Penn State plans for $3.3 million grant toward electric vehicles, infrastructure

Earlier this year, Penn State received a $3.3 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to invest in electric vehicles and infrastructure at the university.

According to Lara Fowler, Penn State’s director of sustainability and chief sustainability officer, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act passed at the federal level have provided a lot of funding toward this project.

Though the Volkswagen settlement funds from the DEP are separate from the three laws, the grant has given Penn State funds to purchase five electric vehicles to replace five Class 6 and 7 box trucks with electric replacements.

The grant will also allow the university to install four DC fast EV chargers and one Level 2 EV charging station at three locations on campus.

According to the Sustainability Institute Director of Operations and Partnerships Meghan Hoskins, two or three trucks are likely to end up being Volvo.

Hoskins said the trucks are going to be refrigerated, which is a newer case for an electric truck, especially with State College temperatures.

“Penn State owns semitrucks. These aren't little vehicles. These are big vehicles,” Fowler said. “What has been really interesting (while) listening to some of the conversations with transportation folks is some of what we need to replace in terms of electric vehicles doesn't exist yet on the market.”

The application for the DEP grant opened in December 2022 and was submitted in March 2023, according to Hoskins, who started reaching out to people who manage trucks at the university.

“It was an interesting discussion because there are a couple parts to this grant,” Hoskins said. “There are diesel trucks that have to be replaced and taken out of service. So you can’t sell the diesel truck, it has to be destroyed.”

While Penn State doesn’t have any Class 4 to 8 trucks, the university currently has ownership of 23 hybrid electric and 18 fully electric vehicles.

According to Hoskins, the first step was finding someone who was interested in buying an electric truck for the case study. After a few no’s, five drivers were willing.

“There were a lot of sort of internal discussions and moving parts around and figuring out how all the pieces would fit together to fit into what the grant folks wanted, but also still work for our operations,” Hoskins said.

Of the five trucks that are being replaced, four could be operational within the next 12-18 months.

John Mondock, director of HFS purchasing, warehouse, distribution and bakery, said part of the process was identifying current vehicles that qualified for the grant.”

Then, Mondock said the university selected battery-electric vehicles that would meet its needs to replace existing diesel vehicles.

“We also identified processes to meet the requirements of the grant,” he said.

According to a Penn State press release, this grant provides the opportunity to begin to bring in electric medium and heavy-duty trucks to their fleet — part of Penn State’s efforts to reduce university greenhouse emissions by 100% by 2035.

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