The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is providing $22 million to fund research, development, and demonstration for numerous alternative fuel projects, especially those that would improve the efficiency of medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

The funding will be directed to support plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) and direct injection propane engine technologies, as well as community-based projects to accelerate the adoption of light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that operate on alt-fuels, according to an agency release.

DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is seeking cost-shared projects across three areas of sustainable transportation technologies. A plug-in electric drive vehicle program focuses on research, development, and demonstration of medium- and heavy-duty PEVs, from class 3 to 7.

The initiative includes vehicles that use onboard energy storage to provide power to electrical loads external to the vehicle. These vehicles will significantly reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions once they are adopted, according to DOE. The department also seeks cost-shared projects to support direct injection propane engines for on-highway vehicles that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

DOE also seeks to fund projects from highly-leveraged alt-fuel vehicle community partners that look to accelerate the use of alt-fuel vehicles, as well as their fueling infrastructures. Led by community-based partnerships between state and local governments and key private sector stakeholders, these projects will help catalyze alternative fuel use nationwide through the collection and sharing of best practices and lessons learned.