Virginia Clean Cities will host the Mid-Atlantic Advanced Transportation Summit and Expo this week at JMU’s Atlantic Union Bank Center this Wednesday and Thursday, July 22nd and 23rd. The event will bring leaders from the alternative fuel industry and display new electric and alternative fuel vehicles to be rolled out in the coming years. WMRA’s Calvin Pynn asked Executive Director Alleyn Harned about the goal of this expo.
ALLEYN HARNED: This is a gathering of people working on advanced transportation technologies in the mid-Atlantic region, so in the multi-state region, coming together to talk about cleaner fuels, cleaner vehicles, and different types of mobility. We don't make a lot of oil in places like Virginia, but we have this opportunity for affordability savings, for efficiency, and for fun with these advanced technologies. So, we've got heavy duty vehicles, medium duty vehicles, and even these smaller than car size work vehicles here and a whole slew of different and learning opportunities as we transition this technology in the decades ahead.
WMRA: Could you expand some on the learning opportunities? I know there are going to be some workshops, some speakers. What can people expect to learn from this event?
HARNED: Well, the greatest opportunity here is to come together with people in the Mid-Atlantic region to connect with individuals, with the people who are putting this work on, with the people who, connecting the people who may want to buy technology for their fleet or for their government, and the people who are manufacturing, distributing, and providing the resource for that technology. There's really a tremendous amount of engagement opportunity. Over two days, there is a sequence of workshops on everything you can imagine, on renewable fuels, on policy and operations. And there are just this range of technologies in transportation electrification as well.
WMRA: Which vehicles being shown at this expo would you consider to be standouts?
HARNED: The things that have me most excited about this conference are the size and scope of transportation technology options. There are going to be some renewable gaseous fuels and biofuels, which is very popular with the farming and agricultural community. But what has me excited is the small and large electric vehicles that are also coming. We have a Mobia E-Quad, which is essentially a large work bicycle. And scaling up from that four-wheel bicycle style equipment, it scales up to having a production Tesla semi present. So, we're excited about the electric vehicles from Volvo, which manufactures in Virginia, and Tesla, which has a production vehicle here for the Expo. And then in between those sizes, we also have box trucks and work trucks coming in. I’m excited about the Harbinger electric vehicle and the electric equipment that's in use in Virginia fleets, such as a Bright Drop from ALS.
WMRA: What does ALS stand for?
HARNED: And so, ALS - I'm excited about the electric BrightDrop from Advanced Logistics Systems. It's A FedEx operating vehicle, so it's delivering the mail but not delivering the emissions.
WMRA: Interesting! So much of what I think of when it comes to electric vehicle use is on a more personal level, like for your daily commute. But it sounds like what we have here are for larger scale operations in the public and private sector. Why is it important for them to adopt electric vehicles?
HARNED: There are important opportunities for the public and private sector to adopt these technologies because they are the folks who are driving through our neighborhoods with potentially high emitting diesel vehicles or vehicles for a municipality that might just cost more to fuel than cleaner domestic fuels. And so, there's a human health benefit from the transition to these cleaner vehicles. And there's also a community cost savings that's very much possible. And what we'd like to be doing is communicating that with folks and giving people the opportunity to learn about the available domestic affordable energy for a city or for a county that's able to reduce their fuel cost. That's a way to reduce the tax costs on their community.
WMRA: Between the smoke from the wildfires recently and heatwaves this summer, the impact of fossil fuel emissions on the climate has been more apparent recently. And that’s in addition to rising fuel costs. As far as you know, has that been shifting attitudes towards electric vehicles? What would that take?
HARNED: Change and making a better world does take work. It takes understanding. And the biggest thing that I've learned after doing this for more than 15 years is it takes experience. Being able to see these things on the ground, touch them and talk to the vendors to understand their costs. And talk to the utilities and understand the fuel costs, make that Excel spreadsheet to do your calculation of: ‘hey, does this save us money?’ That is what it takes. It takes both understanding that these things are real with sitting in the seat and driving the vehicle, but it takes also understanding that these things can be purchased. We're in a transition as a globe, and these technologies are being widely adopted, but we all have the opportunity to lead in this decade, to learn in the next decade, and to potentially make change to make a better world and reduce the impacts of these emissions.
WMRA: One concern I’ve heard often when it comes to talking about electric vehicles is the available infrastructure, like charging stations. Is that something that will be addressed during this conference?
HARNED: Yes, there is. During this conference, there will be discussions about infrastructure in particular. So, building out more community infrastructure, building out more highway infrastructure. And so, we will be talking about that and also talking through the range of technologies. It doesn't just have to be one style of technology. It's a wide range. What is great is that we have a good starting baseline of infrastructure today. And what's coming is a continued build-out of these corridors and this infrastructure.
WMRA: I am seeing a lot more chargers out – gradually, at least.
HARNED: Yeah, and like just for a lot of these, a lot of this audience, the people who often purchase electric vehicles, they are able to charge those vehicles in large at home. These fleets who purchase these vehicles are able to refuel those vehicles at their fleet facility in addition to the expanding public options. And so these communities are building that future. The conference is technology neutral. There'll be a range of other fuels from biofuels to gaseous fuels also present and fuel efficiency. Fuel efficiency is always a priority, just getting more miles for your vehicle.
WMRA: Could you tell me a little more about the biofuel vehicles?
HARNED: So there are available bio and renewable fuels offered throughout both the gaseous fuel industry. So, propane and renewable propane, natural gas and renewable natural gas, which is this biogas that you hear about from dairy farms out in the Shenandoah Valley or throughout the mid-Atlantic region, pulling essentially that waste gas from a wastewater plant or a landfill or agricultural commodity and processing that back in as, essentially, a fuel product. It's a way to reduce the emissions of methane to capture that and then to utilize that fuel.
WMRA: What else would you want people to know about this event? Like, for those who are curious about electric vehicles and what this technology means for the decades ahead?
HARNED: Over the next few days, we're running this first Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference with a hope to do a conference like this every year going forward in the Mid-Atlantic. And we are offering this for free for community fleets or government fleets. So, if you own a lot of vehicles, we'd love to have you join us. But we also have the expo hall open for free as well. So, there are expo hall passes, there are student passes, there are stakeholder discount passes for our Virginia Clean Cities and the other Clean Cities coalitions in the mid-Atlantic region.
WMRA: Alleyn, thank you so much for talking about this conference and keeping us in the loop.
HARNED: Thank you so much. And I'm grateful to be in this world with you and just appreciate your time on this.
Full Disclosure: James Madison University's Board of Visitors holds WMRA's operating license.
