The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in July announced a $96 million funding opportunity to support decarbonizing the domestic transportation sector. The funding will focus on expanding electric vehicle charging accessibility, create cleaner non-road vehicles through electrification and the use of alternative fuels, and develop electric drive components and materials to maximize EV efficiency and affordability. Non-road vehicles, including agricultural and construction equipment, rail, marine and aviation, are a major source of pollution, emitting more carbon pollution than any other sector of the U.S. economy.

Wisconsin’s largest utility company has received approval to replace some of its natural gas supply with renewable methane from local farms, which could present new opportunities for the burgeoning alternative fuel industry. The Public Service Commission voted unanimously this month to approve WEC Energy Group’s $75 million pilot program intended to help its utilities meet their gas supply needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, providing farmers with a new revenue stream and reducing the risk of groundwater contamination. This new approach will allow digesters to hook up directly to the gas distribution network rather than having to haul pressurized gas to an interstate pipeline portal.

Is your fleet interested in deploying electric vehicles? Have you already started? We would appreciate the opportunity to learn more about your interests, provide resources, and promote your successes. Please take a moment to complete the survey by clicking the link below. Click here to learn more about the Drive Electric Wisconsin Program on our Website.

A new analysis highlights the role of existing and emerging fuels and technologies in powering the nation’s commercial trucks, transit, and school buses fleets. “It’s a very dynamic time for fuels, technology and mobility and it is important to understand which technologies are powering these sectors today to better inform our understanding and in making decisions about the future,” said Allen Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF). Diesel is the predominant technology in commercial trucking, school, and transit bus sectors, according to the Diesel Technology Forum’s analysis of data sourced from S&P Global Mobility TIPNet data of vehicles in operation for Class 3-8 as of December 2021.

When some people think of electric vehicles, the first thing that comes to mind is high-end luxury vehicles seemingly available only to the wealthy in urban or suburban settings. With increased federal funding to the states for electric vehicle charging through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and more and more automakers pledging to make all of their models electric in the near future, many are wondering how an electric vehicle will meet their financial and transportation needs. The reality is electric and alternative fuel vehicles come in a variety of price ranges and save private and fleet owners money over the life of the vehicle over traditional gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles.

We Energies has been a Diamond Level Wisconsin Clean Cities member since 2000. The company provides electric service to customers in portions of Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and also serves natural gas customers in Wisconsin and steam customers in downtown Milwaukee. We Energies serves more than 1.1 million electric customers and 1.1 million natural gas customers in Wisconsin. We Energies’ environmental policy statement says, “We embrace our responsibility to provide safe, reliable and affordable energy in an environmentally sustainable manner. We set our strategies and run our operations with an emphasis on continuous improvement and a vision to deliver a cleaner energy future.”

Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable fuel that can be manufactured domestically from vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled restaurant grease. It is a cleaner-burning replacement for petroleum diesel fuel. Biodiesel is a liquid fuel often referred to as B100 or neat biodiesel in its pure, unblended form. Like petroleum diesel, biodiesel is used to fuel compression-ignition engines, which run on petroleum diesel.