Powering Chicago
The demand for electric vehicle infrastructure is growing nationwide. But meeting that demand will require more than just equipment to deploy and funding to install it. We’ll need qualified contractors and electricians to do the actual work.
We met up with an organization that is powering Chicago’s EV charging future and setting an example for cities across the country.
Illinois is going all-in on promoting electric vehicles, with a goal to increase EV registrations from 37,000 currently, to over a million electric vehicles on the road in Illinois by 2030. To help achieve this goal, the state is providing a $4,000 rebate for select EV’s on top of existing federal incentives, along with a rebate of up to 80% for the cost of installing a charging station. Federal funding is expected to add 500,000 new chargers nationwide over the next few years.
In addition, a 2020 Chicago city ordinance requires all new residential buildings with five or more units, and commercial properties with 30 or more parking spaces, to have 20 percent of onsite parking be electric vehicle ready.
With thousands of charging outlets to be installed over the next decade, where now you typically see clusters of two to four chargers in a store parking lot, there might be dozens of units lined up in the not-so-distant future. That creates a daunting task for electrical contractors, who will need a larger skilled workforce to install them all.
Powering Chicago is the entity that bridges the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134, with the Electrical Contractors Association, through classroom and on-the-job training and community outreach.
ELBERT WALTERS III: The contractors serve as management, so they do the hiring of electricians and managing electricians on the jobsites. The relationship is that powering Chicago and the IBEW Local 134, the labor portion, actually provides the manpower-- the qualified workforce.
JOHN DAVIS: The IBEW/NECA Technical Institute, in the Chicago suburb of Alsip, is already one of the most forward-thinking and well-regarded electrical training centers in the country, with a history going back more than 100 years. And there is no shortage of applicants testing for admission to the union’s 5-year paid apprenticeship training program.
GENE KENT: Our current enrollment of apprentices in the entire apprenticeship is about 1300. Right now, in school, we have about 200 apprentices every quarter, come through for their quarterly education.
JOHN DAVIS: In 2015, In-Tech debuted this renewable energy training field: a fully-functional microgrid with a wind turbine, solar arrays, a bi-directional 100-kilowatt power inverter and a battery energy storage system. These are active training aids for the students that also harness and use renewable energy within the school building.
GENE KENT: What we like to do is make sure that our apprentices are taught foundational knowledge. And then we build knowledge of the industry throughout their entire apprenticeship, so that when those new cutting-edge things come into play, they only have to learn the very end-user component.
JOHN DAVIS: Reaching beyond the in-tech campus, this demonstration trailer travels to area schools and events, serving as a mobile classroom and EV ambassador. At the recent Chicago Auto Show, thousands of show visitors stepped up to ask the experts about adding EV charging equipment to their own homes or businesses.
Powering Chicago has also produced this downloadable e-book, full of information on how to plan, install and maintain electric vehicle service equipment. Car dealerships are among the many types of businesses expanding their EV charger inventories, anticipating the influx of new electrified models soon to be hitting their showrooms and service areas.
GINA DOLLEY: The typical layout is that there’s several in service, three to four, in service. Um, one in the back for delivery of the vehicles, and then eventually you’re going to see them coming out front for customer-facing, customer use.
I only see it growing from this point on. Right now, it’s-- I’m doing one to two a month. I think it’s going to be more. I have a feeling that we’re going to open up an EV division, and I just have guys dedicated to the installation for these units.
JOHN DAVIS: The winds of change are a’ coming, and forward thinking, like that shown here in the Windy City, is what it will take to keep us all charged up for the road ahead.
Waste Not Want Not
JOHN DAVIS: The concept of renewable fuels made from non-petroleum sources has a long history. Indeed, over the last four decades, we’ve seen how renewable fuels have been used with great success as sustainable alternatives to traditional gasoline and diesel. So, we thought we’d check out three examples where fast responses rely on reliable fuels, and see how green solutions are leading the way forward!
Our first stop is Vancouver, Washington, where the city’s fire department has made the switch to renewable diesel for its 27 fire trucks, engines and EMS squads. Also called RD or R99, renewable diesel is not the same as biodiesel. It is refined from plant oils and animal fats to become chemically identical to conventional diesel, which biodiesel is not. R99 performs better in cold weather and can be used without modification in any diesel vehicle.
The process of burning carbon soot out of a conventional diesel’s exhaust particulate filter, known as regen, can take a truck out of service for several hours over the course of a week. Using R99 instead, less soot builds up, increasing the regen intervals and requiring a less intense regen procedure.
The Vancouver Fire Department responds to 51,000 emergency calls each year, so every minute of downtime in the shop can be the difference between life and death.
CHUCK WINKLER: These vehicles have to work 100% of the time, all the time. So, reliability is our number one… Safety and reliability is our number one goal here, and R99 has really helped with that 100% reliability.
JOHN DAVIS: Then there is UPSA, one of world’s largest delivery fleets with 125,000 vehicles. UPS obtains nearly 40% of their transportation fuel from low-carbon sources, and has driven over 4 billion miles on alternative fuels. They are also the largest consumer of renewable natural gas in the transportation industry.
AL MURAT: While electric cars, electric vehicles, Es are going to play an important role, right now CNG and RNG is one of the important bridge points to getting there. So, rather than wait for those alternatives to grow in technology, we’re leveraging RNG right now as one of the best solutions.
JOHN DAVIS: RNG, also known as biomethane, is derived from decomposing organic matter at landfills, wastewater treatment plants, livestock farms, and food production facilities. RNG is interchangeable with conventional natural gas and can be used in existing pipelines.
This renewable natural gas fueling station at UPS’ eastern zone hub in Pennsylvania, is the largest in the UPS network. It services 220 tractors and 150 delivery vehicles, displacing 8 million gallons of diesel fuel per year. Renewable natural gas literally turns waste into clean energy, and is helping big brown deliver on its longtime commitment to go green.
Whenever a green flag drops, the extreme conditions of motorsports competition have long served as a testing ground and accelerator for technological development, and that now includes sustainability. Race organizers around the world have set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, and aim to reduce race-related emissions by 30%. The world endurance challenge series, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, now runs on a 100% renewable fuel derived from grape residue.
In a sport where lightning fast reflexes and instant throttle response can mean the difference between first place and also ran, a stable, power-dense fuel is a must, and you gotta admit, running race cars on wine is pretty dang cool!
These three sustainable petroleum substitutes are all winning formulas, ones we will be keeping an eye on.