoll, President and CEO at NYPA, and Frank Annicaro, Senior Vice President, New York City Transit Department of Buses and MTA Bus Company, toured the Grand Avenue Bus Depot and Central Maintenance Facility in Queens today to witness progress as Climate Week comes to a close.” [CleanTechnica, 9/23/23 (+)]

 

Pennsylvania

 

Philadelphia Eagles Unveil ‘Kelly Green’ Hydrogen Fueling Station — “Just behind the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field sits a big metal box, with a hose similar to a gas pump. But inside the box, there are no dirty fossil fuels. Instead, it’s simply water. Energy from the Linc’s solar panels split those water molecules into two elements – oxygen and hydrogen. This ‘green’ hydrogen, created using clean energy, can power fuel-cell vehicles. ‘I consider this to be ‘kelly green’ hydrogen,’ joked Governor Josh Shapiro at a ribbon-cutting event for the fueling station Friday. ‘That’s the official, technical term.’ The Eagles plan to eventually use the hydrogen to fuel as many vehicles and pieces of equipment used at the South Philly stadium as possible. The team says it will start by replacing its traditional forklifts with fuel cell versions, then move on to golf carts and passenger vehicles.” [WHYY-Radio, 9/22/23 (=)]

 

 

 

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To receive Trucks Clips or other Clean Vehicles Coalition (CVC) materials, please contact Al-Batool Ibrahim

(aibrahim@partnershipproject.org)

 

For any other questions or comments, please contact Mitch Dunn

(mitch@beehivedc.com)