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DOE Awards $15 Million for Electric Vehicle Adoption Programs
As President Obama was preparing to address a joint session of Congress to propose the $447 billion American Jobs Act, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was busy announcing a series of financing initiatives aimed at spurring clean energy research, commercial development and job creation.
Included was nearly $15 million of financial support for 16 projects in 24 states and the District of Columbia "to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) across the nation, and seven additional projects in seven states to help prepare college students for careers designing and building advanced vehicle technologies," the DOE announced yesterday.
The DOE's Clean Cities Initiative will adminster $8.5 million of awards that support community planning for EVs by facilitating local public-private partnerships aimed at developing EV deployment strategies. Communities that have built up extensive experience in this area and those that are keen to begin doing so are both included.
The one-year projects focus on on helping communities address specific EV deployment needs, including updating permitting processes, revising codes, training municipal personnel, promoting public awareness or developing incentives. Project managers will create a plan that will be publicly available in order to better share best practices, provide transparency and assure accountability.
Follow this link to view a map of the Clean Cities award winners.
Another $6.4 million over five years will be administered via the DOE's Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) initiative. The awards will support seven Centers of Excellence at US colleges, universities and research institututions affiliated with universities.
The awards are intended to spur education and training of a new generation of automotive engineering professionals and a skilled automotive technology workforce. They focus on hybrid propulsion, energy storage and lightweight materials development, three critical areas of automotive technology research and development.
Follow this link to view a map of GATE award winners.
An experienced, independent journalist, editor and researcher, Andrew has crisscrossed the globe while reporting on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, social and environmental entrepreneurship, renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean technology. He studied geology at CU, Boulder, has an MBA in finance from Pace University, and completed a certificate program in international governance for biodiversity at UN University in Japan.
