Whether its poke bowls, gyros or burritos on the go, food trucks have proved popular from the National Mall to local festivals and block parties all over the D.C. region.
But there’s an effort to take one thing off the menu in Montgomery County: The noise and emissions from diesel generators that are features of many of the mobile businesses.
Brian Booher, a senior planning specialist for zero-emission vehicles with the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, told WTOP that the county has received a $150,000 grant from the Maryland Energy Administration as part of a pilot program to get more food trucks to go electric.
“This funding — $150,000 — will be enough to electrify 25 food trucks,” said Booher.
The money will be available in the form of zero-interest loans with some cash rebates, he explained.
“We’ll get this up by the end of the year and people can begin applying for these incentives,” at that time, Booher added.
The cost of a battery power system for most mobile businesses can range from $10,000 to $25,000.
Booher said food truck operators are among those who’d like to make the change from diesel to electric systems. He said a big part of that is the noise of the diesel generators.
“That’s the biggest story when we talk to food truck drivers, they really talk about the noise first and foremost,” he said.
But making the change from diesel to electric would have environmental benefits as well: “Every diesel generator that we can replace with an electric generator is going to equal about four cars worth of carbon pollution that we can take off the road,” said Booher.
The grants aren’t exclusively for food trucks. Businesses like mobile pet groomers, for example, would be eligible to apply, said Booher.
He said if the program can demonstrate demand beyond the first 25 applicants, there’s hope it could be continued “and expanded statewide.”
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