Webinar: School Bus Electrification and VW Settlement Update

On June 12 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., join the NC Clean Energy Technology Center and The 100 Best Fleets of the Americas to learn about school bus electrification options of a re-power solution or a new OEM offering. There are many benefits to electrification, including reduced operating and maintenance costs, cleaner air and more.

In addition, with VW Settlement money becoming available across the country, learn how to obtain funds to electrify your school bus fleet. This information will allow you to impact the environment, the health of your school children and your budget. WIN! WIN! WIN! Space is limited – please register at your earliest convenience.

Register now here.

Sessions Announced for 2019 Sustainable Fleet Technology Conference

Electric Vehicles breakout session in 2018

 

Track A: Trends in Advanced Fuels and Fueling

Electric Vehicles

Propane

Biofuel Solutions

Natural Gas

 

Track B: Integrated Fleet Technology Solutions

Infrastructure & Intelligent Solutions

Telematics

Electrification & the Grid

Fleet Operations: Idle Reduction & more

 

Track C: Fleet Efficiency & Sustainability

Heavy Duty Vehicle Efficiency

Procurement Solutions

Rural Fleet Operations

Recruiting, Retention & Career Development

 

Plenary Panels

Fleets & Advanced Mobility Solutions

Planning for an Advanced Transportation Future

 

Keynote Speakers

David Dunn; CFM; Fleet & Facilities Management Division Manager, City of Orlando

Mark Smith; Technology Integration Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office

 

Stay tuned for more speakers to be announced soon!

Top 3 Fleets Best Practices Webinar

The winners of the 2019 edition of the 100 Best Fleets were announced last month! See the winners here.

On May 29 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., hear what the top three fleets did to distinguish themselves among 38,000 public fleets in North America. Learn their best practices you can use immediately in your own operation. We only learn from the best. Also, learn about the emerging technologies they use to do-more-with-less.

This information is intended for the entire team to listen in.

Find out where you compare to the very best-of-the-best.

Register now here.

This exclusive one-time-only webinar has limited space. Please RSVP at your earliest convenience.

Note: The 2019 edition of the Green Fleet Awards will open for nominations in June. The winners will be announced on August 06, 2019 as a pre-conference event for the 2019 Sustainable Fleet Technology Conference & Expo in Durham, NC. See 100BestFleets.com and sustainablefleetexpo.com for details.

Vote Now: “Keep Our Air Clean” Student Art Contest Polls Open

The polls are open for the “Keep Our Air Clean” Student Art Contest – vote now for your favorites!

Vote for your favorite art in each age category (kindergarten through college). Artwork should focus on actions that people can take to reduce air pollution from vehicles and help keep our air clean. Examples: walking, biking, using public transportation, using electric vehicles or biofuels, and more.

Winners in each category will be featured on billboards across the state!

The contest poll closes at midnight this Sunday, May 12.

Winners will be announced soon. Stay tuned on nccleantech.ncsu.edu and FuelWhatMatters.org. For more information or any questions, email Heather Brutz at hmbrutz@ncsu.edu.

Posted by Nicole Deck

Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Information & Input Sessions

Last week, members of the public attended four Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Information & Input Sessions hosted by the NC Clean Energy Technology Center and the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) at four locations in North Carolina, to gain information and provide feedback on Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80 and NCDOT’s ZEV plan.

Late last year, Governor Roy Cooper instructed state agencies to make plans to promote clean energy in Executive Order 80. As part of the effort, NCDOT is creating a statewide plan to promote the use of clean transportation technologies and is looking for input from the public.

Gov. Cooper’s Executive Order 80 plan is to increase the number of registered, zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) to at least 80,000 by 2025. ZEVs, or vehicles that emit no exhaust gas from the onboard source of power, include battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. According to EO80, the ZEV Plan should help establish interstate and intrastate ZEV corridors, coordinate and increase the installation of ZEV infrastructure, and incorporate additional best practices for increasing ZEV adoption when appropriate – by October 1, 2019. NCDOT’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Plan is designed to achieve the ZEV target and address those topics of ZEV corridors and ZEV infrastructure.

“Executive Order 80 represents a chance for North Carolina to really move forward in regards to the adoption of zero emission vehicles,” said Heather Brutz, Finance & Operations Manager of the Clean Transportation Program at NCCETC. “Right now – while these plans are still being written – is the best time for the public to weigh in with any ideas they might have on how they would like to see plans move forward.”

Speakers present at the ZEV sessions were Jeremy Tarr, Policy Advisor for the Governor’s Office; Heather Hildebrandt with NCDOT, and members from NCCETC’s planning partners, including the Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition, Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition, and the Triangle Clean Cities Coalition.

Tarr laid out details of Governor’s EO80 plan, expressing why it is so important to accomplish – pointing to North Carolina’s recent hurricanes and floods.

“We have to think ahead and prevent this kind of devastation in the future,” Tarr said. “We should be rebuilding in a way that’s going to be resilient.”

Hildebrandt presented a map of North Carolina showing FHWA Designated EV Recharging Corridors – showing locations where signage is ready, pending and not ready.

She also presented a map of North Carolina’s Priority Corridors, showing travel patterns in the state.

To learn more about NCDOT’s clean energy and climate change work, visit the website here. You can provide feedback to NCDOT by completing an EV adoption survey here. The survey includes a map feature where you can drop pins in locations you’d like to see EV chargers.

More than 16 states have completed or initiated ZEV and EV planning activities in 2018, from Colorado to Hawaii to Rhode Island, said Allison Carr, Clean Transportation Specialist at NCCETC.

Some states are updating plans more than 5 years old, and others are responding to new statewide goals (related to energy, GHGs, or transportation). The common themes among the states seem to be ZEV availability for consumers and automaker (OEM) and dealer collaborations; planning for education and awareness; need for consistent, supportive and innovative policies for state, city level and public utilities; and buildout and planning for charging infrastructure. New and emerging themes have included ZEV planning that builds on existing EV planning activities or related to statewide energy goals; mobility services as part of ZEV planning, such as exploring and establishing connections with transportation network companies (TNC) like Uber and Lyft; consideration of extreme weather and resiliency; and future planning for inclusion of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and charging infrastructure.

Take a look to see what other states are doing in Carr’s Powerpoint presentation here.

After the expert presentations, guests branched out into groups to discuss their thoughts and ideas on alternative fuel corridors, barriers to adoption of EVs, best practices to promote adoption, and prioritizing funding for ZEVs and infrastructure. Questions included: How should public funding of EV charging infrastructure be prioritized (both Level 2 and DC fast chargers) in North Carolina? What are the top five barriers to ZEV adoption that should be addressed within the next two years? What areas do you think need a DC fast charger? Guests also viewed a map of current corridors in North Carolina and added dots to locations they’d like to see more EV chargers.

If you missed the ZEV sessions, you can still provide feedback. Go here to download and fill out our worksheets. You can email worksheets to Rick Sapienza at resapien@ncsu.edu.

Also, on Tuesday, April 23 from 2 to 3:30 p.m., tune in to a free NC ZEV Information & Input Webinar with NCCETC and NCDOT to cover the same subjects. Click here to register now.

“This is your opportunity to weigh in,” said John Bonitz, Clean Transportation Specialist at NCCETC. “Tell us where the charging stations need to be, give us your practical experience or practical concerns.”

“It’s important right now because there’s momentum in this conversation,” said Allison Carr, Transportation Specialist at NCCETC. “There’s support from the Governor, and there’s Volkswagen funding available that will contribute to funding designated for EVSE.”

To view Powerpoint presentations from the ZEV sessions, go here.

Keep up to date with the latest news from the Governor’s Office here, NCDOT’s plan here, and with NCCETC at nccleantech.ncsu.edu and FuelWhatMatters.org.

“For these strategies going forward to be lasting, we need everyone’s input,” Tarr said.

Earth Day Electric Car Show

April is Earth Month!

This month-long emphasis on the planet, sustainability and how you can make the world a better place is hosted by NC State’s Sustainability Council and University Sustainability Office and sponsored by NC State Campus Enterprises. Earth Month is a month-long series of programs that educate the campus community about sustainability.

Celebrate Earth Day at North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus, where there will be an Electric Car Show on April 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Centennial Campus.. Electric cars will be on display and available for test driving, as well as food trucks.

Learn more and find more Earth Month events all throughout April here.

Posted by Nicole Deck

Submit Artwork for “Keep Our Air Clean” Student Art Contest

North Carolina students from kindergarten through college can submit their artwork for a chance to be featured on billboards across the state

***DEADLINE EXTENDED TO SUNDAY, MAY 5***

The North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) has officially launched the 2nd Annual “Keep Our Air Clean” Student Art Contest, where students in North Carolina from kindergarten through college can submit their artwork for a chance to be featured on billboards across the state! 

Artwork should focus on actions that people can take to reduce air pollution from vehicles and help keep our air clean.  Examples: walking, biking, using public transportation, using electric vehicles or biofuels, and more. Please make artwork family-friendly and non-partisan. You can learn about the alternatives at cleantransportation.org or fuelwhatmatters.org.

Artwork in a more horizontal rectangular shape (about the shape of a billboard) is recommended.
Recommended dimensions:
400h x 1400w pixels at 72 ppi in RGB mode
400h x 840w pixels at 72 ppi
Save as JPG, PNG or BMP at maximum quality

The winner will be chosen based on:

Relevance and appropriateness of the message
Visual design
Public votes on our Facebook account

Art submissions will be accepted through Sunday, May 5. Please submit by emailing Heather Brutz at hmbrutz@ncsu.edu.

Artists who are over 18 or parents/legal guardians submitting on behalf of their children can submit artwork by directly emailing Heather Brutz at hmbrutz@ncsu.edu. You are agreeing to the legal terms below. Teachers submitting artwork on behalf of their students must return a signed permission form.

Winners will be announced in May. Stay tuned on nccleantech.ncsu.edu and FuelWhatMatters.org!

For more information or any questions, email Heather Brutz at hmbrutz@ncsu.edu.

 

Legal Terms

By submitting this photograph, image, graphic, or video (collectively the “work”) you hereby agree to the following:

You certify and warrant that you are the legal guardian of the minor who is submitting the artwork or are the artist and are legally an adult.

You certify and warrant that the work is your work or your child’s own original creative work and does not violate or infringe the copyright or other proprietary or intellectual property rights of others.

You retain all copyright and equivalent rights but grant permission for NC State to use, reproduce, distribute, and/or release the work to the public in any manner and in any medium without payment of any fee, and in perpetuity.  

North Carolina State University reserves the right to use contestants’ names and works for educational publicity and/or promotional purposes, including website or exhibition of winning entries. You understand that the works will be shared with reporters covering these awards and for promotion of the competition itself. You hereby give North Carolina State University nonexclusive rights to use yours or your child’s name, likenesses, quotes and submissions for educational publicity and/or promotional purposes. This includes but is not limited to website display, print materials and exhibits.

You hereby agree to indemnify NC State, its trustees, officers, agents, and employees, from any and all claims, demands, and liabilities (including attorneys’ fees) incurred as a result of a final judgment or settlement or any claim or legal proceeding arising out of or resulting from a breach or claimed breach of the foregoing representations and warranties.

Posted by Nicole Deck

Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Information & Input Sessions

The North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) and NC Department of Transportation (DOT) are hosting four public Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Information & Input Sessions at four locations across the state from March 22 to 29, 2019.

Governor Roy Cooper has instructed state agencies to make plans to promote clean energy in Executive Order 80. As part of this effort, the NCDOT is creating a statewide plan to promote the use of clean transportation technologies and is looking for input. 

The public is invited to join the planning meetings to learn more and provide feedback.

Asheville
Friday, March 22
8:30-12:30 pm
Land of Sky Regional Council
339 New Leicester Hwy # 140, Asheville, NC 28806

Raleigh
Tuesday, March 26
1-5 pm
McKimmon Center (1101 Gorman St, Raleigh, NC 27606)

Charlotte
Wednesday, March 27
10 am – 2 pm
Centralina Council of Governments (9815 David Taylor Dr #100, Charlotte, NC 28262)

Kinston
Friday, March 29
8:30 am – 12:30 pm
Woodmen Community Center (2602 W Vernon Ave, Kinston, NC 28504)

Please RSVP by visiting http://bit.ly/ZEVsessions.

NCCETC’s planning partners include the Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition, Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition, and the Triangle Clean Cities Coalition.

For more information, contact Rick Sapienza Director of the Clean Transportation Program at the NC Clean Energy Technology Center, at resapien@ncsu.edu or (919) 515-2788.

Sustainable Fleet Webinars: Telematics Applications for Fleets

Telematics is a powerful tool that allows fleets real-time monitoring and information regarding any activity or metric that is important to their business and operations. Applications and benefits include driver safety and behavior, asset management, maintenance, route optimization, security, liability protection, lower costs, and increased efficiency.

Please join us on March 28 from 2 to 3 p.m. for a free Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar on Telematics Applications for Fleets.  Hear from industry experts and fleets that have successfully employed this technology regarding its capabilities, applications and benefits. Telematics continues to bring new solutions to help improve fleet operations.  Learn how it can help yours.

Register now here.

Posted by Nicole Deck

City of Greensboro Unveils its First Electric Buses

Last week, the City of Greensboro unveiled its first electric buses during a grand opening in Greensboro, NC. Greensboro is officially the first City in North Carolina to use electric buses in its transit system.

The City will have 10 buses in operation in the coming weeks, and plans to have another three to six more buses by the end of the year, bringing the total to 16, or 30 percent of the entire fleet, according to Spectrum News.

According to Rhino Times, this means Greensboro will have the second largest bus fleet on the East Coast behind Philadelphia.

N.C. Department of Transportation Chairman Mike Fox, Proterra CEO Ryan Popple, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper were in attendance at the Greensboro unveiling last week.

“This is smarter, this is the way of the future and this is a way for us to make sure we create better paying jobs in North Carolina and become healthier and cleaner while we’re doing it,” Governor Roy Cooper said.

The rechargeable electric Proterra buses are more efficient and more environmentally friendly.

They are 40-foot and powered by batteries that can provide up to 200 miles of transportation before needing a recharge, according to Spectrum News.

The buses are also expected to cost less in both operational and maintenance expenses than a traditional bus, according to WFMY News. It’s estimated that Greensboro will save more than $350,000 per bus per year.

The City said it will take the cost savings from the electric buses and expand service, eventually replacing the entire fleet, according to Spectrum News.

Learn more about the City of Greensboro and the Greensboro Transit Authority on their website here.