electrifying

Electrifying Delivery Vehicles | Earth Wise

October 12, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Most of the buzz about electric vehicles relates to passenger cars as the auto industry is making a major transition away from gasoline power. Recently, pickup trucks have started to get some attention as well as Ford’s electric version of the F-150 truck has hit the streets and the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck will be introduced next year. There hasn’t been as much talk about delivery vehicles, but there should be.

There are about 15 million delivery vehicles in the U.S., and they are a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The post office alone has a quarter million of them. Such vehicles are especially attractive candidates for electrification. Most travel relatively consistent and short routes, which makes it easier for companies to be able to charge them and keep them charged.

Electrifying delivery vehicles in cities is especially important because the vehicles travel into and through residential neighborhoods, spreading pollution and particulates as they go.

Some provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act provide credits for the purchase of commercial vehicles. Light-duty vans and trucks qualify for a credit of as much as $7,500. Medium- and heavy-duty trucks qualify for credits as high as $40,000. In addition, substantial tax credits are available for the installation of charging equipment.

According to a study by the Rocky Mountain Institute, sixty percent of new truck sales could be electric by 2030. By 2035, the trucking industry could cut its emissions in half.

American companies are already stepping up to the plate. Amazon plans to deploy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from new automaker Rivian. Walmart, UPS, FedEx, and others have also committed to electrified trucks.

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The Climate Bill Will Electrify More Delivery Vans and Trucks

Photo, posted August 1, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electrifying The Federal Fleet | Earth Wise

October 7, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The federal government owns and operates about 645,000 vehicles. Among them are about 200,000 passenger vehicles, 78,000 heavy-duty trucks, 47,000 vans, 847 ambulances, and three limousines. About 225,000 vehicles are operated by the Postal Service.

Each year, these vehicles are driven about 4.5 billion miles and use about 400 million gallons of gasoline, producing 3.5 million tons of greenhouse gases.

President Biden signed an executive order in January directing federal officials to devise a plan for converting the entire fleet to clean and zero-emission vehicles. So far, the work has been slow.

According to a new report from Atlas Public Policy, accelerating the push for electric vehicles in the federal fleet could save taxpayers billions of dollars.

Electric vehicles have lower fueling and maintenance costs as well as a smaller environmental impact. According to the report, the government could replace 40% of its light-duty vehicles and buses not owned by the Postal Service with cheaper plug-in alternatives by 2025. By 2030, it could replace 97% of such vehicles with EVs for a lifetime savings of more than $1 billion. Furthermore, by 2025, it would be possible to replace nearly all mail trucks with EVs for a savings of $2.9 billion.

The federal fleet represents an opportunity to encourage transportation electrification to happen much more quickly. Apart from the economic and environmental benefits, having an electrified federal fleet would increase public awareness of the practicality and benefits of electric vehicles.

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Push to Electrify Federal Fleet Could Yield Billions in Savings by 2030

Photo, posted May 14, 2015, courtesy of Tony Webster via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Plant-Based Jet Fuels

May 9, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The global aviation industry uses a whole lot of fuel: more than 5 million barrels a day. It is an incredibly energy-intensive industry and almost all of its energy comes from petroleum-based fuels.

While other large energy sectors such as electric power, ground transportation and commercial buildings have well-defined pathways to adopting renewable energy sources, the aviation industry does not have such a straightforward way to make a transition to sustainability. Electrifying planes using batteries or fuel cells is very challenging for a number of reasons, notably the weight restrictions on aircraft. So liquid biofuels as replacements for petroleum-based fuels remain the most promising approach.

A new study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concludes that sustainable plant-based biofuels could provide a competitive alternative to conventional petroleum fuels if current development and scale-up initiatives are successful.

Multidisciplinary teams based at the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute are focused on optimizing each stage of the bio-jet fuel production process. This includes bioengineering ideal source plants and developing methods for efficiently isolating the carbohydrates in non-food biomass that bacteria can digest and bioconvert into fuel molecules.

The critical issue is cost. The theoretical cost of bio-jet fuel has come down dramatically in recent years but is still around $16 a gallon. The cost of standard jet fuel is about $2.50 a gallon. So, the real challenge is bridging that gap.

Reducing the cost of the fuel could come both from the material and process improvements that are underway as well as by finding ways to turn the leftover lignin residuals from the bioconversion process into valuable chemicals.

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Bright Skies for Plant-Based Jet Fuels

Photo, posted March 28, 2009, courtesy of Yasuhiro Chatani via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Electrifying Shipping Fleets

March 26, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Container ships, tankers, freighters, and cruise ships are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. They currently account for 3% of global emissions – which doesn’t sound like much – but most other sectors such as power plants and automobiles are gradually decarbonizing. As a result, experts believe that shipping could account for as much as 17% of global emissions by the year 2050.