Bowman, a multi-disciplinary engineering services firm, has partnered with Transportation Energy Partners (TEP) and dozens of public and private partners on Drive Clean Rural USA, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded pilot project to bring alternative fuel sources, like hydrogen, electric and more to rural communities.
Funded by the DOE, and managed by the nonprofits TEP and Clean Fuels Ohio, Drive Clean Rural USA is an eight-state pilot project that brings together rural government leaders, business owners, fleet managers, farmers, and industry experts to accelerate rural communities’ access to clean fuel transportation solutions. The eight states participating in the pilot project include Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Participating county government and private fleet partners will receive free technical assistance from Clean Cities coalitions and the project’s industry partners. Drive Clean Rural USA is a three-phase project that will run through June 2024.
“Bowman is committed to the clean-energy transition, and we’re thrilled to work with Transportation Energy Partners and Clean Cities coalitions to help rural communities nationwide with the environmental, survey, civil and MEP engineering required to get better access to alternative fuels,” said Michael Ginsberg, Vice President of Energy Transition at Bowman.
Bowman joins this project as an industry partner to provide planning and engineering support to communities in the eight clean cities partner states to help them gain access to alternative fuels. Bowman and other industry partners help support rural communities by providing knowledge on infrastructure for alternative fuels, including logistics and transportation, predevelopment construction assistance, and construction costs.
“This project is all about overcoming barriers that rural communities face in transitioning to cleaner fuels and vehicles,” said TEP Executive Director Ken Brown. “We are delighted to have Bowman’s planning expertise, which will play a vital role in helping communities maximize the clean air, cost-saving, and economic development benefits that clean fuels and vehicles can deliver.”
Leveling the Playing Field for Rural America
Local governments, businesses, hospitals, and schools across the country are saving money and enjoying cleaner air by transitioning fleets to U.S. clean fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. But too often, rural communities miss out on these benefits because they don’t have equitable access to information, infrastructure, and financing support.
Drive Clean Rural USA is designed to change that. There is no one clean fuel or path that makes sense for every community. That is why this program will provide vehicle demos, fleet assessments, and expert consultation to help rural counties develop practical plans that reflect their distinct fleet priorities, fuel type costs and benefits, infrastructure and financing options, and available federal and state financial incentives.
As part of the program, there will be vehicle fleet analyses that assess vehicle tasks, drive cycles, mileage and more. There will also be demo vehicles available to some program participants ranging from fleet cars, pick-up trucks, and bucket trucks powered by propane, natural gas, hydrogen, electric plug-in, and biofuels.
“Partnerships like this are an important part of Bowman’s ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy of helping rural and disadvantaged communities gain access to clean fuels,” Ginsberg added. “I look forward to working with these important partners and states to advance energy equity in the U.S. and the transition to a clean-energy economy.”
