East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition

East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in Knoxville, Tennessee, serves as a federal grant recipient focused on clean transportation, electric vehicle adoption, and clean energy workforce development in the Southeast. The organization operates as a prime recipient on Department of Energy grants and as a sub-recipient on cooperative agreements managed through Tennessee Technological University and state environmental agencies, maintaining a 50/50 split between prime and sub-award work across recent federal activity.

The Coalition's federal footprint centers on the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which accounts for 11 of 14 total awards in the source data. The most recent prime grant is a $215,000 Cooperative Agreement (CFDA 81.086, Conservation Research and Development) running April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027 under EERE's Clean Cities and Communities Coalitions program, tasking the Coalition with stakeholder engagement, technical assistance, and performance metric tracking within the Knoxville region. The Coalition also holds a prime cooperative agreement for the Drive Electric USA 2 program, active October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2026, which expands statewide electric vehicle adoption initiatives across thirteen additional states and applies barrier-reduction strategies to accelerate EV market penetration. The Environmental Protection Agency accounts for the remaining customer agencies (2 awards, including a sub-award tied to Tennessee's Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program via the Department of Environment & Conservation).

As a sub-recipient, the Coalition executes program delivery, outreach, and administrative functions on multiple Tennessee Technological University projects spanning electric vehicle ride-and-drive demonstrations, rural mobile charging infrastructure, battery lifecycle economics, and workforce training. Sub-grant awards from Tennessee Tech (dated October 2022, March 2024, July 2024, and January 2025) position the Coalition as a Tier 1 partner responsible for digital media development, EV event coordination, scheduling platform creation, stakeholder recruitment, and local subaward administration. The Coalition also received a sub-award from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council in February 2025 for program delivery support.

Activity has remained modest but consistent—one award in 2022 through three in 2024—with combined federal dollars obligated at $15.1 million across the fourteen awards. Only one award reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete pressure in the near term. The Coalition's work concentrates on transportation electrification, clean cities outreach, and energy security in the Southeast, with no federal contracts in the award portfolio—all activity flows through cooperative agreements and grant mechanisms.