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Oct 26, 2016

ELECTRIC COMMERCIAL VEHICLES * UK - Businesses will benefit from grants up to £20,000

* England - £4 million boost to help businesses switch vans and trucks to electric

--- The government is committing an additional £4 million to the Plug-In Van grant scheme extending the eligibility to larger electric vehicles... Businesses will now benefit from grants up to £20,000 when switching their large trucks to electric vehicles, Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark announced during a 3 day visit to Japan where he is meeting Japanese automotive companies... The Plug-In Van grant has been available to small commercial vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes since 2012, but sales of new electric vans have remained limited... Electric vans and trucks have significant air quality benefits, as they spend much of their time in towns and city centres and over 96% of them are diesel-powered... The government is now committing an additional £4 million to the scheme so that all vans and trucks meeting the necessary requirements are eligible as part of the drive to reduce carbon emissions from transport use... 
(Photo: UK electric truck maker Modec) -- London, EN, UK - Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, by Hon Greg Clark MP, Department for Transport and Office for Low Emission Vehicles First - 23 October 2016

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Aug 20, 2016

VOLVO's news * USA: Develop the next generation of commercial trucks

* DC - Volvo chosen to continue research on new fuel-efficient trucks
--- Volvo Technology of America has been selected as one of four participants to continue working on the second phase of a federal research partnership to develop the next generation of fuel-efficient commercial trucks, U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski announced Tuesday... The second phase of the SuperTruck program included $20 million in four multiyear grants during fiscal 2016, which ends Sept. 30. Another $20 million is being made available in fiscal 2017, the release said... In June 2011, under the first phase of the program, the energy department awarded Volvo a $19 million, five-year SuperTruck contract... The Volvo Group Trucks facility in Hagerstown has received $8.2 million for engine and transmission research and development, officials have said... Volvo has matched that money 100 percent, supporting about 1,500 local jobs...
(Photo: Volvo, Mack To Develop SuperTruck)   --  Washington, DC, USA - The Herald Media - Aug 16, 2016

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Aug 19, 2016

SUBSIDIES FOR ELECTRIC TRUCKS * USA

* DC - Obama gives electric trucks a big bump in new climate rules
--- No market for electric-powered trucks exists now, nor in the next decade, but that isn't stopping the Obama administration from creating big subsidies for the vehicles under its latest climate rules... The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation on Tuesday finalized joint greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for big-rig trucks, vans and buses... The rules are the final step in President Obama's broad effort to confront global warming. The regulations target the trucking sector, which makes up about 20 percent of the nation's transportation-based greenhouse gas emissions and energy use but only 5 percent of the vehicles on the road... The truck rules provide some of the biggest incentives for companies to build more advanced vehicles that use partial or full battery-electric power to drive the truck, or adopt hydrogen fuel cells that produce electricity with water vapor as the only byproduct...
(Photo from AP: The EPA is building in the incentives while admitting there is no market, nor demand, for electric trucks, the agency said in the final truck rule)  --  Washington, DC, USA - The Washington Examiner, by JOHN SICILIANO - 18 Aug 2016

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Jan 30, 2016

CLEAN AIR NEW ORLEANS PORT * USA: Federal grant for small trucking cos.

* Louisiana - Clean air grant to help port cargo haulers replace older-model trucks

-- The Port of New Orleans has been awarded a $727,000 federal grant to help local short-haul truck drivers replace older-model trucks... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant will be used for the port’s voluntary Clean Truck Replacement Incentive Program, or Clean TRIP. The cost-share program aims to help local short-haul truck owners that transport port cargo by offering an incentive to replace older-model trucks — between 1993 and 2006 — with newer trucks built since 2011... The port plans to develop and manage the $1.54 million program, with $700,000 coming from a mandatory cost-share with eligible truck owners and $110,636 coming from the port to handle administrative costs...
(Photo: Sea link trucks)  --  New Orleans, LOU, USA - The Advocate - Jan. 28, 2016

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Jun 10, 2015

LOANS FOR TRUCKMAKERS * USA: $16 billion in unused ones

* DC - Senate considers expanding loan program to big trucks


-- Senators are considering expanding the long-dormant $25 billion auto retooling program to include medium- and heavy-duty trucks — or even ships... Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing and Bill Cassidy, R-La., have introduced separate proposals to expand the program that has more than $16 billion in unused loans to large truck manufacturers and suppliers to them... Stabenow’s “Building Better Trucks” act would allow the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program to make loans to big truck and engine manufacturers... At an Energy Committee hearing Tuesday, Stabenow noted that heavy trucks account for 7 percent of traffic but consumer 25 percent of the fuel... The auto retooling loan program was created by Congress in 2007 and funded in 2008. It hasn't issued a new loan in more than four years, even though it still has more than $16 billion in available low-cost government subsidized loans... The news comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency are getting close to unveiling the second round of fuel efficiency standards and greenhouse gas emissions limits for medium and heavy duty trucks... The standards are required under a 2007 energy law and will boost the efficiency of bigger vehicles by up to 20 percent. They are expected to save the industry $50 billion in fuel costs, or 530 billion barrels of oil, over that time period — but will cost manufacturers $8.1 billion to build the more efficient vehicles... 
(Image: Streamline Plots, by Tecplot - Computational fluid dynamics wing)  --  Washington, DC, USA - The Detroit News, by David Shepardson - 8 June 2015

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May 10, 2010

STIMULUS FUNDS * Canada - Government watchdog urges incentives for trucking technology

Toronto,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -5 May 2010: -- The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) recognizes efforts made by the trucking industry to reduce fuel consumption and identifies the need for the government to provide incentives to make further energy conservation investments... The report, from the independent watchdog, outlined the Ontario government’s progress in conserving energy... The ECO report highlights the fact that transportation accounts for the highest demand for energy in Ontario and explains how the provincial government and the trucking industry are trying to curb this growing demand through various public policy measures, most of which were spearheaded by the Ontario Trucking Association, including speed limiters, single wide tire weight allowances and aerodynamic trailer reforms... The report discusses barriers to more widespread GHG reduction improvements in the trucking industry including lack of investment capital and provincial regulations nationwide, preventing interjurisdictional travel of more fuel efficient trucking equipment...

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Apr 21, 2010

INFRASTRUCTURES FUNDS * USA - DOT Providing $48.8 Billion for State Highway Projects

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -21 April 2010: -- The Department of Transportation said $48.8 billion is now available to state transportation departments for federal projects through the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act... The act makes available $40.1 billion from the Highway Trust Fund through Dec. 31 for highway programs in the 2010 fiscal year, DOT said... President Obama signed the HIRE Act into law March 18 after both houses of Congress passed it... (Photo from Texas A&M University – Texas Transportation Institute: highway construction)


* Georgia lawmakers reach deal on transportation funding

Atlanta,GA,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Keith Goble - April 23, 2010: -- After three years of wheeling and dealing to come up with a solution to help fund transportation, the Georgia General Assembly has approved a funding plan that would let residents vote whether to tax themselves to pay for needed improvements... Getting transportation funding through the statehouse has been difficult the past couple of years... Critics say the state cannot afford to wait until 2012 to address needed transportation work. They caution that it could be at least 2014 before projects are completed... Supporters say it is important to hold off on the tax increase in the middle of a struggling economy. Others say the plan is needed to keep and attract businesses to the state... (Image from terragalleria - Picture: Georgia,Atlanta,USA)

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Mar 30, 2010

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Recovery Act infrastructure jobs top 1.2 million

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -March 26, 2010: -- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has created or sustained 1.2 million infrastructure jobs so far according to the chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee... Rep. James Oberstar, D-MN, also said that 88 percent, or $33.4 billion, of the $38 billion allocated in the Recovery Act for highways, transit and wastewater infrastructure has been put out to bid on 16,380 projects. More than 4,200 of those projects are completely finished... On Friday, March 26, the committee met for the 16th time in a little more than a year to discuss the progress and oversight of the act... “As we reach the end of the Recovery Act formula grants, we must build on this success and continue to invest in our nation’s infrastructure,” Oberstar stated... (Photo from americainfra: highways bridge)

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Feb 28, 2010

STIMULUS FUNDS * Sweden * Tries Venture Capital Approach to Salvage Auto Industry

Stockholm,Sweden -Bloomberg/Business Week, by Ola Kinnander/David Risser & Kenneth Wong -February 26, 2010: -- A venture-capital firm created by the Swedish government to revitalize the country’s struggling auto industry aims to make at least a dozen investments this year as private-equity firms withhold financing... More than 50 companies have come to Fouriertransform AB looking for money, and the firm plans to look proactively for targets, Chief Executive Officer, Per Nordberg, said. Fouriertransform made its first investment in October and wants to buy stakes in one or two companies a month, he said... Fouriertransform received 3 billion kronor ($419 million) last year and has funneled a total of 260 million kronor to four private companies and NovaCast Technologies AB, a publicly traded manufacturer of tool and die products for car parts. The approach fills a void created by the reluctance of private- equity companies to make automotive investments... In Sweden, as many as 40,000 automotive workers out of a pre-crisis 140,000 have lost their jobs, according to Aleksandar Zuza, an auto analyst at IF Metall, the industry’s main union. About half the losses have been at suppliers, he said. Truckmaker Volvo AB has trimmed positions, as have Volvo Cars and Saab Automobile...

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Feb 25, 2010

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Senate Passes Jobs Bill With Transport Funds

More Republicans join majority on HIRE Act

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by R.G. Edmonson -Feb 24, 2010: ... The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act includes an extension of the current highway and transit spending programs known as SAFETEA-LU and funds to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent... The current SAFETEA-LU extensions expire Feb. 28, and the industry is looking to the House to approve the Senate bill or call for a conference before the deadline... John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said the extension will assure states of a stable federal source for highway and transit projects...


* California - Green-truck Grants: How to act fast to tap millions in

Sacramento,CAL,USA -Fleet Owner, by Wendy Leavitt -Feb 24, 2010: -- The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) of California has announced two separate vehicle replacement grant programs totaling more than $37 million. In addition to $16 million in state and federal funds to be spent on qualifying alternative fuel trucks, there is another $21.4 million available under the Proposition 1B Goods Movement Program, including $17.45 million for non-drayage trucks... The per-vehicle maximum for the first program is $100, 000. The per-vehicle maximum under the Proposition 1B program is $50,000, but it covers the purchase of 2007 or newer replacement diesel trucks as well as alternative fuel vehicles... The only hitch, if you can call it that, is that grant applications are due by March 12, 2010, just more than two weeks away. However, FleetOwner has learned that grant proposal experts at Clean Energy Fuels are prepared to help fleets interested in obtaining natural gas-powered vehicles with the grant application process today.. (Photo from treehugger: green truck)

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Feb 24, 2010

Stimulus Funds * USA - Support 12,000 Projects

More than 3,000 completed with 9,000 more under way

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by John D. Boyd -Feb 23, 2010: -- Stimulus funds for transportation infrastructure have so far paid to complete more than 3,000 construction projects around the United States and are now supporting three times that many under construction... Those numbers come from the latest oversight report from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, based on data as of Dec. 31... The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set aside $64.1 billion for expenditures under the committee’s jurisdiction. The report said nearly 17,000 projects totaling $56 billion have already been identified... Most of those are under the Federal Highway Administration, which had the largest amount of stimulus funds to allocate. The report said FHWA has approved 10,668 projects totaling $23.3 billion, or 85 percent of the $27.5 billion it administers... The committee identified 3,148 stimulus infrastructure projects that have been finished, at a value of $2.9 billion or 9 percent of available funds, and said 9,241 are currently under way worth $20.6 billion... The earliest to be completed were the most “shovel ready,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary John Porcari, while those now being developed were more complex... (Photo from lsservicesinc: Construction Staking for Roadway and Site Construction)

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Feb 23, 2010

Alternative Motor Vehicle * USA - Credit Attractive Incentive for Car Buyers

Tax breaks offer bigger savings when compared to previous years

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times -February 13, 2010: -- Favoring clean energy and reducing carbon footprint good; getting cash for products like hybrids even better. Help is at hand wtih new and expanded tax credits included in federal stimulus package. Pres Obama said incentives meant to spur demand for products, expand green industry, and create jobs... Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit sometimes called hybrid tax credit; can be lucrative for recent car buyers... Hybrid, fuel cell, alternative fuel, or advanced lean-burn tech vehicles may qualify for tax credit up to $7,500... Credit applies to vehicles bought new, on or before Dec 31, 2010. Used vehicles don't qualify, and some phase-outs apply... Beginning 2010, tax credit up to $7,500 for some electric plug-in vehicles with rechargeable, plug-in batter... (Image from t0.gstatic.com: Iveco electric daily lcv prototype)

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Feb 18, 2010

Transportation Projects * USA - DOT Awards $1.5 Bln. for

DOT selected the projects as part of TIGER, a competitive grant program authorized a year ago in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -17 Feb 2010: -- The Department of Transportation Wednesday announced that 51 projects will receive $1.5 billion in grants under the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program... The grants will go to state and local governments and agencies for improvements to roads, bridges, rail, ports, transit and intermodal facilities, DOT said in a statement... The chosen projects “will create jobs and spur lasting economic growth, reduce gridlock for the traveling public, and provide Americans with more safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable transportation choices,” DOT said... (Photo from TT: Swift1113)

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Jan 27, 2010

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Knoxville transportation organization could lose $1.3M in

Knox must allot cash to transportation projects by Jan. 29

Knoxville,TEN,usa -KnoxNews, by Don Jacobs -January 21, 2010: -- The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization is in danger of losing more than $1.3 million in stimulus funding because the money has not been committed to approved projects... If local officials don't have the proper approvals and documentation in hand by Jan. 29, more than 10 percent of the nearly $12.2 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds must be surrendered to the state, according to a letter sent this month by Gerald Nicely, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation... The Knoxville TPO isn't the only metropolitan area in danger of losing its local transportation stimulus funds, according to Paul Degges, TDOT's chief engineer... Degges said the Chattanooga TPO is facing a loss of more than $3.3 million, or about 40 percent of the $8 million in job stimulus funds it was to get. The Nashville-Davidson County TPO could lose more than $5.4 million, or about 24 percent of the $22 million in ARRA money it got from the state...

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Jan 22, 2010

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Oberstar Pushes Obama for Highway Bill Support

President remains noncommittal, but infrastructure is a ‘priority’

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online. by R.G. Edmonson -Jan 21, 2010: -- Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., tried to press President Obama to support a $500 billion six-year transportation spending bill during a recent Democratic caucus on Capitol Hill, but the president remained noncommittal, he said infrastructure projects were among his priorities... Obama is under pressure to bring the country out of the recession, and congressional Democrats are turning toward transportation infrastructure projects as a way to increase jobs. In December, the House passed a jobs bill that provides $75 billion for infrastructure... The White House and Senate leaders called for an 18-month extension of the existing highway program. The Senate originally followed the administration lead. Oberstar stood firm, and now the highway program will expire in February...

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Nov 13, 2009

Stimulus Funds * USA - Supports 10,000 Transport Projects

State agencies approved transportation construction under ARRA

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by John D. Boyd -Nov 12, 2009: -- The economic stimulus law has now racked up more than 10,000 transportation construction projects that it is backing, according to Vice President, Joseph Biden, and Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood... They said state agencies this week reported they had approved 10,041 projects for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act... Most stimulus projects aided by the Department of Transportation go to highways and bridges, initially for quick-start repairs and resurfacing but increasingly for more lengthy construction including new lanes or bridge structures... The law was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama in February. DOT first had to go through state project applications. Once it OK’d them, states could begin lining up construction crews for the immediate repairs or bring in engineers to plan for new projects... Despite persistent criticism that the DOT is not pushing the stimulus work fast enough, especially with the jobless rate now at 10.2 percent and still rising, the administration says it has already created or saved over 1 million jobs with Recovery Act spending...

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Nov 11, 2009

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - DOT Spending Nears $5 Billion

More projects approved totaling $30 billion, mostly for roads

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by John D. Boyd -Nov 10, 2009: -- The Department of Transportation by Oct. 23 had approved $30 billion in project spending under the stimulus law, and cut checks totaling $4.85 billion... That payout level was up from $3.65 billion at the end of September, DOT said, and reflected weekly disbursements in the range of $300 million... Most of DOT’s stimulus spending is through the Federal Highway Administration, which last week said its total for approved projects topped $20 billion. That represented more than 75 percent of the $26.6 billion set aside under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for spending on quick-start highway and bridge projects... (Photo from hawaii-kau: Hawaiian Ocean View Estates -HOVE-)

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Sep 30, 2009

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - States covet stimulus grants

Cash-strapped states are getting in line for a share of federal stimulus funds to pay for transportation projects

MO,USA -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -September 28, 2009: ...The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that all 50 states have applied for a share of $1.5 billion in grants under the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program... States have submitted 1,400 projects so far that would total $57 billion. Approximately half of the projects are highways or bridges with the rest focusing on transit, railroad, port infrastructure or multimodal applications, DOT officials announced. Preference will be given to innovative projects, Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, stated... The U.S. DOT will announce the winners of the federal stimulus grants in January or February. The TIGER grant program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress and the Obama administration earlier this year... (Photo from credit : stimulus funds to be put to work)

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Sep 29, 2009

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Road Project Tests Power of Stimulus

California's Inland Empire -Hard-Hit by Recession- Counts on Interstate-Widening Work to Pave Region's Path to Recovery

San Bernardino,CAL,USA -The Wall Street Journal, by TAMARA AUDI-29 Sept 2009: ... The Inland Empire -- a vast swath of suburbia reaching into the desert east of Los Angeles -- is counting on an $800 million road project that will add lanes and reconfigure exit and entry ramps... With a federal stimulus grant of $128 million, the San Bernardino project is the country's fourth-largest stimulus investment in a road project. Without the stimulus money, the Interstate 215 project would have been another victim of California's budget crisis. Other partially finished road projects have stalled as the state slashed its budget... The project will test whether a dollop of government stimulus can make an impact in a region hit hard by the housing crisis and where more than half the home sales are foreclosures... (Photo from Associated Press - Road workers start construction along Interstate 215 in San Bernadino County, Calif., on Sept. 14. The project is getting $128 million in stimulus funds, making it the fourth-largest stimulus investment in a road project. The initiative is expected to directly employ 450 to 600 workers on construction sites for four years)

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Sep 22, 2009

STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Highway funding: Are lobbyists in the driver’s seat?

Washington,DC,USA -Fleet Owner, by Brian Straight -Sep 21, 2009: -- With less than two weeks remaining before the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money again, Congress appears no closer to solving the funding issue. Having pumped $7 billion into the fund in August to keep it solvent until the end of this month, it appears another temporary patch may be in order – this one to fund the program until the end of the year... Meanwhile, while the drama over funding highway infrastructure drags on, another major transportation bill is facing its own hurdles. The 2009 Surface Transportation bill, also known as the six-year highway reauthorization bill, expires on Sept. 30, While Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) continues to seek a new authorization to the tune of $500 billion, President Barack Obama and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood are pushing an 18-month patch to the Highway Trust Fund and to delay an overall surface transportation bill... (Picture from proliberty: Capitol Hill)

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