March 13, 2013

Energy Department Partnerships Speed Advanced Vehicle Technologies

The Energy Department on March 5 announced that 16 major U.S. employers and two stakeholder groups have joined the Department's Workplace Charging Challenge to give more workers access to new transportation options. Also, another three U.S. corporations have joined the National Clean Fleets Partnership.

As part of the Energy Department's EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, the Department announced that the new partner employers have joined the Workforce Charging Challenge, which aims to expand the availability of workplace vehicle charging for U.S. workers—increasing the convenience of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The new partners include AVL, Bentley Systems, Biogen Idec, Bloomberg LP, The Coca-Cola Company, the City of Sacramento, Dell, Facebook, The Hartford, The Hertz Corporation, National Grid, New York Power Authority, NRG Energy, OSRAM SYLVANIA, Raytheon Company, and Southern California Edison. Each partner organization commits to assessing workforce PEV charging demands and then developing and implementing a plan to install workplace charging infrastructure for at least one major worksite location. In addition, the California Center for Sustainable Energy and the Green Parking Council have signed the Ambassador Pledge to develop and execute plans to support and promote the workplace charging initiative.

Further, the Energy Department announced that three new corporate partners—AMP Americas, Kwik Trip, and Waste Management—are joining the National Clean Fleets Partnership, a broad public-private partnership that assists the nation's largest fleet operators in reducing the amount of gasoline and diesel they use nationwide. The new Clean Fleets Partners join with 18 other major national companies that are improving the fuel economy of their commercial fleets, integrating alternative fuels like natural gas and electricity into their daily operations, and reducing their overall fuel use. The National Clean Fleets Partnership is part of the Energy Department's Clean Cities Initiative. See the Energy Department press release, the EV Everywhere website, and the Clean Cities website.