written by MEC Clean Cities intern Drew Arends
In the past year or so, there has been a multitude of funding opportunities released to promote electric vehicle infrastructure. While some of this funding has been automatically allocated to state governments, the rest of it is available through a competitive grant application process. With so much funding available, the “how” in obtaining this funding can be difficult for the everyday person. With sales of electric vehicles surpassing one billion dollars to date, there is no better time to shed light on how federal funding can be achieved, especially for those in the heart of the Midwest.
At Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC), a portion of the services we provide include consultations and grant writing services for anyone looking to find financial support for alternative fuel and energy efficiency projects. In this post, I will outline some helpful tips to find grants and three particular grants available for Missourians and Kansans.
Climate Program Portal is one central location for key funding opportunities and developments related to large pieces of federal legislation, most notably the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). By enrolling in a free membership, you can have access to the details and deadlines behind various projects. When you become a member, the dashboard part of the site provides you with the most important information. For instance, as of (date of publication), there are 44 different requests for proposals (RFPs), requests for information (RFIs), and notices of intent (NOIs). These calls stem from a wide range of organizations, with the leaders being the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but closely followed by state agencies and the Department of Transportation (DOT). Further along the dashboard, you can find the specific details of each proposal, with links for more information providing additional insight under the “source” column.
Currently, some of the biggest opportunities for Missourians and Kansans include the FRE, CRP, and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grants programs.
Freight Enhancement Program (FRE)
The FRE program is open to public and private entities to construct non-roadway projects to improve freight efficiency in Missouri. All project awards are subject to approval of the $3.25m included in the legislative budget (HB4) that is signed by Gov. Parson. Applications are due by 5p.m. May 19, 2023. Projects must be completed and billed to MoDOT by 6/15/2024.
A Call for Projects for the Carbon Reduction Program (CRP)
Mid-America Regional Council is soliciting project proposals for the Federal Highway Administration’s Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) for Federal Fiscal Years 2022-2024. Eligible Applicants include local governments, transportation agencies and non-profits located within MARC’s MPO Boundary (Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri. MARC is providing office hours April 19, May 9 & 15 to answer any questions you may have. Project Applications are due May 19.
Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program
This program is divided into two categories: Community Programs and Corridor Programs. The Community Programs category is more of a general group meant to provide funding for projects along parks, schools, roads, and parking lots, while the Corridor Programs are meant to assist with more complex projects along designated alternative fuel corridors. The total amount available for recipients is around $700 million (FY 2022 $300 million and FY 2023 $400 million) and one of those recipients could be a Missourian or Kansan like you! Eligible applicants include states or political subdivisions of states; metropolitan planning organizations; units of local governments; special purpose districts or public authorities with a transportation function, including port authorities; Indian tribes; U.S. territories; and authorities, agencies, or instrumentalities or entities owned by one or more entities listed above. Applications must be submitted electronically through grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m., eastern time, on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications before the deadline, set up an account and regularly monitor for updates.
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These are merely three examples of the many funding opportunities currently available. Representing various entities like nonprofits, local groups, state governments, and community-based organizations, they are a raindrop in the ocean compared to the numerous funding opportunities out there. As such, I recommend that for whatever reason you are seeking funding, you not only consult databases like Climate Program Portal, but the federal websites of places like the DOE, EPA, and DOT. Help is most definitely here, and it is the pleasure of those of us at MEC to help you find what you’re looking for. Our bi-weekly newsletter consistently provides you with information regarding funding, and our social media accounts (Twitter @KCCleanCities and @MetroEnergyKC; Instagram @metroenergykc ; Facebook @MetropolitanEnergyCenter) supply real-time updates. Of course, our services with grant writing and consultations go beyond these briefs and give you the opportunity to work alongside us.
With the right insight and partnership, your idea could be the next recipient of funding to advance sustainability efforts in your own community! For more information regarding ongoing funding opportunities, check out this page for follow-up blog posts, and sign up for our Clean Cities newsletter to follow all relevant updates and new funding opportunities.
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Author Bio: Drew Arends has been a Sustainable Transportation Intern at Metropolitan Energy Center since November 2022. His primary efforts have involved newsletter production, campaign development, and community outreach. In his work, he has encountered several instances of funding opportunities, a few of which are highlighted in this blog piece. As Drew studies abroad for the next few months, he looks forward to contributing to the efforts of MEC through blog posts like these.
written by MEC Greater Kansas Clean Cities coordinator Jenna Znamenak
This article chronicles recent efforts by Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC) and its Clean Cities Coalitions to make electric vehicle operations a reality in areas that are often left out of new connectivity trends.
To a person who has always lived in a highly populated city, connectivity is a daily reality. Cities get the fastest internet, the most cell coverage, and more nicely paved trafficways. But for the 20% of the population of the United States who live in rural areas, equal connectivity has never been the norm.
As reported in the January/February issue of the Kansas Government Journal by Mike Scanlon, City Manager of Osawatomie, Kansas, “It is no secret that rural communities are historically left behind when the United States adopts the latest technology.” And in recent months, more rural leaders are seeing a potential pitfall that could widen the access gap for their communities: the advancement of electric vehicles (EVs).
As the latest consumer-use scenarios are analyzed and early-adopter reviews roll in, the reality is clear: EVs cost less money to fuel and to maintain than their gasoline-fueled counterparts. And with the recent monumental increases in grants and tax incentives for EV purchases, governments are becoming much more interested in EV funding pipelines than they are in vehicles fueled by oil pipelines. But urban and suburban governments are making the switch much faster than rural governments.
Scanlon is not surprised, but he is hopeful that this time rural America can keep up with the trend. “By 2030 the federal government proposed that half of all new cars sold in the U.S. will be zero-emission vehicles, with 50,000 electric charging networks. By proactively supporting rural EV development now, we can prevent history from repeating itself.” His article in the Kansas Government Journal, co-written with MEC’s Central Kansas Clean Cities Coalition coordinator Jenna Znamenak, prepares rural leaders with real facts and funding connections so they can stay in the fight to stay connected.
The most exciting grants on the list are the ones that get rid of nitrous-oxide-producing diesel school buses by helping school districts convert to EVs, for little to no cost to the schools. “These grants replace older school buses with electric school buses to reduce harmful emissions around children,” says Central Kansas Clean Cities coordinator Jenna Znamenak. But she says there are enough programs available through MEC’s grant assistance to help more institutions than just schools involved with the national sea-change.
For many rural leaders, adapting to standardizing trends sounds like “small budgets with not much room for experimentation, time constraints that do not allow us the ability to learn about technology, and grant opportunities that can look like a 10-acre corn maze,” says Scanlon. “That’s why we’re here for you—we’ve helped connect local communities and fleets to easier funding for clean energy for the past 40 years,” says Znamenak, referring to MEC’s stockpile of resource-accessing tricks and their dependable grant assistance services.
See the original article published in the Kansas Government Journal here.
To stay current on all available funding, sign up for MEC’s free newsletter at metroenergy.org/newsletter-sign-up. To talk to an expert about your next clean energy project, call 816-531-7283.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (November 8th, 2021) – The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC) for a $5.2 million award to lead electric vehicle (EV) and charging station projects under the Low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Vehicle Technologies Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment program. Funded projects will reduce diesel fumes in the air we breathe by supporting EV purchases, charging station installations, and outreach efforts to notify communities of these resources. The funds will also help small businesses and rural cities accelerate their transition to electric vehicles in Missouri and Kansas.
As part of the award program, eight businesses and municipalities in Kansas and Missouri have pledged more than 15% of their own project budgets in contributions to help smaller communities qualify for federal cost-share matching requirements. These businesses and muncipalities operate within environmental justice areas, opportunity zones, and other underserved areas. In addition to sedans, they are replacing small and heavy trucks with electric models. Diesel emissions from heavy vehicles and off-road machinery contribute to early deaths, asthma rates and family illness keeping people away from jobs and school. Those are just some of the health and social impacts from diesel fumes that affect the community members MEC serves.
Additionally, thanks to this award and generous overmatch contributions from some funding recipients, MEC can offer a small grant program for underserved communities. Small grant recipients will define for themselves what project features would be locally most beneficial, like projects to install public EV charging stations in parking lots and curbsides near multi-unit residential complexes and retail businesses. The success of the program depends upon placing EV charging stations within underserved or rural areas that feel the effects of environmental justice issues.
Executive director Kelly Gilbert said, “MEC will use our access to reach and empower communities in underserved urban and rural areas. We will provide funds that communities can use in the ways that they decide will best meet their local needs. We’ve seen that publicly funded EV chargers are even less likely than privately funded chargers to land in underserved areas, and it is important to change that trend.”
The award is expected to be finalized and the project to begin in early 2022; small grants are expected to be available in 2023. Organizations interested in learning more about the upcoming small grant program opportunities should contact Miriam Bouallegue at miriam@metroenergy.org.
On KKFI Radio’s show for 7/12/21, listeners had the opportunity to hear from Mary English, Energy Program Manager, Building Performance, and Miriam Bouallegue, Project Manager, Sustainable Transportation, both with Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC).
Eco Radio host Brent Ragsdale talked with Mary and Miriam and discussed two initiatives MEC is working on with Kansas City MO – the building benchmark ordinance and streetlight EV charging stations.
https://www.kcmo.gov/programs-initiatives/energy-and-water-benchmarking
https://metroenergy.org/programs/current-projects/streetlight-ev-charging/
Tune in here for a recording of the discussion.
“We at EcoRadio KC are glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world. We can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future!”
It is understandable to freak out over climate change, but the challenge is … to work hard on this crisis while still enjoying life on what is still a beautiful planet.
written by Kansas City Regional Clean Cities Coalition director David Albrecht
There’s a chewy chunk of truth in the perception that all-electric cars are expensive, because many of them are. In June, 2019, the average cost for a new car stood at $36,600, compared to a $55,600 average for a battery-electric. But averages conceal as well as reveal, so let’s keep on chewing. For EVs, that average gets a substantial push skyward by plenty of high-end all-electric models. Cases in point: 2021 BMW i3s: $47,650; 2021 Mustang Mach-E Premium: $52,000; 2021 Audi E-Tron: $65,900; Tesla Model S Long Range: $79,990; 2021 Porsche Taycan Turbo: $150,900. And so on. Even the $7,500 federal tax credit, available for all these models except Tesla, isn’t going to make a big difference up there in the financial stratosphere – and most of us don’t live there anyway.
Back on earth, what about affordable new electric car options? They’re out there. Kelly Blue Book, reporting in September 2018, noted an average new car price of $35,742, and a total of 10 all-electric and 13 plug-in hybrid models with MSRP below that. Less than three years later, choices have boomed. As of April 2021 14 different makers offer 41 different all-electric models and trim levels; 21 OEMs have brought 45 different models and trims of plug-in hybrids to market.
Whatever the price, a new car is always a substantial expenditure. At this point, Wentworth J. Stumblewhistle III – your inner CPA – should chime in with a reminder that an automobile is, in fact, a depreciating asset, not an investment. With that in mind, what’s the best way to avoid some of the financial burden of a new car – the depreciation hit when you drive off the lot, sales and personal property tax, insurance? What about a used car? Specifically, what about a used electric car?
When it comes to EVs, there are advantages to buying used that add up in an even bigger way than for a conventional model, and we’re happy to walk you through some of them. For starters, depreciation has tended to be steeper with many all-electric models than it has been for conventional cars. This isn’t true for some brands. Used Teslas tend to hold their value longer than most EV brands – but that’s not really the market we’re looking at here anyway.
Some handy examples from CarGurus: A 2020 Hyundai Ioniq SE EV, with 1,058 miles for $18,999. MSRP for a new version of the same year, make and model – $34,295. Even with the $7,500 federal tax credit that’s still nearly $8,000 cheaper with barely 1,000 miles on the odometer and an estimated range of 170 miles per charge. A 2020 Chevy Bolt, with a starting new MSRP of $36,620 and an estimated range per charge of 259 miles: with just 3,030 miles, $22,519. Older models are even more affordable: A 2017 Nissan LEAF with 18,974 miles on the odometer and an estimated 107-mile range – $12,575. (Disclaimer – These specific listings are only illustrations, and we’re not endorsing any specific brand, model or dealership. And by the time this is published, these links may not work anyway, as the cars listed may have sold.)
So, what’s the catch? After all, if it sounds too good to be true . . . Let’s just say it’s complicated. For starters, all electric vehicles lose battery capacity over time. This doesn’t mean they’re bad cars – that’s just the nature of batteries as they charge and discharge thousands of times. A fairly extensive study of 6,300 electric cars, covering 64 different makes and model years came out in July 2020. It found an average annual capacity loss of about 2.3% from time of purchase. In other words, a new EV purchased today with a range of 150 miles should have a range of about 133 miles in 2026. So, does the 2017 Nissan LEAF listed above still have a range of 107 miles 6 years after it was sold? Probably not.
There are other variables in play when considering a used EV. Beyond age and mileage, where was the car driven? High temperatures can mean faster loss of EV battery capacity, so buying a used EV in Portland might be better than buying one in Phoenix. How was it charged? Some studies indicate that frequent use of high-speed charging can substantially cut into battery capacity, in some cases after a few dozen high-speed charging sessions. Scientists are already working to find ways to work around this issue, through improved battery design and improved charging cycles. But how much high-speed charging a pre-owned EV used isn’t the kind of information you’ll find in a Carfax.
Another issue is geographic, not technical. Many manufacturers sell EVs only in certain areas of the country, particularly in California and the Northeast. Accordingly, those are the areas where you’re most likely to find a used EV that fits your needs. This means that you may have to travel to an out-of-state dealership and drive back or pay to have the car trucked to where you live. Car shipping costs in April 2021 averaged between $800 and $1000 – not insurmountable, but still a substantial expense.
Yet even with all these considerations in the mix, there are substantial long-term advantages to electric autos compared with conventional models. Service costs are nominal. Without gasoline, oil, coolant or transmission fluid, routine maintenance is reduced to software updates and tire rotation, plus the occasional brake check. Beyond the complexities of software and battery control systems, EVs are remarkably simple machines, with fewer possible points of failure and lower total costs of ownership.
Data to date support this. Consumer Reports published a study in fall of 2020 that tracked long-term costs of nine different models of electric cars. “For all EVs analyzed, the lifetime ownership costs were many thousands of dollars lower than all comparable ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles’ costs, with most EVs offering savings of between $6,000 and $10,000. While new EVs were found to offer significant cost savings over comparable ICE vehicles, the cost savings of 5-to-7 year old used EVs was found to be two to three times larger on a percentage basis.”
Electric cars won’t work for everyone. But for those interested in making the switch, yet leery of new car prices, an affordable used model may be a viable option. And remember, whatever you’re looking to drive home, the sticker price isn’t the cost of a car – it’s only the first installment. Total cost of ownership is, in the end, the best way to measure how long and how much you’ll be paying for personal transportation.