Ohio Hopes to Bring Plugged-in Electric Vehicles to Major Cities
Image taken from the ODOT's grant application.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is applying (hard!) for a share of the $600 million being offered through the U.S. Department of Transportation's TIGER II discretionary grants (Transportation Investing Generating Economic Recovery - great acronym, right?) via The Recovery Act, according to The Morning Journal.
The ODOT is applying for quite a few projects, one of which calls for $11.29 million to "electrify" Ohio's transportation system among intense competition.
According to the grant application for "Electrifying Ohio's Transportation System," the ODOT is proposing to deploy more than 136 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), 864 charging stations (to be assigned competitively) in a real-world situation, the development of a PEV Readiness Strategy, and, of course, an Educational Outreach Program.
ODOT's proposal would create jobs locally, but just as importantly, provide valuable data for the nation. The ODOT PEV TIGER II project "will create a one-of-a-kind robust real world database of technological and market information necessary for a successful future wide-scale deployment of PEV's into the larger vehicle population."
This data and analytic information just doesn't exist in the States yet, mostly because using PEVs requires a new refueling structure, so the federal funding is a must. In the move away from petroleum, there just isn't enough data or analytic information on the impact of using all-electric vehicles on federal fleets, the effects of electricity consumption, or even consumer perceptions and behavior.
The proposal includes three activities that will enhance the PEV movement in Ohio and the nation. In return, this should help federal fleets (and the private sector) learn about the energy demand and consumption of a PEV fleet. The idea is to learn how different configurations of plug-ins will affect the cost of vehicles, how to account for the electricity PEVs will use, and vehicle performance.
The US Department of Transportation is expected to announce the projects selected to receive these grants in September.
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