State Funds Helping Lower Merion Expand Electric Vehicle Fleet

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — The goal of reducing carbon emissions and making Lower Merion Township even more environmentally friendly got a funding boost from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection recently awarded $2.9 million in 2022 Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant funding to municipalities, schools, and businesses around the state to switch to zero- or low-emission vehicles.

Lower Merion Township was among the recipients.

The municipality got $22,500 to purchase one electric car and two electric pickup trucks for municipal and police use.

The DEP Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) program supports projects to replace older gasoline or diesel fueled vehicles with cleaner fuel vehicles and install related fueling infrastructure to improve air quality in Pennsylvania.

The 28 funded projects will install 32 electric vehicle chargers for private and public use and put 95 electric vehicles, 24 compressed or renewable natural gas vehicles, and 11 propane vehicles on the road.

Nine of the vehicles will be fully electric long-haul tractor trailers, the first supported by the AFIG program.

Several other projects are for transit buses and garbage trucks.

These three types of vehicles are the biggest consumers of gasoline, according to the U.S. Department of Energy web page on average annual gasoline use by vehicle type.

The projects will be fully paid for with DEP funds.

DEP receives approximately $5 million in funding each year through the utilities gross receipts tax collected during each fiscal year to carry out the provisions of the Alternative Fuels Incentive Act.