The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the recipients of an $8.5 million Clean Cities initiative to support community planning for plug-in hybrids and charging infrastructure. The two largest grants went to California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
On Sept. 8 the SCAQMD in Southern California—the smoggiest region in the nation—was awarded $1 million to fund the planning and implementation of plug-in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure statewide.
“Electric vehicles are key to improving air quality in California and particularly in the South Coast region,” SCAQMD Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein told ENS. “This collaborative partnership further strengthens California’s commitment to planning for a future of near-zero and zero-emission vehicles.”
This award represents the largest of 16 announced by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to be dispersed among 24 states and the District of Columbia. NYSERDA received the second largest grant, totaling $994,500, and will use it to develop a network of EV charging stations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
“By developing the next generation of automotive engineers and preparing communities for plug-in electric vehicles, these projects will help reduce our nation’s dependence on oil imports, create jobs, and help America capture the growing global market for advanced vehicles,” said Chu.
While some award recipients have extensive EV planning experience, other communities in line to receive fund are just starting out and lacked the resources to move forward. Every community will make their plans available to the public so that stakeholders can learn best practices for addressing specific EV infrastructure needs like personnel training and permitting processes.
In Texas, the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies has created a plan for plug-in EV charging infrastructure for all major cities. The city of Houston and its electric vehicle partners also launched Houston Drives Electric, a program that spurred the purchase of the city fleet’s first two all-electric vehicles, Nissan Leafs, and another 23 EVs by the end of this year. These two projects are dividing up about $1 million from the federal program.
Other states receiving Clean Cities grants to further EV development and implementation include Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Oregon, Florida and Hawaii.
