In the coming years, managers of medium-duty fleets will be faced with making new and different types of equipment choices, and they can do so with knowledge gained from helpful industry and government programs. Driving this activity, in part, are new fuel efficiency and carbon emissions rules for on-highway trucks with GVW ratings above 8,500 lbs.

Set to take effect beginning with 2014 model year vehicles are U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas (GHG) regulations, followed by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fuel consumption standards that begin with the 2016 model year.

Helping utility fleet managers address the challenges, the Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference in 2011 took up the subject as part of a series of presentations on “Focused Strategies for Future Success.”

Fuel cost issues need to be addressed for alternative fuel-powered commercial vehicles, related Bill Van Amburg, senior vice president at CALSTART. “The medium- and heavy-duty hybrid business case improves substantially for fuel prices above $3 per gallon,” he said. “Natural gas already has a substantial price advantage. In addition, electric trucks are gaining interest as a hedge against fuel price fluctuations.”

Van Amburg noted that Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) work trucks show potential because their extra energy storage boosts idle time reduction. “Diesel fuel costs are causing a rapid review of the potential business case for these vehicles,” he said, “but energy storage costs are still high. Still, there is growing interest from fleets if fuel savings are not derived entirely from driving cycles.”

Already used in transit operations, dual mode hybrids are under development for trucks. In particular, Van Amburg pointed out that Meritor and Navistar are testing an advanced dual-mode hybrid design that provides electric drive capability at lower speeds and a blended power mode at higher speeds. Eaton also is testing a dual mode hybrid that offers a zero emissions short range, low speed capability.

Van Amburg’s presentation also focused on electric trucks, which he called “a key emerging segment.” As a result, CALSTART has created an E-Truck Task Force of users and manufacturers designed to identify market and technology barriers and fleet needs.

“The foundation has been set,” Van Amburg stated. “High-efficiency technologies are now emerging and are in early production. We are entering a 20-year period of significant change and pressure for greater efficiency and reduced emissions, but a support framework is needed to help fleets meet these challenges.”

Part of the solution, Mark Smith, vehicle technologies deployment manager, noted in his EUFMC presentation, is the National Clean Cities Program of the U.S. Department of Energy. “The primary focus of Clean Cities is to achieve petroleum reduction,” he stated. “Since 1993, we have helped cut petroleum use by nearly 3 billion gallons annually. The goal is to reduce petroleum use by 40 million gallons per year in the near term and by 2.5 billion gallons annually by 2020.”

Currently, there are over 700,000 alternative fuel vehicles on the road and 7,000 alternative fueling stations, more than 70% of them influenced by Clean Cities programs, Smith related. Clean Cities includes more than 100 coalitions involving stakeholders from businesses, city and state governments, the transportation industry, community organizations and fuel providers.

Clean Cities provides financial assistance in the form of funding to facilitate infrastructure development and vehicle deployment projects. The program, Smith added, is working with fleets to deploy over 10,000 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles.

Fleet managers faced with making effective choices about vehicles in the future can find more information about Clean Cities at www.cleancities.energy.gov and about CALSTART (including its Hybrid Truck Users Forum) at www.calstart.org.  

Editor’s note: The 59th Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference will be held June 3-6, 2012, at the Williamsburg Lodge and Conference Center in Williamsburg, Va. For more information, visit www.eufmc.com.