Dear members, colleagues and friends:

The National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium has another exciting project to announce before the year’s end; through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the NAFTC was awarded nearly $1 million to spearhead alternative fuel vehicle first responder training.

Also featured in this month’s issue is our year in review column, which hits some of 2012’s highlight. As we look back on 2012, we realize that it truly was an excellent year for both the NAFTC and the alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicle industry. The NAFTC’s record-breaking National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day Odyssey, my trip to the White House where I participated on the Advanced Vehicles: Driving Growth panel, Senator Joe Manchin’s visit to the NAFTC’s headquarters, and the National Excellence in Training Award received from the Automotive Training Manager’s Council, for our Electric Drive Vehicle First Responder Safety Training, were just a few of the significant moments that took place this past year. The column also features major events from the industry, including Tesla’s Model S becoming the first non-gasoline automobile to win the prestigious Motor Trend Car of the Year award, and much more progress and developments in petroleum alternatives.

The NAFTC provided Petroleum Reduction Technologies training and recapped the year for the national and associate training center members, in the December professional development and business meeting, which was held at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh earlier this month. During this two-day session of training and presentations, we introduced Jeannie Bellman, the consortium’s new Membership Coordinator, who will be working directly with NAFTC member training centers.

In our final industry headlines of the year, we recap Ford Fusion’s victory of the Green Car Journal’s 2013 Green Car of the Year, the Chevy Volt topping Consumer Reports Owner Satisfaction Survey for the second consecutive year, and an overview of the present development in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and manufacturers’ plans to make them commercially available by 2015.

As the industry continues to grow, so will we. We will continue in our role as educators to the public, automotive trainers, automotive technicians, secondary school students, fleet managers, and other audiences that support our desire for “clean air and energy independence.” We also confirm our commitment to providing cutting edge training for our first responders. We will continue to support advances in new automotive technology that offers alternatives to petroleum. We are extremely proud of our accomplishments in 2012, and feel that we can reach even greater heights in 2013 with the support of all of you.

We wish you a peaceful and happy holiday season, and may the New Year bring you great prosperity.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

More people have purchased plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles this year than any other in history. The numbers are staggering compared to last year; plug-in electric vehicle sales are up 207.6 percent, and hybrid sales are up 55 percent. We have also seen new developments in hydrogen fuel cell technology and biofuel productions. And, at the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium, we have coordinated our largest alternative fuel awareness event yet, the 2012 National AFV Day Odyssey. So, we have been thrilled to see this continuing embrace of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles, and we are pleased to share news of a landmark fall season in the industry and for the NAFTC.

Biennially since 2002, we have coordinated Odyssey, an awareness day for alternative fuel vehicles. Ten years ago, we felt like the nation needed a wider opportunity to learn about next generation vehicles, so Odyssey was created. This year, on October 18, we have projected that over 250,000 people gathered at approximately 160 Odyssey events across the United States, and a projected 100 million people, more than one third of the United States, were reached through media coverage.

Through Odyssey, we publicized the options available to policy makers, fleet managers, and the general public about the benefits of these vehicles to individuals and for our country. Additionally, this year we extended Odyssey’s messages to high school students across the country. Of the approximate 160 Odyssey events, 50 of them took place in secondary schools. These students will be tomorrow’s engineers, manufactures and consumers, and we want them to further the cause of greener transportation in the years to come.

A few weeks after Odyssey, I traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to accept the Automotive Training Manager’s Council’s National Excellence in Training Award for our Electric Drive Vehicle First Responder Safety Training package. We joined NAPA, AC Delco, Federal Mogul and Jiffy Lube as two-time winners of one of the most prestigious awards in our industry. We were greatly honored to receive this award from ATMC. We have worked hard training first responders about alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles as part of a grant we received from the U.S. Department of Energy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and were very pleased to see this training recognized.

The ATMC award, along with our extremely successful National AFV Day Odyssey, brought tremendous national exposure to the NAFTC, concluding a very productive fall. We look forward to continuing on, with new plans and projects on the horizon for the end of the year.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

On October 18, more than 160 events for National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day Odyssey will be hosted across the country. Our goal is to welcome more than 250,000 attendees to the events, and to reach over 100 million people through the media and internet. And as we near the event, I am proud to announce that we have exceeded our goal to coordinate 150 nationwide sites for this year’s Odyssey, and will be holding Odyssey events in over 160 locations, including internationally in Paris, France and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Odyssey Day is a chance for us to celebrate and promote the use of alternative fuel vehicles, through regional showcases across the country. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about alternative fuel vehicles through vehicle exhibits and demonstrations and lectures and classes.

It has been a real pleasure to watch National AFV Day Odyssey grow from an idea created in our offices ten years ago to a global alternative fuel awareness event. We believed a focused, well-defined national public awareness event would be a positive catalyst in centering national attention on these cleaner, more energy efficient choices in transportation. We stepped forward with our plans and on April 11, 2002, 20 NAFTC National Training Centers, 19 Clean Cities Coalitions, and 12 other like-minded organizations in 31 states came together at 51 locations nationwide to celebrate the inaugural National AFV Day Odyssey.

In the ten years since, during the five biennial events, Odyssey has stretched from Delaware to Hawaii and has been held internationally in Germany and Canada in addition to our new sites in Sweden and France in 2012. Each year we have broken our attendance record, our site record, and our media and internet outreach record increasingly.

We will be holding our largest kickoff event yet in Indianapolis on October 18. The NAFTC and Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition will co-host the event at White River State Park. Through a partnership agreement with the Indianapolis Colts, they will provide on-site activities and promotional assistance. Including use of the Colts’ FanZone stage at the kickoff event and a 15-second jumbotron ad during the October 7 Colts/Packers game in front of 63,000 fans. At the NAFTC, this season, the Colts will certainly be a sentimental favorite for all of us.

It gives us great hope that with each Odyssey Day event, we increase the audience of our message, to help make a difference, and to reduce the nation’s dependence on petroleum.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

Car accidents are a serious and frightening reality and first responders do a heroic job every time they arrive on the scene of these accidents. They have to feel secure, and they have to make quick decisions. Lives can be hanging in the balance. At the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium, we want to help. We are bringing training to these first responders so that when they get to a scene of an accident, they will be able to successfully handle accidents with alternative fuel vehicles without any doubt or hesitation.

To continue the NAFTC’s mass first responder training initiatives, this fall we will conduct three Electric Drive Vehicle First Responder Safety Training Train-the-Trainer sessions across the country.

On September 29, the first training will be held at the 2012 AltCar Expo and Conference in Santa Monica, California. As part of the week long Greater Indiana Odyssey events, a training session will be held at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis, on October 17. In addition, the NAFTC is planning an additional train-the-trainer session in Morgantown, West Virginia, that will be scheduled later in 2012.

We also launched two new curricula, Petroleum Reduction Technologies (PRT) and our high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) Electric Drive Automotive Technician. Both of these training programs will be used throughout the country. The hard work of our team has resulted in new programs, new curricula, and new opportunities to share our mission of advancing alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles.

The CTE program is our curriculum and training program designed specifically for high schools. We introduced the curriculum this summer in two week-long training courses. We trained teachers who will pilot the CTE Electric Drive Automotive Technician curriculum in ten high schools (five in West Virginia and five in South Carolina). Many of the high school automotive programs haven’t been updated in many years, and with electric drive vehicles growing in popularity and staying power, it is necessary that our young people get the education they need on these newer vehicles. This program will give students a unique skill set and make them very employable, whether they go out into post-secondary education, directly into dealerships, or into another career path.

Our instructors also need to be familiar with the components of electric drive vehicles. They need to understand and have access to these new technologies so they can do a better job in the classroom once they go through the hands-on part of our training.

The full version of the PRT was introduced this July in Pittsburgh. The PRT training, developed as part of the Clean Cities Learning Program, funded by the United States Department of Energy Clean Cities Program, made its debut this July in Pittsburgh to an enthusiastic response. The PRT has sections on each of the major alternative fuel sources: biodiesel, ethanol, natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and electric drive, as well as sections on fuel economy, idle reduction, and fleet applications, and an overview of the importance of these technologies.

Each of these sections can be used as blueprints for workshops and teaching sessions to all audiences, from the general public to companies seeking petroleum reduction alternatives for their fleets.

We are now taking the PRT curriculum nationwide, and have six train-the-trainer sessions scheduled for Clean Cities Coordinators in each of their regions over the next few months across the country.

It has been a very productive summer at the NAFTC. We have new and exciting plans for the fall including the upcoming biennial National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day Odyssey in October. Please join us at one of the 150+ events across the country.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

A few weeks ago I visited the White House, where I spoke on the Clean Energy Innovation Panel, during an event celebrating the resurgence of the auto industry and advancements in alternative fuel technologies. It was a great honor to participate and share the successes and future projects of the NAFTC .

The event was broadcast live through the White House’s website and is now archived here. Our eNews coverage of the event can be found here.

Our organization remains committed to our vision. We remain committed to our partnerships and network of members that make it possible to reach a great deal of people with the message that it is time to embrace sustainable fuels.

On July 24th, we conducted a train-the-trainer session on our newest curriculum, Petroleum Reduction Technologies, for Clean Cities Coordinators. This curriculum, developed as part of the Clean Cities Learning Program, is designed for a number of audiences including Clean Cities Coordinators, automotive technicians and students, fleet managers, decision makers and the general public and provides an overview of the alternative fuel vehicle industry. Available as a two-day course or as individual workshops, topics include: biodiesel, ethanol, natural gas, propane, electric drive vehicles, hydrogen, fuel economy, idle reduction and fleet management.

Coming in October, our National Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Day Odyssey will be conducted on Oct. 18 at sites across the U.S. Sponsorship opportunities for the event are available as well as opportunities to participate as an event site host. Please visit the Odyssey website for more details if you’re interested. We have selected Indianapolis as the location for the national kickoff event. You can read about the kickoff event in Indianapolis here. In addition, we will be holding a highlight event to preview Odyssey on Oct. 12 in Morgantown at WVU’s Mountainlair. We plan to have a press conference and technical experts on hand to present multiple vehicles.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy reading news of our visit to the Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles, our first responder safety training program in San Antonio, and our trip to Washington D.C., where we presented updates on the Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education and the Clean Cities Learning programs at the U.S. Department of Energy Merit Review .

Under Industry Headlines, check out stories about the Air Force testing new alternative fuels based from alcohol, eBay partnering with Bloom Energy to create a data center run entirely on fuel cells, and California Institute of Technology researchers, who discovered a more energy efficient way to create Hydrogen. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,
Al Ebron
NAFTC Executive Director

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

Just a few short months ago, we were welcoming the spring after a mild-ish (depending on who you ask!) winter in West Virginia. As we prepare ourselves for the summer months — the heat, the vacations, and the travel — we here at the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium are glad that the end of spring doesn’t mean the end of new beginnings.

In fact, this spring marked a “new” beginning for me as I became a first-time Chevy Volt owner. I’m proud to stand among those who recognize and embrace the need to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and contribute to cleaner air through the ownership of an electric drive vehicle.

We’ve traveled thousands of miles this conference season, meeting new partners, introducing new technology, and hopefully inspiring new advocates for clean energy and alternative fuels. Our hybrid electric vehicle training educator, the cutaway Toyota Prius, has been a hit as we demonstrated it everywhere from Indianapolis, to Washington, D.C., and many places in between.

The month ahead will be spent cultivating the new connections we’ve made, providing our National Training Center members with high-quality training sessions and tools and preparing for our National Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Day Odyssey on Oct. 18. But we also want to take the time to relish what has been accomplished at NAFTC and around the world.

This month has been a time of celebration for a number of our NTC members, and we’re so proud of Quinsigamond Community College for being named one of three Massachusetts colleges chosen to house an electric charging station on its campus thanks to a National Grid grant. Other NAFTC Updates include articles on our First Responder Safety Training and Clean Cities Learning Program workshops at the Fire Department Instructors Conference and the Alternative Clean Energy (ACT) Expo.

We’ve been so excited to hear of the great strides made in the alternative fuels industry recently. Under Industry Headlines, check out stories about the fuel cell bus research the U.S. Department of Transportation is funding and the 10 compressed natural gas stations Love’s Travel Stops is opening in Oklahoma this year. Speaking of fuel cells, you also can learn about the University of Connecticut’s new fuel cell power plant.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron
NAFTC Executive Director

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

It is difficult to believe that another month has already passed. With a few conferences and meetings behind us, we’ve got a lot more to go. And, the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) keeps adding exciting technologies to share with audiences as we travel across the country. For example, “HEVTE,” our hybrid electric vehicle training educator, is a cutaway Toyota Prius that allows automotive students, technicians and first responders to safely interact with hybrid vehicle components.

You can read about our most recent activities in this month’s issue – from the NTEA Work Truck Show and Green Truck Summit to the Energy Independence Summit. In addition, the spring NAFTC Professional Development Meeting in Washington, D.C., featured outstanding professional development and training sessions for our valuable members, so be sure to check out the full report to see what they learned.

It is always exciting to hear about the positive strides our National Training Center (NTC) members are making, and this past month was no exception. Nashua Community College hosted President Barack Obama, who toured the school’s automotive facility and learned about the college’s efforts to train automotive technicians to service alternative fuel vehicles. Other NAFTC Updates include an article on the Clean Cities Learning Program First Responder Safety Training train-the-trainer course at Northern Virginia Community College.

There have been great advancements in the alternative fuels industry this past month. Under Industry Headlines, check out stories about the U.S. Army’s testing of 16 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the State of Illinois’ expansion of its electric vehicle charging network. You can also learn about a collaboration between Boeing, Airbus and Embraer that will enhance the use of biofuels in the aviation industry. In addition, Chevrolet and GMC are introducing bi-fuel, compressed natural gas pickups.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron
NAFTC Executive Director

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

Spring is almost here, and the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) is once again buzzing with excitement as we prepare for the 2012 conference season. Beginning with this week’s NTEA Work Truck Show and Green Truck Summit, the NAFTC will be busy exhibiting and presenting at alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicle events across the country. We hope to see you along the way!

As you will read in this issue, the State of West Virginia is making a “Compelling Case for Natural Gas Vehicles.” I had the privilege of recently attending a workshop of the same name, and, through that meeting in Charleston, the NAFTC’s efforts caught the attention of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. The senator visited our facility, and he is excited about the work we are doing to decrease our great country’s dependence on foreign oil. Be sure to read a full report of Senator Manchin’s visit to the NAFTC.

Other NAFTC Updates include articles on the First Responder Safety Training workshops happening across the country, thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program. Two of our National Training Center (NTC) members are making news as well. Rio Hondo College now has a compressed natural gas (CNG) shuttle to transport students, and students in Alfred State College’s Automotive Trades Department are gearing up for two, high-profile alternative fuel vehicle races.

Under Industry Headlines, check out stories about Toyota’s unveiling of the Prius c and AT&T’s purchase of 1,200 CNG vehicles from General Motors. Also, learn about how biofuels made from seaweed may help power cars in the future. In addition, several alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles have made it into the “Top Greenest Vehicle” List for 2012.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron
NAFTC Executive Director

NAFTC Executive Director Al Ebron checks out a helicopter during a recent trip to the Advanced Vehicle Research Center (AVRC), a partner in the Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program, in Danville, Va.

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

Another new year has begun and is quickly rolling by as we find ourselves at the end of the first month. Last year we saw an abundant amount of infrastructure put into place, and the development of and support for education within the industry was encouraging and exciting. Our hopes for 2012 are that we see that same momentum and that this will be a year of continued innovation.

We at the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) are excited to announce the date for the 2012 National Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Day Odyssey will be Thursday, Oct. 18. The NAFTC staff is already working hard to make this year’s 10-year anniversary event the best Odyssey yet. We are anticipating 250,000 attendees at 150 sites and hoping to reach more than 100 million people through media outlets.

Other NAFTC Updates include reports on the NAFTC’s most recent business and professional development meeting at the Tesla Motors headquarters and Peninsula College’s brand new Alternative Fuels Program. I would also like to welcome the consortium’s newest members, National Training Centers Modesto Junior College in Modesto, Calif., and Central Arizona College in Coolidge, Ariz.

Under Industry Headlines, you will read about Mitsubishi’s first U.S. delivery of an all-electric i fleet and the impact electric vehicles will have on the telematics market. The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $7 million for hydrogen storage technologies in fuel cell electric vehicles. In addition, the EPA has approved Alliance Autogas to convert 200 vehicles to propane, and Collins Bus Corporation is set to build its first CNG buses.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Al Ebron
NAFTC Executive Director

Dear members, colleagues and friends:

The holidays are again upon us, and I hope you are enjoying this season of giving and receiving. Two-thousand eleven has been an exciting year, and I hope you will read our “Year in Review” story that recaps some of the highlights.

We at the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) are excited to announce the launch of another new website, afvsafetytraining.com. This site features information about all the NAFTC’s First Responder Safety Training, available through both the Clean Cities Learning Program (CCLP) and the Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program. We have available a suite of modern technology products and training for alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles. This suite of products includes instructor manuals, participant manuals, workshop booklets, quick reference guide, mobile device app and online training.

Other NAFTC Updates include articles on the NAFTC’s attendance at the California Automotive Teachers Conference, visits to three of our member schools in the Pacific Northwest and CCLP webinars delivered to the Clean Cities University Workforce Development Program interns. I would also like to welcome the consortium’s newest members, National Training Centers Fresno City College and South Seattle Community College.

The latest Industry Headlines consist of General Motors’ announcement to sell a CNG bi-fuel pickup in 2012, Nissan’s release of a new fuel cell stack with 50 percent more energy, the DOE’s launch of the Vehicle Cost Calculator and Cracker Barrel’s unveiling of Tennessee’s first public electric vehicle Fast Chargers. In addition, you can read about 10 states forming the Northeast Regional Electric Vehicle Network.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of us at the NAFTC if we can be of assistance. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Al Ebron
NAFTC Executive Director