Joel Donham - St. Paul, Minnesota
CTE is proud to highlight the work of Joel Donham, one of our engineering consultants working from our Saint Paul, Minnesota office.

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About Joel

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Joel's activities as an engineering consultant at CTE include conducting operational and energy analyses on zero-emission bus and truck planning and deployment projects, consulting on vehicle and infrastructure procurement and build projects, field verifying equipment performance, and establishing performance monitoring programs to evaluate zero-emission equipment once in service.

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Before coming to CTE, Joel completed degrees in Physics, Urban Planning, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has held numerous positions in transportation planning, energy management, and environmental issues. As an aviation planning consultant, Joel conducted analyses on the benefits of noise mitigation flight procedures and airspace design alternatives, managed the Chicago Department of Aviation Air Quality Program, and initiated the Chicago O'Hare Energy Management Program. Later, while working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Joel was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for developing the Center's Sustainability Program to manage a comprehensive portfolio of sustainability objectives. Joel found his way to CTE in 2017 to focus on his life long career goal to develop and implement sustainable and scalable approaches to meeting society's increasing demand for transportation services.

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Joel is an alumnus of The Colorado College, The University of Iowa and the University of Maryland College Park. He now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, sons aged one and three, and his dog Emmitt. When not working, Joel likes to go hiking, skiing, biking, and do whatever other outdoor sports he can.

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In Conversation

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CTE sat down with Joel to chat about his projects, the new tech and opportunities he is most excited about, and his goals for reaching a sustainable transportation ecosystem.

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Which types of projects do you see the most potential for right now?

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Right now, I'm most excited about urban delivery trucking. Urban delivery trucking refers to the system and process by which goods are collected, transported, and distributed in urban environments. There is a large opportunity for electrification in this market because, in a lot of cases, the requirements on these types of vehicles are more in line with the capabilities of battery-electric drive technology as it is right now. For example, the range requirements for urban delivery vehicles are much more in line with what's doable on a battery-electric platform. One thing that plays into this is the reduced cabin heating and cooling requirements these vehicles have compared to their larger transit counterparts. This helps ensure a longer and more consistent range and contributes to the vehicle's suitability for battery-electric technology.

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One big opportunity I see in urban delivery trucking is that, in certain cases, these types of trucks have a significant amount of downtime while loading and unloading their cargo. In some applications, there is enough downtime during the unloading/loading process that the trucks can sufficiently recharge while they are docked. This would allow them to charge during loading/unloading, leave the dock with a recharged battery, and complete their normal service day almost identically to a diesel truck.

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So far, we haven't been able to put a charger in a loading/unloading dock due to infrastructure constraints, but I'd like to see how that would play out in the field. The other sensitivity is the specific type of delivery operation. This kind of application would be limited to operations that require time-intensive staging and loading/unloading process-if the operator doesn't require much time to organize cargo on their trucks, there may not be enough time for the battery to recharge significantly in that application. So, operations that require a specific kind of staging or careful loading or unloading are a good fit. In a place where loading happens quickly, this might not work.

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One suitable urban delivery truck project we are working on right now is with Goodwill of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties. These Goodwill trucks run relatively short routes, stop at a few locations to load and unload, and then return for a 1 or 2-hour unloading/reloading period before heading back out. This duty cycle is ideal for the 149.5 kWh BYD box trucks we've helped Goodwill to deploy.

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It sounds like urban delivery trucking would be a perfect application for battery-electric technology. Why hasn't this happened yet?

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In applications that are seeing higher levels of ZEV deployment, like in public transit buses or airport shuttles, the difference is the availability of financial incentives that operators can receive to help them transition. There is a lot of leadership from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to provide support for ZEBs. The Low-No program and other FTA funding programs have helped transit buses get out in front of other vehicle markets. For the most part, urban delivery fleets are privately funded and these operators are not incentivized to try new technology. Unlike transit agencies or airport operators, they don't have federal incentives available to them and generally have to pay the difference out of pocket to experiment with this technology. Unfortunately, price parity for electric vehicles across the market vs. the fossil-fueled options is still a few years away so there is little incentive right now to make the change due to the financial investment required from private operators.

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Fortunately for the zero-emission trucking industry, the State of California has developed numerous incentive programs to develop and demonstrate ZEV technology in trucking. The projects I'm working on right now that are deploying battery-electric urban delivery trucking are supported by grant programs in California.

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Could you tell us more about the project with Goodwill?

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CTE partnered with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Goodwill, and BYD on the project through the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Pilot Commercial Deployment Projects program which was supported by the California Climate Investments (CCI) program. CTE was contracted to provide planning, technical oversight, and performance monitoring services for the project to deploy ten BYD battery-electric box trucks and one battery-electric debris hauler. Goodwill's urban freighting revolves around moving donations to and from donation locations, warehouses, and stores.

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This is the perfect application for battery-electric delivery trucks. The loading and unloading process at Goodwill is time-intensive-cargo is systematically organized and sorted by hand and moved onto the truck so that it can be easily unloaded in chronological order at each Goodwill destination. While the truck is being loaded up, it can be plugged in and recharged at the loading dock. This gives enough time for the truck to be recharged sufficiently so that by the time the truck is loaded up and ready to move out, it can continue on its route without service interruptions.

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The team had intended to install charging at the loading docks, however, infrastructure layout constraints made this arrangement unfeasible. At this point, Goodwill has received all of the vehicles and we are in the process of monitoring truck performance, analyzing it, and optimizing operations. Hopefully, our findings will continue to illuminate the benefits of this technology in this application.

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What are some other projects where you have seen that this kind of technology can work?

Our project with Anheuser-Busch is another example. We are working with Anheuser-Busch, BYD, and ENGIE Services U.S to deploy 21 BYD battery-electric trucks in Anheuser-Busch's California distribution fleet. This is a landmark achievement as the largest Class 8 electric truck deployment in North America. The trucks were delivered in late 2019 and are operating on typical distribution routes.

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However, the use case for these trucks is different from the Goodwill example-the loading procedures at an Anheuser-Busch distribution warehouse are not as time-consuming as they are at Goodwill. At Anheuser-Busch, the logistics for loading and unloading the trucks are much more efficient so the trucks are not docked long enough to sufficiently recharge them. In this project, it is more important to consider the range requirements of urban deliveries as compared to transit. While the application may not allow sufficient time for recharging while docked, this project is still a great example of battery-electric vehicles being used in an urban delivery context.

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Beyond urban delivery trucking, what are other projects that are very promising right now?

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One promising market is in transition planning for zero-emission cutaways which are small shuttles or minibus-scale vehicles. We have a lot of partners that have significant fleets, in the hundreds of vehicles, for paratransit or cutaways, so there is a large opportunity for innovation and change in this sector. While they haven't been a direct focus before, demand for electric versions of these smaller vehicles is steadily growing. As of now, CTE has done a few evaluations of this technology but we are looking to increase our involvement and analysis of these types of vehicles as we are seeing more opportunities for that platform in transit services.

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One partner we are working with right now, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA), is operating an almost entirely cutaway fleet. About three-quarters of their fleet consists of mini-buses and the rest is made up of larger buses. They are using these smaller vehicles for their regular transit service and they are interested in transitioning to zero-emission mini-buses to the extent that it makes sense for their operations. So, the interest and excitement for this technology on a smaller scale than the typical large transit bus platform is definitely here.

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You've mentioned that you are interested in and excited about mixed-fleet planning. Can you tell us more about what that is?

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I think this is an important message to get out there. A lot of the language we see around fleet transition planning is representative of California's ambitious 100% conversion requirement. While California's leadership in this area is really important for the industry, there are many transit agencies that are still not prepared to consider a 100% fleet transition, and the potential cost and operational changes required thereof, but that may benefit from evaluating what the technology can do within the confines of their current operations. There are a lot of opportunities for agencies all over the country to implement partial and incremental transitions within the limitations of their budgets, routes, needs, and interests.

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CTE is already working on helping smaller, non-California agencies including BRTA, CyRide (Ames, IA), and Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) consider this technology. These agencies are looking at the possibility of this technology within their own fleets but have to be responsible for their bottom line and their service requirements. They are looking to figure out what the technology can do for them rather than adapt their operations to fit the technology.

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Most of the transition studies that I work on are this type. Typically, this kind of planning is very hands-on. We work with agencies step-by-step to understand their objectives and constraints. We may ask them: What are you wanting to do, what are you willing to change, what are your major decision drivers that will help figure out what the right solution for you is? Our goal is to propose a custom solution based on all the particularities and constraints of their region, fleet, budget, and any other considerations they may have.

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How do you think CTE's work experience allows us to provide solutions in these emerging parts of the market?

One situation I've run into throughout my projects is that when we talk to agencies who are just getting started in their transitioning planning, we learn that they have received a lot of varying feedback and advice from different places. Large environmental advocacy nonprofits, the public, OEMs, manufacturers, and many other entities have often given their thoughts to the agency. In response, the agency is trying to wade through all this feedback to figure out what is feasible for them and what is not.

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For whatever reason, CTE is different from larger, more directly advocacy-oriented nonprofits in that we are much more experienced and educated about the complexities of this industry. We know what works, what doesn't, and what agencies are able to accomplish with this technology. We understand what it really takes to make these transitions and this technology work and can help agencies make the choices that work best for them. In the end, we are trying our best to help move the market away from fossil fuels and achieve our goal of a sustainable, zero-emission transportation ecosystem but we are not so starry-eyed that we don't acknowledge possible roadblocks. In fact, we work to factor those considerations into everything we do.

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Finally, what brought you to CTE?

This is actually where I was originally going-my career goal and the focus of my urban planning degree was to advance sustainable transportation solutions as a means to address environmental and equity issues in our communities. At the time that I entered the workforce at the beginning of the recession, few organizations were able to focus on sustainable transportation. So, I was only able to find opportunities to advance lower-impact and more efficient transportation strategies as a portion of previous positions. CTE, in contrast, gives me the opportunity to focus all my efforts on transportation-related issues. I believe the kind of work I do at CTE every day allows me to work on these problems and pave a way for a more sustainable and responsible transportation future.

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This publication (or project) was prepared as a result of work sponsored, paid for, in whole or in part, by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (District). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the District. The District, its officers, employees, contractors, and subcontractors make no warranty, expressed or implied, and assume no legal liability for the information in this report. This publication (or project) was also supported by the "California Climate Investments" (CCI) program.'

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