DOE announces SuperTruck 3 initiative
The Department of Energy on Thursday unveiled two funding opportunities totaling more than $162 million to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in cars and trucks. The funding will support the next stage of the SuperTruck initiatives – aimed at electrifying freight trucking – along with efforts to expand electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and lower emissions for on- and off-road vehicles.
DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) first launched the SuperTruck initiative in 2009, aimed at improving heavy-duty truck freight efficiency by 50%, while the follow-up SuperTruck 2 in 2016 sought to double fuel efficiency for Class 8 trucks.
DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm called the efforts both urgent and exciting, by turns. "There is so much opportunity" to be created out of cleaner technology, she said, including increasing "America’s share of the global clean energy market," directing "benefits into the communities that have been left behind." The urgency comes with her agency's prerogative to not "wait to wage full-out war on the climate crisis."