The Energy Department revealed it will provide $11 million to support development and demonstration of innovative alternative technologies for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, designed to help reduce U.S. reliance on gasoline, diesel, and oil imports.
One of the areas of interest is the heavy-duty vehicle dual fuel fleet demonstration that seeks to demonstrate the performance and reliability of commercially-available dual fuel heavy-duty vehicles equipped with engines capable of operation using a mixture of diesel fuel and gaseous fuels—natural gas, propane- or natural gas-derived fuels such as dimethyl ether—and the associated emissions control systems, DOE informed in a statement.
DOE targets a petroleum reduction of over 2.5 billion gallons per year through the voluntary adoption of alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure by 2020.
According to the filing, the vehicles and dual-fuel technologies must be commercially available, and not experimental, pre-production, or planned for further development under the project; and must also be compliant with New or Inside Useful Life Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certification requirements (or the California Air Resources Board equivalent (CARB) requirements), and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
DOE expects to award multiple financial assistance awards which, for the heavy-duty, dual fuel fleets will have a two-year term.
LNG World News Staff