The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) in Texas has teamed with the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) and Smith Electric Vehicles Corporation (Smith Electric) to reduce vehicle emissions from delivery trucks in the region.
As part of the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) funded project, local fleets will replace existing diesel delivery vehicles with all-electric medium- and heavy-duty Smith Newton trucks for daily operations in the Houston-Galveston area.
The H-GAC Zero Emission Truck project, completely voluntary, will demonstrate the effectiveness of all-electric delivery vehicles to perform at the same level of operation as similarly sized diesel delivery vehicles while significantly reducing emissions and petroleum use.
The main objective for introducing electric transportation technologies into the cargo transport sector is to improve local air quality in the Houston-Galveston area, an area currently designated as a National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. Locations deemed Nonattainment Areas must implement a plan to meet NAAQS standards or risk losing federal financial assistance.
Smith Electric Vehicles is providing 30 trucks for the demonstration.
