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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Bus Exportable Power Systems

Metro Bus

What's New

  • On August 4, 2022, FTA announced the selection of a research group led by Inventev in Detroit, Michigan, to carry out the Bus Exportable Power Systems (BEPS) Program. BEPS will enable transit agencies, communities and states to access power options through hybrid, electric or fuel-cell buses during major power disruptions. The initiative will start with Inventev and its partners developing standards and specifications for BEPS technologies.
  • FTA hosted a webinar on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, on the Standard Development for Bus Exportable Power Systems Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which FTA announced in April. The NOFO makes available $1 million in Fiscal Year 2021 funds. Project proposals are due June 13, 2022.  

Overview

FTA’s Bus Exportable Power Systems (BEPS) program enables public transportation agencies, communities, and states to access resilient and flexible power options through hybrid electric bus fleet vehicles during major power disruptions. This program builds on BEPS technologies developed under FTA’s previous research grants that provided the ability to address a need for generating power immediately after natural disasters by transforming hybrid electric and fuel cell buses into mobile power generators.

Goal

To develop national interoperable BEPS standards – working with FTA, industry stakeholders and technical partners – so that different manufacturers’ systems can use the same technology base and applications for BEPS solutions.

Objectives

The primary objectives of BEPS program are:

  • completion of an industry literature review on BEPS assessing system parameters, specifications, past results and recommendations; 
  • technology scans, surveys or case studies with transit agencies with experience utilizing BEPS; 
  • standards development;  
  • demonstration of a plug-and-play BEPS system that includes minimum specifications and parameters for interoperability; 
  • and a guide to implementing a BEPS system using these standards.

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities include all activities and efforts leading to the development of interoperable BEPS standards. Examples of project activities and efforts include but not limited to:

  • System design and demonstration of portable units, industry survey and data collection on existing BEPS systems; 
  • System specifications and standards development; 
  • Innovations for providing more effective and efficient BEPS systems using public-private partnerships with non-traditional transportation providers; 
  • Stakeholder collaboration convenings; literature reviews or case studies on BEPS systems; 
  • Surveys on BEPS systems in other industries that could be applicable to public transit BEPS systems; data collection and analytics; 
  • Establishing various use cases for BEPS deployment needs; defining system requirements; modeling and simulation; 
  • Development, validation and verification of the specification; and 
  • Development of industry standards and a guidebook for BEPS solutions that can be shared with the transit industry, including hybrid electric and fuel cell transit bus manufacturers.

Eligible Recipients

Eligible applicants under this notice include:

  • Providers of public transportation, including public transportation agencies, state or local government DOTs, and federally recognized Indian tribes;
  • Private for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, or consultants;
  • State, city or local government entities, including multi-jurisdictional partnerships, and organizations such as Metropolitan Planning Organizations;
  • Other organizations, including research consortia, not-for-profit industry organizations, and institutions of higher education, including large research universities, particularly those with Minority Serving Institution status;
  • Standard Development Organizations (SDOs)

Eligible applicants are encouraged to identify one or more project partners with a substantial interest and involvement in the project to participate in the implementation of the project.

Statutory Reference

The Standard Development for Bus Exportable Power Systems Competitive Funding Opportunity implements House Appropriations Committee direction accompanying  the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260), that directed FTA to fund no less than $1,000,000 to develop interoperable national standards for BEPS that allow use of hybrid electric, and fuel cell buses as mobile power generators to power facilities such as hospitals following natural disasters, and is authorized under Technical Assistance and Workforce Development Program (49 U.S.C. § 5314).

Allocation of Funding

The Standard Development for Bus Exportable Power Systems projects are funded under FTA’s Technical Assistance and Workforce Development Program.

Match

The Federal share of project costs under this program is 100 percent. Proposers may offer a non-Federal share of costs. The optional local share must be in cash, or in-kind, and the source of the local match must be documented in the application.
 

Grant Type: Competitive