Innovation for Sustainable Transportation
May 13-15, 2024 — Loews Minneapolis, MN
EARLY BIRD RATES END MARCH 15
Believe it or not, May is just around the corner! We are excited to host our annual conference, to be held at the Minneapolis Loews on May 13-15, 2024. The theme of this year’s conference is “Innovation for Sustainable Transportation.”
Early Bird registration rates end March 15, so now is the time to make your plans. Register here.
TEI’s Executive Director will set the stage for the conference, share the intent behind the agenda topics and prepare attendees to be open to new ideas and perspectives that might help expedite the transition to lower emissions transportation options while preserving access to affordable transportation for all communities.
The agenda encompasses all aspects of transportation energy:
Who is the consumer and what do they want?
Speakers:
- Adam Rosenblatt, Founding Partner, Bold-Decision
- Tammy Klein, Founder & CEO, Transport Energy Strategies
Delivering vehicle and energy solutions that satisfy consumer demand requires understanding who the consumer is, where they live and what they want and need. This panel will combine new insights from a TEI consumer survey with insights about the diverse needs of different communities. This broad perspective is critical as we seek to deploy emissions reduction solutions that benefit all consumers equitably in all communities.
Evolving with the Transportation Market – A Business Perspective
Speaker:
- Ron Batey, Senior Director of Economics, CHS Energy (confirmed)
CHS Inc. (www.chsinc.com) is a leading global agribusiness owned by American farmers across the United States with domestic and international operations, including energy, agronomy, grain trading and food processing. Cenex (www.cenex.com), the energy brand of CHS Inc., provides high-quality refined fuels through nearly 1,400 locally owned convenience store locations across 19 states. Consumers depend on Cenex fuels, lubricants, propane and renewable energy products to power homes, businesses and communities. Batey will share insights into the evolving energy landscape in the U.S. and global markets and proposed strategies to explore opportunities for the cooperative system that arise from the ongoing energy transformation.
Transitioning Fleets to Zero Carbon
Speakers:
- Josh Tippin, Vice President of Fuels and Energy Services, Penske Transportation Solutions
- Cara LaRochelle, Director of Sustainable Mobility, Delphi
In the quest for reducing and eliminating vehicle-related emissions, fleets may represent the best opportunity for rapid transition since fleet managers are less fickle than typical light duty vehicle customers – it comes down to return on investment, not emotion. At the same time, the fleet market presents many challenges not presented by light duty vehicles while boasting more options to satisfy different use cases and duty cycles. This panel will evaluate the challenges and opportunities associated with reducing emissions from fleet vehicles in the most economically sustainable way and present preliminary results of a total cost of decarbonization calculator being developed for Canadian fleet operators.
Depoliticizing EVs
Speakers:
- Mike Murphy, CEO, EV Politics Project
The transition to a transportation sector that is more heavily reliant upon electricity for its power has become somewhat of a political issue. Often, some policy makers support all policies that promote or even require vehicle electrification while others will oppose every policy on the same grounds. This session will seek to remove the rhetoric from EVs and help the audience focus on the opportunities they represent regardless of political consideration and discuss options to depoliticize EVs.
Building a Viable EV Charging Network
Speakers:
- Karl Doenges, Executive Director, Charging Analytics Program
- Scott Shepard, Director, Transparency and Insights, Center for Sustainable Energy
Despite government grants to support initial deployment, to develop a sustainable network of reliable chargers, the market must deliver a return to companies investing in charging stations. Relying on a history of providing support services to the EV charging community and leverage data from the TEI’s new Charging Analytics Program, this session will evaluate the opportunities for business-friendly charging installations and identify the key factors that influence profitability at the charging port.
From the Perspective of the EV Charger Operator
Speakers:
- Scott Sharabura, Parkland Corporation
- Lonnie McQuirter, Director of Operations, 36 Lyn Refuel Station
Theory and data analysis can help business understand the opportunities and challenges of entering the EV charging space and can help mitigate difficulties and limit unexpected challenges. However, nothing is more instructive than real-world experience. This panel will discuss their experience with installing and operating charging stations, what went well and what did not and how they may approach future installations differently based upon what they have learned.
The Evolution of an Energy Company
Speaker:
- Katie Kline, U.S. South Sales Manager, ExxonMobil
A Data-Centric Perspective on the Light Duty Vehicle Transition
Speaker:
- Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economics, Cox Automotive
Industry observers recognize the volatility in headlines and corporate announcements regarding the pace of the light duty market’s transition to electric powertrains. The up and down sentiments surrounding this sector can lead to rash assumptions, misplaced investments, poorly advised policies and dysfunctional market developments. What is really going on and what should we expect going forward? This session will present a dispassionate analysis of the light duty vehicle market, help set realistic expectations about vehicle manufacturing plans and help level set where the market is heading and how quickly it might arrive there.
Future of Low Carbon Fuel Standards
Speakers:
- Robin Vercruse, Executive Director, Low Carbon Fuel Standard Coalition
- Bob Larocque, CEO, Canadian Fuels Association
- Will Hupman, Vice President, American Petroleum Institute
A TEI study in 2021 found that 73% of life cycle emissions from ICE vehicles come from the fuel combustion cycle. While regulations requiring certain power trains have gained traction in some jurisdictions, transitioning the entire fleet will take a very long time. Consequently, reducing the carbon intensity of the energy consumed by vehicles is a critical component to achieving meaningful reductions in emissions. This session will evaluate the success of existing low carbon fuel standard programs, explore the potential expansion of such programs to additional and larger jurisdictions and discuss the opportunities and challenges such programs present to the market.
Biofuels – The Near-Term Solution?
Speakers:
- Colin Huwyler, Optimus
If reducing the carbon intensity of fuels is a critical element to achieving meaningful emissions reductions, the role of biofuels must not be overlooked. How the market leverages the lower carbon intensity of ethanol, biodiesel and renewable diesel will be critical, as will the ability of the biofuels sector to further lower the carbon intensity of their fuel products. There remain concerns about feedstock availability, especially with the increased focus on sustainable aviation fuels, and there remains lingering concerns about the impact of biofuels production on other sectors, such as food supplies and prices. This session will dive deep into the real impact of biofuels on the transportation sector and ancillary markets, the potential for expanding the use of such fuels and the trajectory for further reducing associated life cycle carbon emissions.
What’s Next? The Viability of Long-Term Solutions
With a global objective to reach zero carbon emissions from transportation, options beyond current and traditional energy will be required. With a current global fleet of 1.5 billon ICE vehicles on the road today, all solutions will be necessary. Solutions that appeared impractical in the past are quickly being revisited. Energy solutions like H2 (for fuel cells and ICE vehicles), renewable natural gas, pyrolysis produced fuels and e-fuels have been floated as potential long-term solutions for our transportation needs. What is the viability of these options, how long before they become commercially viable (if not already), what is their market potential and what policies might be required to support their contribution to the overall objective?
Peering into the Crystal Ball – What developments might we expect in the next 10 years?
Projecting what the market will do in the future is challenging and never an exact science – there are too many variables that can disrupt its trajectory. However, understand what is under development today and could be affect the market in a meaningful way can be extremely valuable in developing long-terms strategies. This session will examine what developments we might expect to witness in the next 10 – 15 years.
