About half of the money - $4.2 million - will go to 12 projects in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The Philadelphia Mayor's Office of Sustainability will receive $140,000 for an overall $500,000 project to add 10 charging stations and 18 electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids to two local car-sharing businesses, PhillyCarShare and Zipcar Philadelphia.
Momentum Dynamics of Malvern, Chester County, will receive nearly $587,000 to equip two Berks County electric paratransit vehicles with equipment that will allow them to be charged wirelessly. The technology removes a key impediment - security for an unattended vehicle while it is charging, a company representative said.
The Allentown firm International Battery Inc. will use its $235,000 grant to demonstrate the viability of large lithium battery packs for hybrid or electric buses and trucks.
Many of the projects involved compressed natural gas, or CNG.
451 Tyburn L.L.C. in Bucks County is getting $837,400 to build a publicly accessible CNG fueling station in Fairless Hills and provide natural gas-fueled buses for public transportation in the region.
PHL Taxi Management L.L.C. received $900,000 to add to its fleet 50 CNG taxis that also comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also will build a publicly accessible CNG fueling station in the city.
The Lower Merion School District will get $121,641 to purchase nine CNG school buses.
Bryn Mawr College, which is planning to increase its CNG storage capacity, will get $88,682 for that project and to buy a CNG bus and two CNG vans.
The Montgomery County company Self Heating & Cooling Inc. received $48,710 to develop a public propane-refueling station in Horsham Township and purchase two propane-powered vehicles.
Among the biodiesel projects that benefitted, the Energy Cooperative Association of Pennsylvania got $425,860 to help five municipalities and school districts fuel 500 vehicles with biodiesel.
The association also got $631,787 to help 12 other school districts purchase 1.8 million gallons of biodiesel.
Philadelphia's Office of Fleet Management received $205,416 to help purchase more than a million gallons of biodiesel for city vehicles.
A $6,000 grant will help West Chester University defray the cost of B20 biodiesel to power vehicles on campus.
The grants were made by the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant Program. Pennsylvania has invested $39 million in 114 projects since the program began in 2004. Those projects leveraged an additional $216 million.
Contact staff writer Sandy Bauers at 215-854-5147 or sbauers@phillynews.com. Visit her blog at http://go.philly.com/greenspace
