Carpool Chats

The U.S. school bus fleet is more than just a reliable way to transport the nations children to and from school each day. It's the nation's largest public transportation fleet at two and a half times the number of vehicles of all other forms of mass transportation combined. Gifted $100 million over five years, the World Resources Institute (WRI) will use a portion of this to work with a broad set of stakeholders to spur the electrification of over 450,000 school buses. Erika Myers, global senior manager with WRI, joined us and shared more details on this effort, as well as how it will affect the electric vehicle charging infrastructure nationwide.

Could an electric vehicle (EV) be in your purchasing future? While EV sales made up approximately 2% of all vehicle sales in 2020, many of your neighbors and friends have either discussed EVs or actually taken the plunge. What's the process like when deciding to go from the traditional gas powered vehicle to an alternative fuel vehicle? We invited a consumer to tell us exactly what the process was like going from gas powered, to hybrid to fully electric. Listen-in as Brenna Kaminski, founder of the YouTube series, Space Coast EV Drivers, joins us to tell her story.

Has social distancing changed the projected urbanization rate? As we enter 2021, signs from the housing market show that life hasn't slowed down; however, different decisions on where to live, work and travel patterns are being affected. What will the long-term effects be on vehicle miles traveled and urban metro regions of the country? We caught up with Jeff Wood, principal at The Overhead Wire, and dug deeper on the signs the housing and e-commerce market are displaying in spite of a global pandemic.

Originally recorded on December 14, 2020. Choosing an innovation that is rationally better in terms of performance, cost or the environment does not always come intuitively or naturally to most of us. We spoke with Matthew Willcox, author of the best selling book, "The Business of Choice." He breaks down behavioral principles that transportation-energy stakeholders should think about to ensure their innovations are adopted.

Originally recorded on December 3, 2020. Electric vehicles are the hot topic in the current transportation-energy market. However, it wasn't so long ago that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were top of mind for many industry observers. What's happening in the hydrogen market today? What's the future of fuel cell vehicles? We invited Bill Elrick, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, to address these questions and more.

Originally recorded on November 23, 2020. According to a 2020 survey by Morgan Stanley, 95% of institutional asset owners are integrating or considering integrating some sort of "sustainable investing", which is often called Environmental and Social Governance or ESG, in all or part of their portfolios. We spoke with Ryan Scott, vice president with HBW Resources, to address the outlook of ESG for transportation energy stakeholders.

Originally recorded on October 9, 2020. Too expensive, not reliable and not made for everyone. Electric vehicles have long been seen as out of reach and inconvenient. Is that really the case? Dr. Shelley Francis, co-founder of EVHybridNoire, is on a mission to amplify and elevate the conversation surrounding lower emissions and how it leads to a healthier lifestyle for all communities. We spoke with Dr. Francis to learn more about EVHybridNoire, their view on the recent push for banning internal combustion engine vehicles in California and the need for building a more convenient EV infrastructure.

Originally recording on October 2, 2020. On August 12, 2020, Phillips 66 announced plans to reconfigure its San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo, CA., to produce renewable fuels. The plant would no longer produce fuels from crude oil, but instead would make fuels from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils. We spoke with Nik Weinberg-Lynn, manager, renewable energy projects of Phillips 66, to learn more about the engineering behind this project, the timeline and what products will be offered at this new facility.

Originally recorded on September 16, 2020. The health and environmental cleanliness of underground storage tanks has a long term effect on not only retailers but the entire community. While transportation energy sources continue to evolve, liquid energy options will remain for decades to come. We spoke with Misty Sexton, President of Standard Petroleum Logistics, Inc., to learn if we're doing everything we can to preserve the life and quality of the fuel that powers the domestic transportation industry.

Originally recorded on September 4, 2020. Convenience stores (c-stores) looking to deploy DC Fast Chargers face multiple challenges, including the cost to deploy infrastructure, cost of energy demands, finding the right space to install, integrating with POS and other loyalty programs and maximizing the value of any assets placed on a c-store property. Executive director of the Fuels Institute, John Eichberger, spoke with LeRoy Fitzgerald, strategic sales and new markets with FreeWire Technologies to gain his perspective on the challenges c-stores face and the opportunities that potentially await.