Resources

Interoperability, Resiliency and Sustainability: Town of Carrboro’s Fleet Electrification Journey

The Town of Carrboro aims to reduce municipal and community greenhouse gas emissions and develop a system-wide approach to build resilience. One way it’s working to meet these objectives is to electrify its fleet. We spoke with Keith Berger, deputy public works director, and Amy Armbruster, chief sustainability officer, about the Town’s fleet electrification experience and future plans. When did…

Catawba College’s Electric Rideshare Is All the Buzz

For Catawba College, sustainability is everywhere. The Salisbury, North Carolina, school empowers its students to forge cleaner paths and celebrates these values with bold (and fun!) campus programming. One such initiative is CatawbaGO, a free electric vehicle (EV)-based rideshare program. We spoke with Noah Upchurch, the College’s sustainability program director, about its early success. Can you tell us about Catawba…

Cooling on Combustion: An HVAC Contractor’s Transition to an All-Electric Fleet

Mitchell Demitruk is the founder and owner of Super Cool, a small, locally owned heating and cooling contractor serving the Charlotte area. Super Cool is all in on electric vehicles, and I caught up with Mitchell to chat about that decision and how it’s going. When you and I met, you told me you don’t plan to buy another combustion…

Electric Transport Refrigeration Units Offer A Cleaner, Quieter And Cheaper Way To Store Perishable Goods

The electrification of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in North Carolina is gaining momentum, and for good reason — they can have dramatic impacts on air quality and operational costs for fleets. According to the NC Department of Environmental Quality, medium- and heavy-duty gas and diesel vehicles make up just 3.2% of our state’s registered vehicles but produce 26% of on-road nitrogen…

Electric Buses in North Carolina: 2022 Update

Electric buses continue to increase in North Carolina with funding awards and purchases being announced. The state expects to see an addition of 25 all-electric buses through Phase 2 of the Volkswagen Settlement and a few more through the Federal Transit Administration’s Low- and No-Emission Grant Awards. These announcements will increase the tally of transit systems that have or will…

Vehículos de Flota Eléctricos

A Utility’s Perspective: Planning, Deployment and Lessons Learned for Medium- & Heavy-Duty Vehicle Electrification

It’s an exciting time for medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles (EVs) in the Southeast. To name just a few developments, North Carolina will be receiving new electric transit and school buses through the Volkswagen Settlement; South Carolina was recently chosen by vehicle manufacturer Arrival to house its first U.S. “microfactory”; and in Virginia, Dominion Energy’s electric school bus pilot is…

Purchasing and Policy Considerations of Electric Vehicles for Organizations, Fleets and Municipalities

On the heels of North Carolina’s Volkswagen Settlement Phase 1 award announcements, the second webinar in our three-part series with the state’s Clean Cities Coalitions shed light on electric vehicle (EV) purchasing and policy considerations for organizations, fleets and municipalities. The event featured Bill Eaker, senior environmental planner at the Land of Sky Regional Council of Governments and coordinator of…

Electric Transit and School Bus Initiatives in the Southeast

The medium- and heavy-duty vehicle market offers tremendous potential for electrification, and cities, schools, utilities and other organizations are noticing. A new three-part webinar series from the Clean Cities Coalitions of North Carolina and Plug-in NC is highlighting the electric opportunities in this segment of transportation. The opening webinar, “Electric Transit and School Bus Initiatives in the Southeast,” focused on…

Electric Transit Buses in North Carolina

Electric buses are continuing to emerge in North Carolina. As of 2020, nine transit systems spanning cities, organizations and universities across the state have added or will soon add the technology to their fleets. This transition from diesel to electric for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles comes with impactful environmental and health benefits as well as long-term savings. To learn about…

Beneficial Buses: Electric Buses Bring Benefits to Businesses, Communities and Utilities

Transportation electrification is continuing to expand as more medium- and heavy-duty vehicles enter the market. Electric buses in particular — both transit and school buses — are hitting roads across the country as cities, schools, airports and other large organizations add them to their fleets. These buses provide a unique set of benefits to the organizations purchasing them, the communities…

NC State’s Grounds Services Team Is Cleanly and Quietly Maintaining Campus

In 2018, NC State University’s Grounds Services team, which performs a variety of landscaping work around campus, decided to give electric equipment a try. It started by purchasing battery-powered string trimmers and has since added riding mowers, chainsaws, leaf blowers and more. We reached out to Jeff Del Pinal, grounds program manager, to learn more about the group’s efforts. 1)…