As soon as that first snowplow was attached to a horse drawn wagon officials have been looking at other fuels to accomplish the winter maintenance mission for a variety of reasons including performance, availability of fuels, or environmental considerations. What defines an alternate fuel depends on your current situation with regards to fleet, engines, and powertrain. A recently completed Clear Roads project, 21-05: Evaluation of EVT and Alternative Fuels for Winter Operations provided a comprehensive look at this topic.
In this episode project champion Justin Droste, Michigan Department of Transportation and the research team lead by Kate Vigneau, Matrix Consulting Group, and Russ Owens of Energetics set the stage for transitioning a winter maintenance fleet to alternative fuels by looking at the requirements for winter maintenance and the alternative fuel possibilities.
For more information you can review the Clear Roads report at this link: https://clearroads.org/project/21-05/ or you can ask specific questions or discuss this topic with our guests by sending them an email at the above links.
0:00 Introduction
1:30 Clear Roads project development
3:47 Considerations for alternative fuels
8:23 Alternate fuels currently being utilized
9:27 Biodiesel and biodiesel blends
13:35 What do the engine and truck manufacturers have to say
16:48 Renewable fuels
19:18 Compressed gasses for fuels
22:59 Fuel cells and battery electric vehicles (BEV)
26:07 Operational requirements
31:09 What’s next
31:44 Sign off
SICOP Talks Winter Ops is always looking for interesting topics and guests to visit with regarding winter maintenance and road weather. If you have any ideas for future episodes contact Rick Nelson at rnelson@aashto.org or our our co-producer Scott Lucas at SELucas@columbus.gov