Lara Abrams Communications

On Green Fleet Developments in Silicon Valley: An Update From The Environmental Business Cluster

Monday, March 17th, 2008

The greening of transportation is an interesting topic in our household, in part because Jon and I have both independently spent and still spend time looking at various pieces of the transportation puzzle: he’s focused on hydrogen economy projects at work, and I’ve only recently (in the last 4 years) pulled my head out of transportation software and the world of logistics…so we both look at transportation from unique angles. When I got an email recently from Jim Robbins, the Executive Director of the Environmental Business Cluster in San Jose, to update me on the work of The Electronic Transportation Development Center (ETDC), I was ready to go and listen and take lots of notes. Jim has a knack for getting things started; he knows the business of incubation pretty much better than anyone I know, and it’s a unique skillset to be able to initiate such projects successfully. So though I missed the meeting due to being stuck home with a bad cold, I made sure to follow up, and I spoke with Jim earlier this week, to catch up on what I’d missed in the meeting.

First, a little background on the Environmental Business Cluster. The EBC specializes in technology commercialization of clean and renewable energy technology, and counts commercialization contracts with the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Dept. of Energy. It’s also the largest private technology commercialization program for clean energy start-ups within the US. Currently the Electronic Transportation Development Center is getting help from the EBC in the development of a place (1) where established and early-stage companies will focus on the design, development, commercialization, and prototype manufacturing of alternate fuels and hybrid electric and gas commercial vehicles that also meet homeland security needs and (2) where these companies can collaborate on projects and share laboratory, light manufacturing, demonstration, and office space. This includes one project the EBC has been working quietly behind the scenes with the Electronic Transportation Development Center on, which is an electric school bus project - one intended to turn Silicon Valley into a key US hub for future green transportation projects.

The electric school bus project was an idea first floated to the city 3 years ago. Today the EBC has a full business plan, a grant from the US DoC that was matched by the city, has invested about 500k thus far in the project, and sees this first phase off to a strong start. “We’ve done a design for a permanent facility, have labs and manufacturing space for these projects,” says Robinson. “The next project might be an airport vehicle, a truck – who knows.”

The organization itself has spent a significant amount of time in researching the development and prototyping of green fleet vehicles. It identified and selected the firm Mobile Energy Solutions as the base bus technology for the electric school bus project, with a dozen or so silicon valley technologies identified, which the Cluster is currently determining how to integrate into the base bus platform design. Rooftop solar, lighting, communication, security software and battery technologies are all part of the mix. “It’ll be a whole new design,” says Robinson. The EBC interviewed about 80 technologies originally, Robinson told me, before they culled the list. They have a database of available technologies that’s even bigger.

The EBC has applied with MES for a 11.5 million dollar grant from the DOE which, Robinson says, if they get it, will involve the prototyping of about 80 buses which would be spread out and tested across the country and terrains. Robinson also noted the significant funding available from the state and the California Energy Commission that is putting 120 million a year into applied research for clean transportation, and the availability of a 200 million dollar fund for school districts who want to purchase clean buses. And MES is in talks to move its facility to the San Jose area, which can only mean positive things for the future greening of Silicon Valley transportation. For more info, see the following link here and here.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

^ back to top

 

Contact Lara Abrams

To contact Lara, please email her at lara@laraabrams.com or call 415 613 1704.