The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded $2.9 million in 2022 Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant funding to municipalities, schools, and businesses around the state to switch to zero- or low-emission vehicles.
The DEP Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) program supports projects to replace older gasoline or diesel fueled vehicles with cleaner fuel vehicles and install related fueling infrastructure to improve air quality in Pennsylvania.
The 28 funded projects will install 32 electric vehicle chargers for private and public use and put 95 electric vehicles, 24 compressed or renewable natural gas vehicles, and 11 propane vehicles on the road.
Nine of the vehicles will be fully electric long-haul tractor trailers, the first supported by the AFIG program. Several other projects are for transit buses and garbage trucks. These three types of vehicles are the biggest consumers of gasoline, according to the U.S. Department of Energy web page on average annual gasoline use by vehicle type.
The projects will be fully paid for with DEP funds. DEP receives approximately $5 million in funding each year through the utilities gross receipts tax collected during each fiscal year to carry out the provisions of the Alternative Fuels Incentive Act.
“The range of funded projects—our first funded electric 18-wheelers, a 40-car electric taxi fleet, electric scooters for a residential development, propane and electric buses and garbage trucks, and more—shows that interest in clean transportation is burgeoning among business and community leaders in Pennsylvania. DEP is excited to help them include healthier air quality in their mission,” said DEP Secretary Rich Negrin.
