National Alternative Fuel Corridor: Michigan to Montana
The freedom to hit the open road has always been at the center of our love affair with the automobile. But for some drivers and fleet operators, trying to choose a vehicle powered by a cleaner domestic fuel like natural gas or electricity has meant limiting that freedom due to gaps in the nationwide fueling and charging infrastructure. Well, that is rapidly changing as more and more major highways and roads are being designated Alternative Fuel Corridors, knocking down the final barriers for making clean fuels the best alternative no matter where the road takes you!
The National Alternative Fuel Corridor Network includes parts of 220 heavily traveled interstates and highways in 49 states and DC, covering more than 145,000 miles.
One vital link, the Michigan to Montana I-94 Alternative Fuel Corridor, or M2M, is the result of a joint effort between clean cities coalitions and critical government and industry partners, like the Gas Technology Institute, throughout the Midwest. Funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, it runs 1500 miles along Interstate 94 from Port Huron, Michigan at the Canadian border, all the way to Billings, Montana.
It passes through the major cities of Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, but also countless small towns, and miles upon miles of rolling farmland. The M2M corridor is a vital link for long-haul trucking as well as a prime mover for expanding the use of propane, biodiesel, ethanol, natural gas and electric with regional fleet operators.
SAMANTHA BINGHAM: "This project and projects like it across the country, help those fleets to expand their use of alternative fuels, to use it along more routes. And then also it helps encourage fleets that aren’t using alternative fuels currently, they can see that these routes are supported and that it encourages them to adopt alternative fuel vehicles and switch out their petroleum-based vehicles."
Compressed natural gas is an affordable and abundant U.S.-sourced fuel that can help to reduce greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions. Ozinga’s red striped trucks are a common sight around Chicago and northwest Indiana, and since 2013, the company has been converting its fleet of 500 ready-mix trucks to run on CNG. At the same time, it expanded its own business to become a regional natural gas fuel provider, now operating seven public-access CNG stations in the area, which makes it more practical for other fleets who want to switch to CNG. 
Propane is another popular alternative fuel option, especially with fleets. Along the alternative fuel corridors, uniform signage nationwide indicates which type of fuel is most plentiful. But in our 3,000-mile trek for this story, we found that word of mouth travels faster still.
TIM RAHN: "And there are vehicles out there. We've got 10 or 15 people that stop every single week. Coming through, going to the cabin, coming home..and they support us, they know we have it, it's easy to use, it’s safe to use, and it’s cheap. The last three months we’ve been 80, 80 to 85 cents a gallon cheaper than regular gasoline. It was a diversity, it’s something that nobody else has in this area, and we wanted to be the first to have it."
Schwan’s frozen foods has a fleet of more than 600 propane-fueled delivery vehicles and has also built out their own fueling infrastructure, but smaller fleets, like Groome Transportation, are also reaping the benefits of the M2M corridor.
SCOTT HAYES: "Before, when we ran down to Minneapolis, we would run out about halfway up, so now with this corridor being built out, it’ll give us more opportunities to fill up with propane and we will have the opportunity to run cleaner, longer."
Also included in the Alternative Fuel Corridor designations is the availability of electric vehicle charging stations, especially fast-charging, convenient to the interstates.
The EV charging infrastructure has been expanding rapidly for the past decade. At the far end of our journey, in Fargo, North Dakota, three new fast-charging sites are coming online, helping to make frontier destinations like these, once considered remote, more accessible and convenient for EV drivers.
CHAD BROUSSEAU: "It’s a win-win, we’re a member-owned electric cooperative, not for profit, so it’s good for the members, good for us, uh, not only is it electric sales for Cass County Electric but an electric vehicle in the right circumstance, can be a money-saver for the electric vehicle owner in reduced operating and maintenance costs."
In the drive to curb emissions and make America less dependent on imported oil for transportation, spurring development of cleaner alternative fuel vehicles and building out a national network of convenient fueling points for natural gas, propane, hydrogen and electric vehicles goes hand in hand.
SAMANTHA BINGHAM: "Also the M2M Corridor really demonstrates that cities and states and utilities and fuel providers and retailers can all work together, across state lines to make this infrastructure, this clean fuel infrastructure, available."
The Michigan to Montana Alternative Fuel Corridor project is fast making these fuels a fine first choice for everyone!
EV Tech Training
A shortage of qualified auto repair technicians has been an industry-wide problem for years now, but the high-tech nature of today’s advanced safety systems and high-voltage EV architectures are attracting a new generation of tech trainees to maintain the cars of tomorrow.
TODD RENFRO: “In the market today, automotive technician training is extremely important. For every seven technicians that are leaving our industry, we’re only having two come in to replace them. And unfortunately, the information we have at this time is, one of those two won’t make it past 12 months. So, we need to get young people excited about the automotive trade, all the opportunities that are in the automotive trade, and get them started in a path of career to be successful.”
As the number of electrified vehicles on the road increases, dealerships and independent shops alike are pushing to be ready for their service needs. But working around electrified vehicles means following very specific safety protocols for the high voltage systems and learning a whole new type of vehicle architecture. So, across the country, vocational schools big and small are adding electrified vehicle training into their curriculums.
Utah’s Weber State University has been teaching hybrid and electric systems to their students for nearly 20 years, and they also share their experience with technicians, educators and the general public in a unique five-day EV bootcamp, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy with the Utah Clean Cities and Communities Coalition.
JOHN KELLY: “I would say that for the last five or six years, probably half of the students coming through the class are teachers at other colleges and universities, high schools, technical programs that are interested in starting an EV or hybrid training program at their location, and are coming here to see how we do it. So that gives them a lot of ideas. They can go back, they may or may not have the same vehicles that we have, but it gives them an idea of what type of activities can they do at their school to, uh, enhance learning with their students.”
Like with conventional vehicles today, OEM-specific systems and procedures may have to be learned on the job, but weber’s program takes a universal approach, starting with the basics of high voltage wiring, and how battery electric vehicles work.
BRANDON STEVENSON: “Every OEM has their own common components, but they are named differently. So, unless you understand what that component actually does, it is a struggle. So, with our students that are already technicians, they’re coming in because they don’t know how all of the different OEMs work and they actually want to know it.”
And while new EV models continue to arrive on the market, remember that EVs and hybrids have been around for quite a while now, so there’s plenty of service experience to draw from.
BRANDON STEVENSON: “So, when you’re looking at where the industry is going and where it has come from, we’ve got a 2002 Toyota Prius in there now that’s 22 years old. That sounds like it’s really old and outdated, but it actually has a lot of technology that is still leveraged today. So, we’re able to show students where we were back in 2002 to where we are now in 2024.”
As the market share for plug-in vehicles grows, related jobs will open up as well over the next few decades, like electricians to install EV chargers, battery engineers and software developers, creating opportunities for existing workers to retrain, and appealing new career paths for the next generation to drive forward.
TODD RENFRO: “The excitement about EV, and also with hybrid, is that it’s the future. It’s what’s coming down the road. So, to be ahead of the curve and be prepared for that future, is exciting to a lot of the young students.”