Big Blue Bus will use the grant approved by the MSRC partially to fund the purchase of 58 new Cummins-Westport 8.9L million from the Federal Transit Administration, to purchase nine new CNG buses. In California, Big Blue Bus (BBB) will receive $870,000 from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee’s (MSRC) Near Zero Engine Incentive Program. ISL G Near-Zero (NZ) 0.02 NO x engines. MORE

The state of South Carolina has purchased 26 new Blue Bird Vision Propane school buses to replace aging diesel buses. The buses were purchased from Blue Bird’s newest dealership in North America, Blanchard Bus Centers. The first of the alternative-fueled buses are being deployed to service Dorchester and Berkeley counties. These clean-operating propane buses represent the largest order of alternative-fueled school buses that the state has placed in the last 30 years. MORE

UPS announced the purchase of 130 next-generation hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) to add to its growing alternative-fuel vehicle (AFV) fleet. The HEV fleet features two different size vehicles from Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation and a hybrid drive system from Eaton Corporation. The 130 hybrids all will be deployed next year, with 30 going to New York and New Jersey and 100 to California. MORE

It's taken a while, but Oregon will now have a state electric-car purchase incentive that largely matches those in its neighbor to the south, California. First discussed several years ago, the idea of a purchase rebate for cars that plug in hadn't made it through previous legislative sessions. This year proved different, with the rebate included. rebates incentives plug-in cars state laws Oregon MORE

income-tax credit for purchase of an electric car took a new turn on Thursday. The battle over early termination of the U.S. HR1, the draft Tax Cut and Jobs Act introduced in the House of Representatives, would end the credit as of December 31. The U.S. Senate version of the tax-reform bill introduced late Thursday, however, retains the credit. Politics senate tax credit taxes plug-in cars MORE

If plug-in electric cars and trucks receive purchase incentives from national and state governments, what about electric bicycles? It recommends directing purchase incentives and infrastructure subsidies towards electrically assisted bicycles, known as e-bikes. That's just what a recent report from the European Cyclists Federation suggests. Europe Germany bicycle incentives Zero Emission Vehicle transportation policy electric motorcycles electric bikes MORE

cities is discussing a major purchase of electric cars for their municipal fleets. While federal policies to reduce vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide are now back in the limelight, it's a different story on the state and local level. A group of 30 U.S. The cities have jointly asked automakers for cost and feasibility estimates of providing. government fleet sales plug-in cars cities fleet MORE

Eligible projects included those that replace, rehabilitate, lease, and purchase buses and related equipment as well as projects to purchase, rehabilitate, construct or lease bus-related facilities, such as buildings for bus storage and maintenance. The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities will receive funding to purchase battery electric buses, associated charging infrastructure and a back-up generator to maintain bus service in a disaster situation. MORE

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (Auto Alliance) is strongly supporting the passage of Maryland’s SB 1234 , a bill that would require the State of Maryland to purchase zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) for state fleets. The bill phases in a requirement that, by fiscal 2026, 50% of light-duty vehicles purchased for the State vehicle fleet be zero-emission vehicles. The bill also includes a reporting requirement for State agencies that purchase vehicles. MORE

Supported with a $500,00 Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Grant (Low-No), NJ Transit is purchasing battery-electric buses from Proterra, a ChargEVC member. ChargEVC, a non-profit coalition supporting the adoption of electric vehicles in New Jersey, announced that Camden, NJ will see the state’s first electric buses. MORE

Blue Marble Biomaterials, a specialty biochemical manufacturer ( earlier post ), has closed on the purchase of the former GTC Oats Inc. The purchase includes 3.81 Blue Marble Biomaterials expects to see significant growth in the coming months, as the site purchase comes just as Blue Marble begins closing a $15-million debt financing deal through the USCIS EB-5 Program. MORE

The purchase price was not disclosed and the acquisition, expected to close in the third quarter of 2012, is subject to German regulatory approval. Hilite SCR doser injection nozzle. Click to enlarge. Cummins Inc. MORE

Clemson Area Transit (CATbus) has purchased ten 40' Proterra Catalyst E2 buses and related charging infrastructure. CATbus purchased the Proterra Catalyst E2 buses in part with $3.9 The ten-bus purchase complements the six Proterra buses already servicing the City of Seneca, S.C. The CATbus transit vehicles will be manufactured in Proterra’s East Coast Manufacturing Facility, located in nearby Greenville, S.C. . Serving 1.9 MORE

has received its first fuel cell compressor module purchase order from Ballard Power Systems. The purchase order calls for shipments of product to Ballard over the next four months and will generate revenue in excess of $600K. UQM Technologies Inc. MORE

New York City has issued a three-year contract to purchase Envision Solar International’s EV ARC products. The first units purchased through this contract were delivered earlier in May and were featured at the City’s 29 th Annual Fleet Show at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows. The contract has a posted initial value of $3.8 million and an optional one-year renewal at the end of the three-year term. MORE

As U.S. electric-vehicle advocates are well aware, a handful of states have reduced or killed incentives for plug-in vehicles over the past year, adding some headwinds to sales. Earlier this month, the Canadian province of Ontario took the opposite approach, expanding its plug-in electric vehicle incentive program. It's a welcome tailwind. The new. Politics rebates Canada incentives plug-in cars Ontario MORE

Ah, Texas, the state that was formerly a nation and continues to do things slightly differently. Its politics is bare-knuckle, its hats are big, and so are its ranches. It also generates more renewable wind energy than any other state in the union. Its auto-dealer lobbyists, however, are equally large and powerful. DON'T MISS: Tesla Loses Legal. Politics rebates dealers incentives Tesla Motors plug-in cars Texas state laws MORE

The City of London Corporation—the municipal governing body of the City of London—has banned the purchase of diesel vehicles for its business, in a drive to reduce public exposure to air pollution. Since 2009, the City Corporation has achieved a vehicle emissions reduction of more than 40% NO x and more than 50% PM 10 due to a reduction in its fleet size and the purchase of newer and cleaner vehicles. MORE

A new report from the Automotive Connected Mobility (ACM) service at Strategy Analytics has found that ridesharing usage may not negatively impact the future vehicle purchase intention of current vehicle owners. Key findings of “ Impact of Ride Sharing Frequency on Vehicle Purchase Intention ”, include: Ridesharing usage actually increased the likelihood that current vehicle owners would purchase another vehicle within the next five years. MORE

Canada Rare Earth Corporation has entered into an agreement to purchase 60% of the issued and outstanding shares of a company based in Laos. The Laos company owns a full capability rare earth refinery that is designed to process monazite rare earth concentrate and separate the concentrate into the entire spectrum of commercially traded rare earths including light and heavy elements. The company’s future development plans entail extending capabilities to include rare earth metal making. MORE

Well, that was decisive! Our readers are clearly, unquestionably, absolutely intending to switch from driving on fossil fuels to driving on grid electricity. That's the only conclusion we can draw from the results of our most recent Twitter poll, this one on what respondents planned to buy for their next green car. DON'T MISS: What effect will. plug-in cars Polls MORE

has secured initial purchase orders worth approximately C$4.3 The benefits of Electrovaya’s ELivate batteries were demonstrated through extensive testing by the retailer in its distribution warehouses and by the forklift OEM, before this purchase order was issued. Electrovaya Inc. million (US$3.51 million) under a contract with Walmart Canada for its forklift battery systems. MORE

California Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill (AB) 739 , authored by Assemblymember Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park), which requires at least 15% of vehicles, with a gross vehicle weight of more than 19,000 pounds that are newly purchased by state agencies, to be Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) beginning in 2025, and at least 30% of those vehicles to be ZEV beginning in 2030. MORE

The Dutch energy company Eneco has signed contracts for the purchase of 50 Smith Ampere electric commercial vans, the electric version of the Ford Transit Connect, to be delivered in 2009 and 2010. The purchase is part of Eneco’s sustainable strategy to replace 500 of its diesel-fueled commercial vans (25% of its total commercial vehicle fleet) with electric versions within the next four years. MORE

That's why purchase rebates are widely preferred by electric-car advocates to tax credits, which may take up to 15 months to be usable, depending on the timing of the purchase and tax filing. It's clear that incentives to buy specific cars work best when they can be applied directly at the time of sale. MORE

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information ( DE-FOA-0001312 ) to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to purchasing/procurement processes designed to coordinate and consolidate bulk alternative fuel vehicle (AFV), advanced vehicle orders, and vehicle subsystems. MORE

According to the Finance and Leasing Association, four out of five people opt out of the final ‘balloon’ payment at the end of Personal Contract Purch. ContractHireAndLeasing.com Leasing MORE

The Board of SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) today approved the purchase of 525 40-foot, low-floor diesel-electric hybrid buses via a $411.8-million, five-year contract with New Flyer of America. SEPTA also has an option to purchase up to 25 additional buses. MORE

AK Steel signed an agreement to acquire Precision Partners Holding Company, a leading North American automotive market company that provides engineering, tooling, die design and hot and cold stamped steel parts, for $360 million in cash. Precision Partners is headquartered in Ontario, and employs more than 1,000 employees, including about 300 engineers and skilled tool makers, across eight plants in Ontario, Alabama and Kentucky. MORE

The purchase of electric vehicles is a step towards achieving our goal of 30% reduction by 2020 of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 1990. The City of Montreal, Canada has signed a two-year framework agreement with Cité Nissan Gabriel SEC to supply LEAF EVs for the municipal fleet. This agreement reflects the commitment of our Administration to develop the electric vehicle sector. MORE

Virginia is for lovers—and it may soon be for lovers of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, too. Virginia House Delegate David A. Reid [D-32nd] has proposed a bill, expected to hit the House floor Wednesday, that would see buyers of electric vehicles receive a state-tax rebate of up to $3,500. Currently, Virginia's green-car incentives are. Plug-In Hybrids incentives tax credit plug-in cars Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) state laws Virginia MORE

Purchase incentives have proven to be a powerful tool for electric-car adoption in those states that offer them. And now it seems two more states may be ready to join that group. New York has just added budget provisions for an electric-car incentive program during the upcoming fiscal year, and Minnesota is close to passing similar measures as. New York Minnesota incentives plug-in cars state laws transportation policy MORE

Linde, a global leader in the growing liquefied natural gas fueling market, is purchasing 20 LNG-fueled trucks. The trucks, expected to be on the road later this year, will account for 20% of Linde’s 2012 tractor purchases and will be integrated into Linde’s fleet of 700-plus trucks carrying cryogenic gases to customers throughout North America. MORE

As part of this commitment, Metro will purchase up to 73 battery buses from Burlingame, Calif.-based Federal funding often helps pay for Metro’s new bus purchases. King County, Washington, Executive Dow Constantine announced that King County Metro Transit will acquire 120 battery-electric buses by 2020. based Proterra. The first 20 are scheduled to go into service this year and 2019. Metro serves Seattle and the rest of King County. MORE

Navistar’s IC Bus brand has received an order for 44 CE Series school buses by Franklin County Schools in Alabama, powered by the Power Solutions International (PSI) 8.8-liter LP propane engine. Purpose-built for the school bus industry, the CE Series with PSI propane engine is designed to provide diesel-like performance with higher torque at lower engine speeds. MORE

Yosemite National Park will add two Proterra Catalyst electric buses to its fleet. Yosemite is the first US National Park to add zero-emission buses to its shuttle fleet permanently. Last year, the National Park Service (NPS) recorded 331 million visits. This August alone, the parks attracted 40 million people nationwide with 609,676 visitors at Yosemite. MORE

The Board of Directors of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees all transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), recently approved the purchase of 45 new hybrid electric 40-foot buses from New Flyer Industries. In order to expedite the purchasing process, the SFMTA joined a current, competitively bid vehicle contract with the State of Minnesota. MORE

Ballard Power Systems’ subsidiary Protonex has received a $5.8-million purchase order for the supply of Squad Power Manager ( SPM-622 ) Special Operations Kits for end customer US Special Operations Command. The purchase order is the largest order in its history and represents follow-on business from the $2.8-million SPM order from the same customer received in December 2015. MORE

Chris Paine (director of “Who Killed the Electric Car?&# ) – …what the government should be doing is writing purchase orders and saying, “Hey, we want something for our money. So we’ll write you a purchase order for, you know, X billion worth of plug-in cars and hybrid trucks.&# Well, instead let’s go into purchase order mode… Tags: Production News In the Media MORE

Boqiang Lin and Wei Wu have put forward an electric vehicle purchasing intention model based on a review of the literature and their survey in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Therefore, to understand what factors may impact the purchasing intention of EVs is important for the government and industry. Secondly, the public may have cognitive bias about EVs, which may affect the purchase intention. MORE

General Motors has made its largest renewable energy procurement to date, purchasing enough wind power to equal the electricity needs of 16 of its US facilities, including business offices in Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, a major assembly and stamping complex in Arlington, Texas, and 13 parts warehouses east of the Mississippi River. GM will purchase 50 megawatts of power produced at Cactus Flats, a 150-megawatt wind farm being developed by RES in Concho County, Texas. MORE

JetBlue announced a ten-year renewable jet fuel purchase agreement with SG Preston , a bioenergy company. The airline will purchase renewable jet fuel made from rapidly renewable, bio-based feedstocks that do not compete with food production. To launch the strategic relationship with SG Preston, JetBlue plans to purchase more than 33 million gallons of blended jet fuel per year for at least 10 years. MORE

million, to purchase 35 Catalyst buses, bringing Proterra’s total number of firm orders to 287 vehicles from 38 cities across the United States. Proterra announced that eight new and existing customers have won Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Low or No Emission (LoNo) Vehicle Deployment Grants. The 2016 LoNo grant winners will use their funds, a total of $22.8 MORE