On Nov. 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office announced the winners of the FY21 “Low Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Technologies Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment” competition. The Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities Coalition’s EMPOWER proposal (Equitable Mobility Powering Opportunities for Workplace Electrification Readiness) won in the topic area of Electric Vehicle Workplace Charging. Leveraging their experience with the Drive Electric USA program, ISSE-based East Tennessee Clean Fuels (ETCF) will provide administrative support and project management guidance for the EMPOWER program.
The project aims to reach upwards of 2,000 employers and secure at least 650 employer commitments to install and support workplace charging programs. One goal is to obtain at least 20% of commitments from diverse employers in qualified opportunities zones that benefit underserved communities and people of color and increase career pathways in the EV charging industry for underrepresented communities.
“We are looking forward to engaging directly with unrepresented and overburdened communities through this project,” said Jonathan Overly, ETCF Director. “We will listen to and consider fully what these communities have to say about electric vehicle infrastructure in their communities.”
The project team will receive $3,970,539 in federal funds. The team will secure $1,000,000 in cost share from non-federal sources.
The Institute for a Secure & Sustainable Environment (ISSE) has a major role in the EMPOWER project. The ISSE team includes Director Mingzhou Jin, Yulong Zhang,and Nawei Liu, along with ETCF Director Overly.
The UTK/ISSE team will oversee data planning and help design all data that will be aggregated through the project and determine the types of analyses that can be performed. These data will inform future EMPOWER users to accelerate adoption of workplace charging across the participating states. Analysis results will show the project’s success and identify areas for improvement.
The integrated data and analysis results will be shared with national labs to inform research and development of modeling tools related to workplace charging.
Besides UTK and East Tennessee Clean Fuels, leadership-level partners include Cadeo Group, Louisiana Clean Fuels, ICF International, Shift2Electric, Smart Electric Power Alliance, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program, Cerritos College, Washington State Department of Commerce, American Lung Association, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The project’s charging provider partners include Siemens and Chargepoint and these diverse utilities: ComEd, Alabama Power, Entergy, Eversource, Memphis Light Gas & Water, OK Gas & Electric, Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Green Mountain Power, Baltimore Gas & Electric, Tennessee Valley Authority, Avangrid, Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Pepco Holdings, Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, Central Maine Power, Knoxville Utility Board, Rocky Mountain Power, Burlington Electric Department, Portland General Electric, Southwestern Electric Power Company, and Kentucky Power.