The New Alternative Fuel Technology
Chrysler’s announcement of their entry into the race for the first mass produced electric vehicle, followed two days later by General Motor’s unveiling of their $370 million investment in the construction of a new Flint, MI plant to produce engines for the Chevrolet Volt, indicate the move to develop alternative fuel vehicles is picking up speed. Nissan, Toyota, GM, Chrysler, and Mitsubishi are all developing electric vehicles (EVs), and Toyota, Honda, BMW, Ford, GM, Daimler, Volkswagen, and Mazda are also developing hydrogen fuel cell technologies as alternatives to conventional gasoline vehicles. Over the next several years manufacturers expect to begin rolling out these vehicles to the public, and with the expanding list of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) lines and the current Flex-Fuel models the possibilities for “greening” fleets seems overwhelming. The issue, however, can still be boiled down to a simple question: how can greenhouse gas emission be reduced without increasing operating costs?
In the long term, hydrogen vehicles and plug-in electrics may be the answer. Currently, however, issues of range, durability, available infrastructure, and cost still stand as stumbling blocks to these options in the near future. Hydrogen fuel cells, if they could be mass produced, still need to cut their costs by about a third to be competitive with internal combustion engines, and plug-in vehicles raise the question of how a fleet accounts for energy use to recharge the vehicles.
In the short term, the discussion for fleets remains fuel economy. How can new technologies assist fleets meet their application needs while reducing fuel consumption? As more hybrid lines are developed across vehicle segments, HEVs could meet the needs of more diverse types of fleets, but, as this year has shown, production capabilities haven’t yet caught up with demand. Infrastructure challenges also remain a persistent issue; it does little good to have a green vehicle if the fuel is not readily available to operate it. Driver training is an effective way to improve fuel economy performance with an existing fleet, and selecting the smallest, most fuel efficient vehicles to meet the demands of the fleet should form the basis of a green acquisition strategy. In some cases this may mean hybrids and other alternative fuel vehicles, but that’s not the only solution.
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