Last April, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $932 million in grant funding to support fleets for the purchase of zero-emission heavy-duty electrical vehicles and related infrastructure components.
The funding comes from the EPA's Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program whose goal it to replace fossil-fueled class 6 and 7 commercial vehicles, such as school and transit buses, garbage trucks, and other service trucks.
But time is quickly running out for fleets to apply for funds. The application deadline is Wednesday, July 25 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
“This nearly $1-billion-dollar investment from EPA is important because it will accelerate the electrification of America’s hardest working trucks and buses,” said Lindsay Shigetomi, manager, fleet electrification of the Environmental Defense Fund at the time of the EPA's announcement. “Thanks to this investment, people will begin noticing that many of the garbage trucks, school buses and service trucks that drive through their neighborhood every day are much cleaner and quieter. This funding will also speed up the transition to zero-emission vehicles by building the market scale for these vehicles.”
Class 6 and 7 commercial vehicles consist of roughly 38% of heavy-duty vehicles on the road in the U.S. but they contribute significantly to air pollution, particularly in already overburden communities.
Fortunately, Class 6 and 7 vehicles are ideally suited for electrification for a number of reasons, among them is that they typically return to the same location every night and their daily mileage is predictable because they often run the same or very similar routes.
The Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program is just one of several clean energy initiatives the Biden administration has announced this year.
Others include:
- The Clean Ports Program
- Phase 3 of the EPA’s GHG Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles
- National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy
- Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit
- The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program
Also last April, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced $148 million in grants for 11 states and Puerto Rico as the first stage of a $400 million program designed to reduce emissions and improve air quality for truck drivers, port workers and citizens living in disadvantaged communities in the surrounding areas.
