Volkswagen settlement data - Minnesota Pollution Control ...



Volkswagen settlement data and information requestBackgroundThe U.S. Department of Justice successfully sued Volkswagen after the company for years illegally tampered with its vehicles’ emission control systems and falsified U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions tests for the company’s light-duty diesel vehicles. The VW diesel engines were found to have exceeded tailpipe emissions standards by more than 30 times for nitrogen oxides (NOx) over the past seven years. The settlement included approximately $3 billion for states and tribes to use on projects to reduce diesel NOx emissions. Minnesota expects to receive $47 million. These funds are for projects to offset the NOx emissions caused by the VW diesel vehicles. Only projects specified in the agreement are eligible for funding. Eligible diesel projects would replace, retrofit, or repower (put a new engine in an old body) an old diesel vehicle or piece of equipment. An old diesel vehicle can be replaced with new diesel technology or other fuel technologies, such as electricity, propane, or natural gas. The old equipment must be scrapped. Within the limits of the settlement, Minnesota has room to prioritize projects and initiatives. For more information on the VW settlement and what it means for Minnesota, visit our website at pca.state.mn.us/vw.39848413926200Eligible equipmentVW Settlement money can be used only for the following specific emission reduction projects:Class 8 local freight trucks and port drayage trucksClass 4-8 school buses, shuttle buses or transit busesPre-Tier 4 diesel switcher locomotivesFerries and tugsOcean going vessel shore powerClass 4-7 local freight trucksAirport ground support equipmentForklifts and port cargo handling equipmentLight-duty zero emission vehicle supply equipment?Matching funds to support eligible projects through the?Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA), including off-road construction equipment.You may wish to refer to Appendix D-2 of the settlement for additional clarification.RequestThe MPCA is committed to developing a program to spend its allocated settlement funding in a way that reflects the specific emissions problems faced by Minnesota and will bring benefits across the state, including in rural communities and communities of environmental justice concern. To do this we need to better understand the diesel and electric vehicle “universe” in our state. The MPCA has access to modeling and inventory data, but wants to understand data from the perspective of vehicle and equipment users and owners in Minnesota. Please help us by providing whatever data below that you have access to. Please contact us at vwsettlement.pca@state.mn.us with questions. THANK YOU!Data and information submittal formIf possible, we request you submit this data to us by July 5, 2017 so that we have time to look at it in advance of our next technical stakeholder meeting on July 12, 2017. If you have data to share with us after that date, we will still welcome it, but would like as much as possible to receive data in the next month. Please submit your information to us at vwsettlement.pca@state.mn.us. You may choose to submit your data in this form or in another format. Please note that we plan to aggregate this data and make it public. No names or associations will be attached to the data.We ask that you fill out what you can below. There are two sections: one for diesel and one for electric vehicles. Please fill out the section that applies to you. Fill in information on your area of expertise, fleet, industry, etc. and do not worry if you don’t have answers to all the questions. We are interested in information at the fleet level and the industry level, so you can address the questions at either level, depending on your expertise. If you do not have information on a given question, feel free to leave it blank. Thank you for your time and input!Please fill out the following information:Your organization (Include company/organization name and contact name, email, and phone number)Your organization’s business, focus, background, or expertise (For example, diesel fleet owner, propane distributor, etc.)Diesel informationPlease refer to the list of eligible equipment on the first page of this document. For each of those categories, we would like to know the following information. We understand some of this information might not be available for each sector and each organization may only be able to fill in part of the picture based on your fleet and experience. Please provide whatever information you are familiar with. Please include any explanation of the data you feel would be helpful.Existing diesel vehicles and equipmentHow many units (eligible equipment of your area of expertise) exist in Minnesota or your fleet? (Please specify if you are answering on the sector-level or the fleet-level.)Where are they? Where do they operate?A. How many on-road (highway) diesel vehicles are 2009 and older? How many are 2010 and newer?B. How many off-road pieces of equipment are certified to Tier-2 EPA emissions standards or lower? How many are Tier-3-4?How often do you replace these units? What is the normal retirement age?How many hours or miles does each unit typically operate in a year? How much fuel does a typical unit use in a year?Potential for technology improvementsWhat alternative fuel technologies are available for this sector? (Propane, compressed natural gas, electric, etc.)What are the advantages and disadvantages of these alternative fuel technologies compared with each other and with modern diesel technologies? (For example, maintenance, ease of operation, etc.)What infrastructure is needed for alternative fuel technologies? Does it already exist? Where? How much does it cost?How much fuel does a modern unit use (diesel and alternative fuel options)?What is the cost of a new unit (diesel and alternative fuel options)?What are the opportunities for replacing engines on these units?What is the cost of a typical engine replacement?What are the opportunities for retrofitting emission controls onto these units?What is the cost of a typical retrofit?What other benefits do you see to these technologies? (For example, economic development, jobs, etc.)What have we missed? What data do you think we need that we haven’t asked for?Electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure informationThe settlement allows states to use up to 15% of overall funds on electric vehicle charging stations. The settlement allows instillation of EV infrastructure at public places, workplaces, and multi-unit housing. If Minnesota decides to use some of our funds for EV infrastructure, we would want to know the following information.What are the advantages and disadvantages of different types of locations for EV charging stations? (For example, multi-unit housing, work place, geography, population center, destination, storefront, highway corridor, etc.) What are the advantages and disadvantages of different locations for EV fast charging stations along highway corridors and why?? (e.g., high population centers, destinations, rural, statewide, regions, commercial interests) ?What are the advantages and disadvantages of different sizes of Direct Current (DC) Fast Charging stations (i.e., 50 kW, 150 kW, 350 kW) under different use scenarios (For example, multi-unit housing, highway corridors, installation and operation costs, future technologies, etc.)? What are the advantages and disadvantages of Level-1 (110 volt) and Level-2 (240 volt) stations under different use scenarios (For example, multi-unit housing, work place, geography, metering considerations, etc.)?What are best practices for spacing increments for fast charging (i.e., 50 miles, 100 miles) corridors? How far off the highway ramp or intersection (i.e., 1 mile, 2 miles)?What are the barriers to installing charging stations at multi-unit housing, workplaces, or public places?What have we missed? What other information is important to consider for EV charging station location and type?Thank you for your help! To submit this form, or if you have any questions, please contact us at vwsettlement.pca@state.mn.us. ................
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