In This Issue
Reducing Emissions with Autonomous EV’s-Waymo
Cummins Forever Rising Tour
Upcoming Events
Funding Opportunities
Member Spotlight: Salt River Project (SRP)
Reducing Emissions with Autonomous Electric Vehicles - Waymo
Waymo is an autonomous ride hailing service available here in Phoenix as well other cities across the country. Our coalition first tried using Waymo’s ride service last year and we were so impressed that we now use it whenever we need to travel into the city for business. We admit we were a little nervous our first ride, but it ended up being a great experience. You simply pull up the app, request a ride and a completely driverless vehicle shows up to take you to your destination. We found the app easy to use, our car clean, and the drive itself to be safe and smooth. On top of all that, we could feel good knowing our Waymo ride was emission free.
Waymo’s autonomous fleet is fully electric so they produce zero tail pipe emissions. This means Waymo is not only a fun, futuristic experience but also a zero emission way to get around. For cities like Phoenix that struggle with poor air quality, services like Waymo can reduce the number of ICE vehicles on the road and help lower emissions. According to Waymo’s site, the service provides up to 500,000 fully autonomous EV trips per week across all of it’s service areas and those rides in turn prevent an estimated 530 tons of CO₂ emissions. (Waymo Sustainability Page) Individuals and businesses that use Waymo to travel are helping improve their local air quality.
Services like Waymo are one of the many ways to reduce emissions in our cities. Other ways include use of alternative fuels, public transportation, carpooling, walking, biking and more. As transportation technologies continue to advance, we look forward to seeing even more options that help improve our air quality.
See Waymo’s Phoenix Service Area Map
Interested in Waymo for Business Learn More
Cummins Forever Rising Tour Event in Phoenix
VSCCC was able to attend the Cummins Forever Rising Tour stop in Phoenix last month. The Forever Rising Tour made stops at eight cities across the country. Each stop brought the latest Cummins technology to attendees and featured immersive ride-and-drive experiences. The tour highlighted Cummins 2027 X15, X15N, and X10 engines. The tour stop here in Phoenix allowed us to learn more about the innovative Cummins X15N engine, talk to drivers of trucks using these engines, visit with vendors and and even take a test ride in a CNG fueled big rig.
At the event we were able to talk with several drivers of the CNG X15N engine powered trucks. We really appreciated them sharing their insight and honest opinions with us. Overall, they had lots of positive things to say about the vehicles including, how smooth, quiet and fume free the trucks were compared to diesel. After taking a ride in a truck ourselves, we also agreed it was very comfortable and appreciated the lack of diesel fumes. The drivers also mentioned that the CNG trucks were comparable to their diesel counterparts in performance and other aspects.
One of the negatives the drivers mentioned was having less CNG fueling station options than diesel. Drivers taking part in the Cummins cross country tour said there was a lack of reliable CNG fueling infrastructure across some parts of the country. They all agreed that there is a need for expanded natural gas fueling infrastructure before we see a major increase in long distance CNG trucking.
Natural gas as either CNG or RNG is an alternative fuel with many benefits. It reduces harmful emissions and fuel costs when compared to diesel and is one of the best alternative fuels for use in heavy duty vehicles. With technologies like the Cummins X15 engine, CNG can be a viable option for long distance heavy duty vehicles too.
Visit the DOE’s Alternative Fuels Data Center to learn more about CNG and RNG.
Learn more about the Cummins X15 engine at https://www.cummins.com/en-na/engines/products/x15n
Learn about some of the vendors at the event:
Hexagon Agility: https://hexagonagility.com/
Opal Fuels: https://opalfuels.com/
Upcoming Events
Arizona Technology Council annual E-Mobility and Clean Energy Summit
Thursday, June 18, 2026
12-4:15PM
SkySong ASU, Scottsdale Innovation Center
Arizona Technology Council’s E-Mobility and Clean Energy Summit will cover topics on AZ’s current and future clean energy and mobility technologies. Topics include clean energy policy, scaling clean mobility technologies, research, education, workforce development and more.
Sustainable Fleet Technology Conference
August 25-27, 2026
Durham Convention Center, Durham NC
Sustainable Fleet Technology Conference brings together leading fleets and technology providers to showcase the latest and greatest transportation technologies, fuels and trends. The conference includes a strong focus on data driven decisions and tools. The expo and conference sessions are a source of on-the-ground experiences for increasing fleet efficiency and resiliency, while reducing emissions and costs.
Funding Opportunities
FY 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunity: Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program; Tribal Transit Program
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for $18,954,885 in competitive grants for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations (Tribal Transit) Competitive Program. The Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program, also referred to as Tribal Transit Program (TTP), provides funds for planning, public transportation capital projects, operating costs, and more. The goal of the program is to enable Tribes to buy transit vehicles, upgrade bus facilities, and to expand or improve transit service. Applications due by August 25, 2026.
Salt River Project (SRP), is a not-for-profit organization that provides water and power services to more than 2 million people in central Arizona. SRP strives to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable utility services to its customers. In order to achieve this, the utility has set ambitious sustainability goals for itself. For example it has a goal of achieving a 30% carbon emission reduction within their fleet by 2035. Their fleet is working towards this goal by transitioning some vehicles to EV’s. Not only is SRP taking advantage of new technologies such as EV’s in it’s own fleets, it is also providing customers with resources to help them adopt these technologies as well. For example, customers with EV’s can qualify for a home EV charger rebate and take advantage of their Electric Vehicle Time of Use Price Plan.
