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WASHINGTON — Today, April 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the launch of the nearly $1 billion Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program to fund the replacement of certain polluting heavy-duty vehicles with zero-emission vehicles. Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act under President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, EPA will award competitive grants for projects that will reduce climate and air pollution from heavy-duty vehicles, support good-paying jobs and improve air quality for communities across the country, particularly those overburdened by air pollution.

“President Biden and his entire administration are working to ensure every community can breathe clean air. EPA’s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program will slash climate and air pollution and enhance the country’s infrastructure by funding the deployment of zero-emissions vehicles and installation of supporting infrastructure,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The program’s historic investment in zero-emission vehicles will secure our nation’s position as a global leader in clean technologies that address the impacts of climate change.”

“We were in the mechanical era 50 years ago, and now we’re in the electrical era, and soon to come we’ll be in the hydrogen era,” said Local 11 Business Director of Renewables Tommy Faave said. “This is the next era of good-paying electrical jobs – whether it’s hydrogen production, storage, or transportation – hydrogen projects like these are going to be key to building up our membership and bringing in more apprentices and more journeymen into Local 11. Fossil fuels are not going to be around forever.”

The hydrogen-fueled powertrain kit includes hydrogen fuel storage tanks, fuel cell stacks, batteries, electric motors and transmission, and offers a viable alternative to traditional diesel powertrains used in commercial goods transportation as companies look to transition their fleets to zero-emission vehicles.

Toyota's CARB ZEP-certified powertrain kit is now ready for commercialization, with production slated to start for customers later this year at the company's Kentucky manufacturing plant. This newest generation of powertrain reflects key learnings and improvements in things like energy efficiency, package size, and more from extensive real-world testing and development from the company's fuel cell development engineering team.

“The new and existing clean H2 projects that are part of the ARCHES portfolio will bring tens of thousands of jobs to California for years to come,” said Andrew Meredith, President of State Building & Construction Trades Council of California. “Many of these projects will be along California’s transportation corridors, helping to provide skilled workers jobs in regions of the state where projects of this scale have been lacking.”

Organised by GTI Energy, The Center for Houston’s Future, University of Texas at Austin, and seven major corporate participants, including Air Liquide, Chevron, Orsted, and Sempra Infrastructure, HyVelocity has grown additional support from more than 90 commercial, academic, nonprofit, and government supporters.

The hub also has bipartisan support from elected leaders at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Seven academic institutions are participating in HyVelocity, including Texas’ two largest public universities, two major private universities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Lawmakers passed a measure last year creating a work group with the purpose of drafting a proposal seeking Nebraska’s designation as one of the six to 10 regional hubs, which are intended to accelerate the use of hydrogen as a clean energy source.

Brainard Sen. Bruce Bostelman, sponsor of LB565, said the work group partnered with Iowa and Missouri to submit an initial application for the program, called H2Hubs. Of 79 applications submitted, he said, Nebraska’s was one of 33 selected for the next stage of the process.

Each project highlights the unique culture and economy of the home state. She is confident the WIH2 proposal meets OCED’s goals. 

Hawaii is now officially in the running to receive close to $1 billion in federal funding to help develop a regional clean hydrogen production and distribution hub for uses including fuel and electricity generation.