Day One - Feb. 6th, 2019

Registration & Check In 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM

Opening:

9:00 AM-9:20 AM

Brian C. Annis
Secretary of the California Transportation Agency

Richard Corey
Executive Office, California Air Resources Board

 

Session 1. How to Start A ZEB Fleet

9:20 AM-10:40 AM

The panel will discuss how to plan a ZEB pilot project and transition into a ZEB fleet.  Planning is crucial to ensure a successful deployment and budget control.  A transit fleet should conduct pre-planning before vehicle procurement to better understand the overall service needs, operation challenges, and infrastructure needs.  The panel will also discuss what questions a transit agency should ask the future fuel provider in pre-planning.  

Moderator: 

Steve Clermont 
Director of Planning & Deployment 
Center for Transportation and The Environment


Panelists:

Norm Hickling
Director of Strategic Planning and Development
Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA)

Salvador Llamas
Chief Operating Officer
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit)

Doran J. Barnes
Executive Director
Foothill Transit 

Simon Horton
Senior Project Manager in
Transportation Electrification Project Management
Southern California Edison

William Zobel
Vice President of Market
Development and Strategy
Trillium, A Love's Company

Special Presentation: ShenZhen Experience

10:40 AM-11:20 AM

Joe Ma
Deputy General Manager
Shenzhen Bus Group Co., Ltd.

Liao Mingyu
Deputy Division Manager
Shenzhen Bus Group Co., Ltd.

 

Lunch Break and Networking 11:20 AM – 1:00 PM

 

Session 2. Fuel Costs

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Fuel costs account for a big portion of operating costs. It is important to understand how fuel costs are incurred and the best practice to manage the cost.

Special Presentation: In this presentation, NREL will provide an overview of the zero-emission bus fleets it currently monitors and studies, the fuel cost of each, and possible mitigation for each transit to reduce fuel cost.  

Speaker: 

Leslie Eudy
Sr. Project Leader
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

 

Session 2.1. Electricity Costs and Best Practice

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM

This panel will discuss the electricity cost and how it could be managed.  The current EV rates provided by utilities could provide a good incentive for fleets that can take advantage during the low-rate charging window.  However, it would require more planning if a fleet utilizes on-route charging method or has to charge outside of the short low-rate window.  Energy storage and off-grid charging could potentially mitigate electricity costs, too. This session will also discuss how transit agencies may build their own energy storage in preparation for power outage or emergency response to disasters.

Moderator: 

Fred Silver 
Vice President
CALSTART

Panelists:

Mark Perry 
Director of Operations and Maintenance 
Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) 

Roland Cordero
Director of Maintenance and Vehicle Technology
Foothill Transit 

Gary Miskell
Chief Technology Officer
Santa Clara VTA

Hitesh Soneji
Senior Solutions Design Engineer
Olivine, Inc. 

Brett Webster
Project Manager II on Policy and Ratings
& Distributed Energy Resources
Energy Solutions

Break 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM

 

Session 2.2. Hydrogen Costs and Station Throughput

2:45 PM- 3:45 PM

This panel will discuss how hydrogen cost can be brought to parity and how to overcome infrastructure challenges.  Fuel cell electric buses have a similar range as conventional buses.  Using hydrogen as a fuel has a lot of advantages and conveniences but there remain several key challenges affecting fleet operators, not the least of which is the high cost of hydrogen.  However, it is important to have parity on the fuel price. It is important to identify how and when will the cost of hydrogen reach parity with conventional fuels to make fuel cell buses an affordable all-electric transit option and how renewable supplies will be provided.

Moderator: 

Jaimie Levin
Director West Coast Operations 
CTE

Panelists: 

Pierre-Germain Marlier
Air Liquide

Chris Kretz
Business Development Manager
Air Products

Arnab Chatterjee
Manager, Business Development, New Fuels
Shell New Energies 

Ryan Erickson
GM, Strategic Development
Trillium, A Love's Company
 

 

Session 3. Funding Opportunities

3:45 PM- 5:00 PM

This panel will discuss existing funding opportunities for buses. Zero-emission bus technologies have a higher cost in early years. Utilizing funding sources could help offset incremental costs and provide more operation certainties.

Moderator: 

Fred Silver 
Vice President 
CALSTART

Panelists:  

Kiel Pratt
Supervisor of the Advanced
Freight Technology and Planning Unit
California Energy Commission

Mike Neuenburg
Program Coordinator
Sacramento Air Quality Management District
CAPCOA 

Amar Cid
Branch Chief
Caltrans (Low Carbon Transit Operations Program)

Kyle Gradinger
Assistant Division Chief 
Caltrans Division of Rail & Mass Transportation
(Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program)

Tarah Campi
HVIP Program Manager
CALSTART  

Manisha Singh
ARB (Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program)

Reception 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Bailarin Cellars, 720 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 
^{Sponsored By: California Transit Association & BAE Systems}