The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently awarded Penn State a $3.305 million grant to implement electric vehicles (EV) and infrastructure at University Park.
The grant allows the university the opportunity to begin to electrify a medium and heavy-duty truck fleet.
“This project is a group effort, and I am very excited that it is moving forward,” David Snyder, Penn State associate vice president of auxiliary and business services, said. “I’d like to thank the commonwealth for their support and also credit the assistance of our on-campus units — such as Transportation Services, Lion Surplus, Housing and Food Services, Office of Physical Plant and Penn State Sustainability — for their contributions.”
Using the funds, the university will replace five Class 6 and 7 diesel-fueled box trucks with battery electric vehicles and install four DC fast EV chargers and one Level 2 EV charging station for those trucks at three locations on campus.
Housing and Food Services will use three trucks, Lion Surplus will use one and the Office of Physical Plant will use one.
Four trucks could be operational in 12 to 18 months.
The university owns 18 fully electric vehicles and 23 hybrid electric but does not own or operate any electric Class 4-8 trucks.