As guidance and notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) continue to be released for federal funding for alternative fuel vehicles, technologies, and infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Clean Fuels Ohio is tracking all of these opportunities and is your go-to source for staying up-to-date on these opportunities in Ohio.
One of the highest profile pieces of the BIL is the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula funding program, which allocates $5 billion to states over 5 years (2022-2026) for building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure along major highway corridors. Guidance to states on this program was issued in February this year, and states (primarily state Departments of Transportation) are tasked with submitting plans for how they will be spending their funds to the US Joint Office of Energy and Transportation by August 1, 2022. Clean Fuels Ohio will be working closely with ODOT over the next few months on statewide stakeholder engagement in the development of Ohio’s NEVI plan.
In addition to the NEVI formula funding program, there are a number of discretionary grant pieces of the BIL starting this year and providing funding over the next five years that are relevant to clean fuel vehicles and infrastructure. There will be an additional $2.5 billion over five years provided for electric vehicle charging infrastructure grants focused on local, community-level charging needs as well as further support needs along highway corridors. Guidance and a NOFO for these funds has not been released yet, but is anticipated sometime before November 2022.
There are two additional discretionary grant programs for alternative fuel vehicles worth noting. The first is the US Federal Transit Authority’s (FTA) Low-No Program, which will be providing $5.6 billion over five years for the procurement of zero- and low-emission transit buses and transit bus facilities. The deadline for this year’s round of funding is May 31. The second is the US EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, which will be providing $5 billion over five years for the procurement of zero- and low-emission school buses. Further guidance on this program and a NOFO for the first round of these funds should be available in the near future.
In order to assist local communities in Ohio to best prepare for success in receiving and applying for these funds, Clean Fuels Ohio is working with Power a Clean Future Ohio (PCFO) on their new Infrastructure Grant Assistance Program (IGAP). This program will be providing grant assistance programming services such as educational webinars, information sharing, and competitiveness vetting guidance to PCFO member communities in the pursuit of competitive federal grant funds.
Related to our efforts on these federal funding opportunities, Clean Fuels Ohio will be hosting a webinar on “I-80 Stakeholder Convening and Funding Updates” on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 from 11am-12pm ET. CFO will discuss the BIL and other federal funding opportunities and how to apply, in addition to showcasing corridor planning efforts for CNG and DCFC infrastructure along the I-80 corridor in Ohio. You can register for the webinar here. If you have questions about the event, please reach out to Jenna Ellingson (jenna@cleanfuelsohio.org) or Brandon Jones (brandon@cleanfuelsohio.org).
