The UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies is researching the feasibility of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the market. 

At the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis), which was recently featured in the Los Angeles Times, researchers have reached optimistic conclusions about the viability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), a zero emission vehicle technology that is now beginning to appear in California. In recent years there has been increased effort worldwide to develop inexpensive cars, trucks and SUVs that run on hydrogen fuel cells and build a sustainable and cost-effective infrastructure to support them.

“Hydrogen fuel cell cars offer consumer value similar or superior to today’s gasoline cars,” UC Davis professor of environmental science Joan Ogden to the LA Times. “The technology readily enables large vehicle size, a driving range of 300 to 400 miles, and a fast refueling time of three to five minutes.”

The biggest obstacle in convincing people to buy FCVs is the current lack of hydrogen fueling stations. However, those fueling stations are unlikely to be built without a critical mass of FCVs to provide business. Researchers at ITS-Davis acknowledge that it’s a “chicken and egg dilemma,” where neither cars nor stations can realistically be implemented without each other.

“The question isn’t whether fuel cell vehicles are technically ready: They are,” said Ogden to the LA Times. Ogden is the director of the Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways program at ITS-Davis. “But how do you build confidence in hydrogen’s future for investors, fuel suppliers, automakers, and, of course, for consumers?”

ITS-Davis researchers have determined that, if given an initial investment of $100 to $200 million, fuel cell vehicles are poised to compete with gasoline cars in price. Some recent developments have helped make FCVs more practical, including $46 million from the State of California to construct 28 hydrogen fueling stations, which will decrease costs for building stations and vehicles, and increased natural gas availability for hydrogen fuel production.

Several car manufacturers, such as Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, are getting ready to roll out FCVs in 2015. And in what was called a “milestone in the commercialization” of hydrogen vehicles, in January, a station at Cal State L.A., just east of downtown, became the state’s first to sell hydrogen by the kilogram to the public, with more fully operational stations soon to follow around California.

The LA Times article mentioned more ways to make FCVs appealing to a consumer market include tax exemptions and access to carpool lanes for FCV drivers. Similar government-backed initiatives are underway in Germany and Japan as well.

“We seem to be tantalizingly close to the beginning of a hydrogen transition,” said Ogden. “The next three to four years will be critical for determining whether hydrogen vehicles are just a few years behind electric vehicles, rather than decades.”

Read the full LA Times article. http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-fuel-cell-vehicles-davis-20140814-story.html

View a video, listen to a webinar, and read a blog and Joan’s Ogden’s full research study on hydrogen FCVs. http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/blog-post/the-hydrogen-transition-this-time-for-real/

Learn more about the Institute of Transportation Studies. http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/

Anthony Eggert, Executive Director of the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy, is leaving for a senior position at a private foundation, it was announced on January 21, 2015.

Eggert has served as head of this innovative and influential institute since its founding in 2011.

With Eggert’s departure, serving as Acting Director for the Policy Institute will be James Bushnell, Associate Professor of Economics at UC Davis. Bushnell was Director of the Bio-based Industry Center at Iowa State University from 2009 to 2011 and Research Director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley from 2000 to 2009.

In California, the West, and nationally, the Policy Institute plays a leading role in leveraging university expertise to inform energy, climate, and transportation policies—acting as a bridge between scientific researchers and decision-makers. Under Eggert’s leadership, the Policy Institute has engaged in all aspects of the policy process: understanding the needs of policymakers to inform research questions and projects, proactively delivering accessible and timely research findings to legislative and administrative leadership and staff, and undertaking analysis and evaluation to improve existing policies.

“Anthony Eggert has been highly effective at informing policy on sustainable transportation, clean energy and climate adaptation,” said Dan Sperling, Director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation studies and Faculty Chair of the Policy Institute Steering Committee. “Anthony was instrumental in building and guiding the institute from its inception and promoting unprecedented collaboration between government, industry, NGO’s, and academia. We are indebted to Anthony.”

“He laid the groundwork for the Policy Institute to play an even more influential role in the future,” added Sperling.

Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board and Policy Institute Advisory Board member, also reflected on Eggert’s time at the Institute: “Anthony Eggert established the UC Davis Policy Institute as a valued resource for climate and energy leaders in California and around the country. Through a variety of dialogs and programs with practitioners, Anthony highlighted the opportunities for leading-edge research to inform the decision-making process. There is no question that California’s climate policy is better as a result.”

Eggert previously served as an appointee of Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger in several senior policy positions, as a commissioner for the California Energy Commission, deputy secretary for the California Environmental Protection Agency, and senior advisor to the Air Resources Board. In private industry he worked as an engineer and manager for Ford Motor Company. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of Wisconsin – Madison and his master of science degree in transportation technology and policy from UC Davis.

Eggert commented on his time at UC Davis: “Through partnership with the top researchers on campus and beyond, support from campus leadership, and guidance from our faculty and advisory board, we were able to quickly build an Institute that had a positive and lasting impact on policy. I am very fortunate to have been part of the team to make this happen and I look forward to watching the Institute as it evolves and grows in the future.”

Eggert will be joining the ClimateWorks Foundation in San Francisco as a Program Director leading their work on transportation policy.

As it enters its fourth year, the Policy Institute’s work continues under the leadership of Bushnell as Acting Director. A search for an Executive Director is underway.

Dan Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis), has been appointed the 2015 chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Executive Committee, which provides independent scientific advice to the nation on transportation issues.

The appointment was announced at the 94th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, held January 11-15 in Washington, D.C. and attended by 12,000 transportation professionals from across the United States and abroad. The Transportation Research Board is a major division of the National Research Council, the private, nonprofit institution that serves as the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering and as an independent adviser to the U.S. government.

“The Institute of Transportation Studies is a global leader in sustainable transportation, and this appointment is a testament to Dan’s standing as a researcher and innovator in his field,” said UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. “I am sure that Dan’s leadership of the Transportation Research Board’s Executive Committee will serve as a tremendous boon for innovation in transportation across the country.”

The executive committee Sperling will chair for the coming year oversees the board’s programs and activities, engaging more than 7,000 engineers, scientists, and transportation researchers and practitioners from academia and the private and public sectors, including state departments of transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The board’s mission is to promote innovation and progress in transportation through objective research.

“The Transportation Research Board is hugely influential as the focal point of transportation research activities in the United States and the world,” said Sperling. “I am honored to lead it and look forward to helping broaden its engagement with environmental and other sustainability issues.”

One of the world’s most renowned transportation experts, Sperling founded ITS-Davis in 1991 and has led it to international prominence—building strong partnerships with industry, government and the environmental community, and connecting research with public policy and outreach.

In 2013, ITS-Davis was selected in a national competition to lead the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, a two-year, $11.2 million research, education and outreach consortium of six universities for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Located in UC Davis’ West Village, the nation’s largest planned zero-net-energy community, the Institute of Transportation Studies has more than 150 faculty, staff, and student researchers. The affiliated UC Davis Transportation Technology and Policy Graduate Program offers interdisciplinary master’s and doctoral degrees in sustainable transportation, with more than 225 of its alumni currently serving as leaders in government and industry.

Sperling is a professor of civil engineering, and environmental science and policy at UC Davis.  He is recognized as a leading international expert on transportation technology assessment, energy and environmental aspects of transportation, and transportation policy.

In the course of Sperling’s distinguished career, he has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and multiple state legislatures, and has authored or co-authored more than 200 technical papers and 12 books, including “Two Billion Cars” (Oxford University Press, 2009) — which earned him an appearance on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.  In 2013, he received the Blue Planet Prize from the Asahi Glass Foundation, described as the Nobel Prize for environmental sciences. He has served as a board member of the California Air Resources Board since 2007, where his chief responsibilities are implementation oversight of the state’s climate change, alternative fuels, vehicle travel and land use, and zero emission vehicle programs.

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At the 94^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Sperling also delivered the TRB 2015 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lecture, “The Emerging Transformation of Mobility, Vehicles, and Fuels.”

The UC Davis Transportation Technology and Policy (TTP) graduate program is the subject of a new highly engaging video—featuring professors, students, and alumni telling the story of an academic program that provides a “front row seat” to California and the planet’s greatest challenges in mobility and transportation.

The video provides an inside look from students pursuing masters and doctoral degrees in sustainable transportation, as well as from the faculty and researchers who mentor and partner with them on their education. Also featured are first-hand accounts by TTP alumni who have gone on to successful transportation sector careers at the U.S. Department of Energy, BMW, and the California Air Resources Board.

TTP is an interdisciplinary graduate program combining transportation, energy, environmental policy, and economic curricula through a diverse selection of courses. TTP offers students a multifaceted skillset, one suited to train leaders ready to immediately make a positive impact on technology and policy in the real world.

TTP is hosted by the renowned UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis), a global leader for study and research on sustainable transportation. This year, ITS-Davis was selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to lead the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, a six-university research, education, and outreach consortium.

In the video, ITS-Davis Director and Professor Dan Sperling describes why the TTP graduate programs is special:

“Number one, we have a very strong focus on interdisciplinary education and research. Number two, we really focus on engagement with the outside world.  Number 3, our offices here are in West Village, the largest net zero energy community in the country. What that mean is that we’re living the vision of sustainable transportation and sustainable energy.”

Click here to view the five-minute video, “The UC Davis Transportation Technology and Policy Graduate Program:  What You Need to Know.”

The priority deadline for applying to the TTP graduate program is fast approaching—January 15—with the general deadline on April 1.

Click here for more info on applying to TTP.

For further information on the TTP graduate program, contact:

Annemarie Schaaf:

(530) 752-0247

Aschaaf@ucdavis.edu

UC Davis alumnus Nic Lutsey has received a prestigious national award for “Excellence in Automotive Policy Analysis” from the global engineering association SAE International.

A program director in the Washington D.C. office of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), Dr. Lutsey was honored with SAE International’s Barry D. McNutt Award for his expansive research and writing on light duty vehicle efficiency, technology, and regulation. The award recognizes the span of his output, from his days as graduate student and post-doctoral researcher in the UC Davis Transportation Technology and Policy (TTP) Graduate Program consulting with the California Air Resources Board, to his work with ICCT.

Lutsey received his master’s degree in 2003 and his doctorate in 2008 from the TTP Graduate Program. He has co-authored 19 peer-reviewed journal articles and dozens of reports on technology potential, federal and state regulatory design, industry compliance, and cost effectiveness for vehicles and alternative fuels.  In California, as a postdoctoral researcher at ITS-Davis, he conducted technical analysis for the California Air Resources Board regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s a great honor to be listed with the other people who have won the award,” said Lutsey. “I’ve cited David Greene and John German, and other previous winners many times in published reports. They’ve made a lasting impact, and to be mentioned along with them is very exciting to me.”

UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis) Director Dan Sperling, who was his graduate advisor, lauded Lutsey as an outstanding scientist and researcher, highly deserving of national recognition. “Nic is a brilliant and productive scholar who has been having a big impact on automotive policy ever since his graduate student days”, said Sperling. “We’re very proud of Nic and all that he has accomplished.”

Today, Lutsey directs ICCT’s global heavy-duty vehicle, fuels, and electric vehicle work and co-leads the international non-profit organization’s work in the United States.  With federal and California state light duty passenger regulation now well established, Lutsey has shifted his focus to the “next big thing.” At the moment, this means providing the best data and analysis for heavy-duty truck regulations in the U.S. and elsewhere and helping inform policymakers on the future transition to electric vehicles.

Lutsey said ITS-Davis positioned him very well for his ongoing work technology and policy work today. At ITS-Davis, he said, you get the “technical chops from rigorous coursework” as well as “real-world relevant research experience. You learn to ask the right questions from a lot of different angles and how to concisely distill, deliver, and brief on massive amounts of scientific analysis,” he said.

Lutsey will receive the Barry D. McNutt Award for Excellence in Automotive Policy Analysis at the SAE 2015 Government/Industry Meeting in Washington, D.C. in January.

The global association SAE International is a “knowledge source” for the engineering profession, uniting more than 148,000 engineers and technical experts and driving knowledge and expertise across a broad spectrum of industries.

What better way to begin your enrollment as a UC Davis Transportation and Technology Policy (TTP) graduate student than on a transportation adventure with your fellow students?

This year’s entering students joined their upper-level classmates in the first ever “Mobility Quest,” a five-day, student-led trip through various progressive transportation and energy locations on the West Coast. This year’s event was held just before the start of the fall quarter.

Mobility Quest is designed as an off-campus orientation and travel experience to introduce entering graduate students to the region’s wide variety of transportation, environmental, economic and policy issues. Students are able to see firsthand the challenges that government agencies and businesses face when implementing sustainable transportation practices in a real world context. This is also an excellent time for fellow graduate students to get to know one another, whether they are newly enrolled or veterans of ITS-Davis transportation-related programs.

In this year’s inaugural Mobility Quest, the ITS-Davis group visited the California Air Resources Board and the Siemens USA light rail manufacturing facility in Sacramento, Crater Lake National Park, various locales in Portland, and Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico.

As part of the Climate Friendly Parks Program, Crater Lake stands as one of the prime examples of implementing transportation infrastructure reform. During their visit, the group viewed many progressive transportation planning changes in action. Led by park management assistant Scott Burch, they learned about the park’s considerations for the impact of vehicle emissions. Through alternative mobility options like trollies, a robust system of buses, and bike paths, park management has deemphasized reliance on driving conventional vehicles. Also contributing to this new way of thinking are structural changes, like closing roads off to traffic and implementing single-way lanes instead of traditional two-way lanes. Crater Lake’s success in maintaining the delicate balance of great accessibility within the park while transitioning to a more sustainable set of transportation infrastructure and policies made the visit a scenic and relevant learning experience.

The Mobility Quest group continued their trip further north to Portland, Oregon. As one of the most bike-friendly cities in the nation, Portland incorporates many different aspects to city planning and policy implementation. The team met with Mia Birk, vice president of Alta Bicycle Share, an urban mobility company dedicated to improving bike sharing systems in urban environments.

“In California, we tend to think more of bike infrastructure planning rather than bike share plans. Coming to Portland allowed us to view and consider different avenues and takes on the situation that we don’t normally see,” said ITS-Davis Ph.D. candidate and lead Mobility Quest coordinator, Jeff Kessler.

The group met with Tara Goddard, Ph.D. student/researcher at Portland State University, and former bike and pedestrian coordinator for the City of Davis. Together with Goddard, the group biked throughout the city of Portland, viewing the innovative bike infrastructure that the city has implemented, such as a new “Intelligent Transportation System” sensor. A blue light signals to bike riders that they’ve been detected by the system, saving them from having to manually press a crosswalk switch, and allowing for safer navigation through intersections for cars, bikes, and pedestrians.

Before returning to Davis, the group made a stop at Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico. Known for its emphasis on sustainable, low-footprint operations, Sierra Nevada leads by example through its commitment to zero-waste action. Students toured the facility, viewing a variety of the brewery’s innovative efficiency initiatives. Home to one of the largest privately owned solar arrays in the U.S, and the only brewery to house hydrogen fuel cells for energy, Sierra Nevada is a prime example of eco-friendly business practices. “Small businesses like Sierra Nevada are innovators that are voluntarily addressing sustainability endeavors, becoming leading examples for others,” said ITS-Davis Ph.D. candidate Christina Zapata.

On a post-trip survey, 100 percent of the students responded positively, saying it served as a valuable learning and bonding experience. With the positive feedback in mind, Kessler is now turning his attention to next year’s event.

Although Mobility Quest is a brand new initiative, Kessler hopes it will become an annually recurring event that energizes and engages new TTP students as they begin their graduate academic career.

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Would you like to contribute to a future Mobility Quest through Friends of ITS-Davis? Click here.

For further information about Mobility Quest—or if you are interested in having TTP students visit your institution to talk about the graduate program— contact Jeff Kessler at jkessler@ucdavis.edu.

For an overview of the TTP graduate program, and an online application and contact information, click here.

Why aren’t there more plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) on U.S. and California roadways?

Transportation Technology and Policy doctoral candidate Eric Cahill asserts that new car dealers hold the key, with a supporting cast that includes auto manufacturers and policymakers also playing important roles. Eric describes his findings in a recently published UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis) working paper entitled, “New Car Dealers and Retail Innovation in California’s Plug-in Electric Vehicle Market.”

Cahill’s research examines the market challenges facing plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs)—cars that demand far more from retailers than anything that came before.

His research explores why some new car dealerships are reluctant to sell and market PEVs, even though many PEVs are more profitable for dealers than conventional cars in the same size category. Cahill visited car dealers and spoke with owners, salespeople, customers, automakers, electric utilities and others, to understand the barriers and drivers behind PEV sales and to consider whether dealers have the resources to sell PEVs effectively.

The California New Car Dealer Association provided access to dealers throughout the state. To gauge customer perceptions of the dealer experience, Cahill relied on data from J.D. Power, a partner in the study. He also collaborated with the Center for Sustainable Energy to gather feedback from PEV buyers on how well dealers meet needs unique to PEV buyers.

Cahill’s analysis showed that for PEV buyers, the dealer experience falls far short of customer expectations. Cahill believes this arises out of market challenges inherent with substantially new and different products. “Dealers have evolved to sell vehicles that look and act a certain way,” he said. “When you introduce a product that may look roughly the same but involve customers doing things differently – like plugging in, dealers have to come up a steep learning curve. That lag in learning may greatly affect the pace of consumer adoption and success of the product.”

Cahill hopes to get out in front of potential negative sentiment towards Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) generally, including PEVs. “You can poison the well by disappointing early customers who don’t get the support they need to unlock the unique value that PEVs bring,” said Cahill.

Bringing these issues to the forefront will also help highlight successful ZEV dealers, ultimately bringing best practices and retail innovations to light. These practices include new approaches for training sales staff on clean vehicle technologies and new tools for equipping dealers to better serve PEV customers. For example, some of the more pioneering dealers designated seasoned, tech-savvy sales people as PEV product specialists to sell the car. Many of these “PEV geniuses” drive PEVs themselves and know the technology inside and out from their own first-hand driving experience.

Before pursuing his Ph.D. at ITS-Davis, Cahill earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California, and master’s degrees in Engineering & Management, and Technology & Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and worked for General Motors, Boeing, and Quantum Fuels Systems. He is also founder and president of Adaptiv LLC, a consultancy specializing in new product introduction, regulatory policy, and strategic marketing for advanced clean vehicles.

The majority of funding for Cahill’s research came from a California Energy Commission grant. He received additional backing from the University of California Transportation Center, via a federal University Transportation Center grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in partnership with Caltrans.

Cahill’s research on retail innovation could help accelerate change in the way automakers and dealers market and sell PEVs – changes, Cahill hopes, that will bolster the market for zero emission transportation alternatives.

***

Cahill’s ITS-Davis study, “New Car Dealers and Retail Innovation in California’s Plug-in Electric Vehicle Market,” links:

• Working Paper
• Policy Brief

Links to the two-part GreenLight blog on Eric’s research:

• Part 1
• Part 2

 

The UC Davis Transportation and Energy programs were in the spotlight at the Nov. 1  Aggies home football game. At the end of the first quarter, stadium goers viewed a brief video (below) on the stadium’s scoreboard depicting the strength of the Transportation Technology and Policy graduate program, and how our institutes and centers are working to create a sustainable future for all.

When a team of UC Davis students packs up its house and travels to Irvine next year for the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2015 Solar Decathlon competition, its members will bring not only a desire to win, but also to make zero-net-energy homes more affordable.

After submitting an entry for the first time, UC Davis was one of 20 universities selected in February to compete in the Solar Decathlon. The competition draws students and scientists from universities across the nation — from Yale and Vanderbilt to CalPoly and Sacramento State — to design and build solar-powered homes that are energy efficient and attractive.

Meeting a competition milestone, UC Davis’ team, Aggie Sol, submitted 80 percent-complete design documents to the department on Oct. 9. The UC Davis project is designed to be a marketable, sustainable house for farmworkers and other low-income communities. Complete plans for the home are due in January, when construction will begin at UC Davis. In October 2015, the home will be disassembled, packed in pieces and transported to the competition site in Irvine.

“I really want to see solar homes everywhere,” said Aggie Sol team member Payman Alemi, a civil and environmental engineering major. “I want every house to be solar powered, and I want every car to be electric. I want everything to be sustainable, and I think that developing a mass marketable house is a big stepping stone.”

Connecting a campus

In addition to addressing a social and environmental problem, the project also provides unique educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

It connects students in the fields of engineering, architecture, design, communication and development. They’ve drawn on the expertise and support of faculty in the colleges of Letters and Sciences, Engineering, and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. They’ve also tapped the experience of several energy centers on campus—most located at West Village—including the Institute of Transportation Studies, Energy Efficiency Center, Plug-In Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Research Center, and Center for Water Energy Efficiency.

“I heard about what we were going to do about ZNE housing for low-income families, and that really struck a chord with me, being from a low-income neighborhood,” said team member Alejandro Perez, a civil and environmental engineering major. “I really want to make my own house energy efficient, but it’s really costly, and it’s not really practical where I’m from. Just being part of that effort to make it more affordable really inspired me to be part of the team.”

And while team Aggie Sol is made of about 20 students, an estimated 200 to 500 students from various disciplines will study the project in the coming months, including students from UC Davis Extension, the continuing education division of UC Davis.

The project students are also working with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and the Division of Social Sciences to create a business plan for the home.

“We want to use this as a way to showcase the ability for zero net energy to be affordable and to do it with a business model in place to implement change in California,” said faculty adviser Frank Loge, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. “If we don’t win the competition and still market it, some of us will feel like this has been a very successful effort.”

Nothing but net

UC Davis has proven itself a national leader in zero-net-energy design. In 2011, it opened West Village, a public-private partnership with West Village Community Partnership LLC and the nation’s largest planned zero-net-energy community. This past spring, it debuted the Honda Smart Home, which produces enough renewable energy to power both the home and a Honda Fit electric vehicle in its garage.

Private builders and homeowners worldwide have also taken on the challenge of creating homes that produce as much energy as they consume, and the California Public Utilities Commission has a goal for all new residential homes to be zero net energy by 2020. Yet such residences still tend to fall on the upper financial spectrum of the real estate market.

“As part of our effort at UC Davis, we want to make zero-net-energy housing affordable for everyone,” Loge said. “We’re trying to drive down the price point of zero-net-energy housing to help the housing market understand that you can have affordable, nice homes that are zero net energy.”

Big cut in price

Price estimates for most homes that compete in the Decathlon range from $300 to $350 per square foot. Team Aggie Sol intends to cut that price by more than half, to $70 to $150 per square foot.

One way they’re doing that is by creating a relatively simple, modular design using prefabricated materials. The Aggie Sol design also addresses the health and living concerns associated with farmworkers’ current housing conditions, such as poor air quality, crowding and lack of shade.

The home combines public and private spaces in three linear zones: Two climate-controlled living spaces are separated by an enclosed deck. The zones act as climate buffers that maximize passive cooling in summer and passive heating in winter. It will also feature “smart home” technology that aligns the home’s needs with the electrical grid, communicating with the resident and power provider to manage energy systems more effectively.

The team plans to begin building the house in January on the UC Davis campus but has not yet chosen a location. Loge said they intend for the home to be built in a public place.

The Department of Energy provided a $50,000 grant to Aggie Sol, while the team is attempting to raise at least another $700,000 for training, travel, equipment, uniforms and team-building costs.

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UC Davis is growing California

At UC Davis, we and our partners are nourishing our state with food, economic activity and better health,playing a key part in the state’s role as the top national agricultural producer for more than 50 years. UC Davis is participating in UC’s Global Food Initiative launched by UC President Janet Napolitano, harnessing the collective power of UC to help feed the world and steer it on the path to sustainability.

Kat Kerlin covers the environmental sciences for Strategic Communications.

Photo: UC Davis students, from left, Ariel Chavez, Jean Kim (both civil and environmental engineering majors) and Sydney Patterson (a design major) discuss their solar home design. Photo Credit: Aggie Sol Team

UC Davis Today story

In a landmark international collaboration on clean vehicle adoption, the University of California, Davis, and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center will work together to help speed the commercialization of plug-in and fuel cell electric cars in China and the U.S. under an agreement signed Sept. 6 in Tianjin, China.

The five-year memorandum of understanding establishes the China–U.S. ZEV Policy Lab, a partnership between UC Davis, the world’s leading university on sustainable transportation, and CATARC, the administrative body that oversees and regulates many activities of the auto industry in China, the world’s largest new-car market. Primary UC Davis partners are the Institute of Transportation Studies and the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy.

The California Air Resources Board, the world’s leader on clean vehicle policies, and the National Development and Reform Commission, a major Chinese government agency, have supported the agreement and will co-chair the new entity’s advisory board. Major international and Chinese automotive and energy companies will also be invited to participate.

The memorandum of understanding was signed during the 2014 International Forum on Chinese Automotive Industry Development.

“Given the great importance the Chinese government now attaches to the development and commercialization of new energy vehicles, the establishment of the Policy Lab is extremely timely,” Gang Li, the department chief in charge of vehicles at NDRC said at the ceremony. “As a platform for Sino-U.S. exchanges and cooperation in the field of new energy vehicle policies, I believe that the Policy Lab will play an important role in promoting EV-related policy design and EV development in both countries.”

The collaboration will help expand the global market for zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs, by providing intellectual support for design of ZEV policies and analysis of consumer markets, including demand for charging stations, different types of ZEV technologies, and effectiveness of incentives. The China–U.S. ZEV Policy Lab will strengthen cooperation between California, the current leader in ZEV sales and the United States’ largest new-car market, and China, the global leader in new-car sales.

“This agreement is an important milestone in coordinating global efforts to accelerate clean vehicle commercialization,” said Daniel Sperling, director of ITS-Davis. “We are honored to join forces with CATARC, whose important leadership in this area will allow California, the United States and China to promote best practices and policy initiatives that will bring new energy vehicles to market not only in China and the United States, but also around the world.”

In addition to policy research and studies of consumer behavior, the China–U.S. ZEV Policy Lab will train advanced vehicle researchers and leaders in California and China, inform Chinese regional and central government officials on California’s ZEV and related vehicle policies, and exchange information between California and China regarding lessons learned.

Read more:

• Read Dan Sperling’s GreenLight blog
• Read the full press release
• Read the MOU

Top press coverage:

• ClimateWire
• Sacramento Bee
• KGO Bay Area AM 810 News Radio
• CleanTechnica
• Comstock’s
• Automotive News