The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is working in partnership with the American Lung Association on a project funded by the Department of Energy – Vehicle Technologies Office. CTE is supporting the first deployment of unique medium- and heavy-duty battery electric vehicles in the metro area of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. The selected deployments are a battery electric school bus for Eastern Carver County Schools (School District); a battery electric rear-loader refuse truck for Eureka Recycling (a nonprofit zero-waste organization); and two box trucks for the University of Minnesota facilities department.
The purpose of the project is to share knowledge across the industry about the impacts that cold-weather operations can have on electric vehicle performance, especially for medium and heavy-duty non-transit vehicles. CTE’s scope includes assisting each fleet operator with vehicle selection while considering each operator’s unique required performance specifications. The project is currently underway, and all fleet partners have purchased vehicles. Eastern Carver County has deployed its school bus, Eureka has deployed its recycling truck, and the University of Minnesota has deployed both box trucks. CTE also provided support for Eureka’s charging infrastructure installation.
Supply chains, resource allocation, and telematics data availability have presented a unique challenge, as the three fleet operators deployed vehicles on different timelines, but CTE’s scope remains consistent. CTE’s experience managing and prioritizing varying timelines will be crucial as this project continues. CTE has also provided support in coordinating high-voltage safety training for the three fleets.
CTE held initial key performance indicator planning discussions with all three fleet operators in advance of data collection for each vehicle to identify reporting goals and requirements. Data reporting was to be conducted for all fleets for at least one calendar year to ensure that data was collected in all four seasons, however, vehicle deployment and data access delays will result in less than a full year of data for both Eureka and the University of Minnesota.
