May 29, 2006 Volume XIII, Number 11 Here Come the Buckets Inside this Issue... Two Dozen International Utility Trucks with Eaton Hybrid Drives More CNG Buses for OCTA... Being Deployed for Field Evaluation With 14 Utilities Nationwide Page 3 Utility bucket trucks from International with parallel hybrid electric drives Rhode Island Gets Public CNG... from Eaton are being delivered to 14 utilities nationwide with a view to Page 3 gathering data on emission reductions and fuel savings. If the utilities are sufficiently impressed, International expects higher SCAT Looks to CNG After All... volumes to significantly reduce the current cost premium of the vehicles. Page 3 The figure’s not been publicized but has been Fab Touts AFV Fleet Services... reported at approximately $30,000 on top of a Pages 3-4 conventional cherry picker truck that costs about $140,000. CVEF for Tank Inspections... Funding from the U.S. Army’s National Page 5 Automotive Center is helping offset the costs OEMs’ Curious Campaign... more on page 2 Page 6 New Airport ‘Hydricity’ Trial ... ANG Progress Page 6 Midwest Adsorbed Natural Gas Team Gets Ready for a Vehicle Test Hy-Drive for Cleaner Diesels... Developers of a low pressure alternative for storing natural gas on a vehicle are gearing up for a vehicle test in which they’ll evaluate their adsorbed natural gas Page 6 system on a bi-fuel Ford F-150 pickup operated by Kansas City. Clean Energy, eTec for H2... ANG, being targeted aggressively by the University of Missouri and ALL- Page 7 CRAFT, the MU-led Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuel Quantum for Norway H2 Cars... Technology, involves the use of corn-cob waste-derived nanoporous carbon (or Page 7 other materials) to store natural gas at 500 psi, rather than the 3,000 or 3,600 psi that’s common today (F&F, April 11, 2005 and August 15, 2005). New Holland Approves B20... The MU researchers are seeking further funding for their efforts, which they Page 7 believe to be the key to natural gas vehicle viability — ANG has the potential to First Opus Hybrid Bus Sale... eliminate the bulky tanks that plague NGV designers and operators (like taxi Page 7 drivers who hate to lose their trunk space), and could lower the energy cost of fuel compression. One drawback: ANG technology requires near 100 methane. AFVS Hybrid Bus from China... “We’re hoping that we get some OEM interested,” says Sam Swearngin of Page 7 Kansas City fleet services. ZBus & ZEVs Money is being sought from the National Science Foundation via NSF’s The California Air Resources Board Partnerships for Innovation Program, and from other sources, including hasn’t forgotten its zero-emission American Honda. Honda is already promoting an undisclosed storage medium vehicle aspirations, and has slated for hydrogen. The material has allowed Honda to halve the pressure in the fuel two meetings to look at the possibil- tank of its latest FCX fuel cell vehicle (F&F, January 16). ities, both regulatory and technical. ALL-CRAFT/University of Missouri, Prof. Peter Pfeifer, 573-882-2335; See Page 8 fax 573-882-4195; [email protected]; all-craft.missouri.edu City of Kansas City, Sam Swearngin, 816-513-8356; [email protected] City of Kansas City, Dennis Murphey, 816-513-3459; [email protected] COPYRIGHT © 2006 AUGUST PACIFIC PRESS Biweekly Business Intelligence on Alternative-Technology Vehicles and the Fuels that Drive Them 2 Fleets & Fuels May 29, 2006 (Washington, D.C.), and Southern California Edison. Hybrid Electric Vehicles The trucks are to be fitted by late this summer with auxiliary power generation hardware. APG will Utility Bucket Trucks (continued) allow the trucks to serve as on-site generators, of the pilot program. providing up to 25 kilowatts of exportable, grid- Dallas-based TXU Corp’s TXU Electric Delivery quality power to buildings being worked on. That may unit is one of the utilities talking up the trials, allow some utility operators to modestly (or with addi- reporting that projected fuel savings of 40% to 60% tional hybrid trucks, significantly) reduce their CAIDIs could make for annual savings of $4,500 at today’s — customer average interruption duration indices. fuel prices — plus maintenance benefits. The APG package will include power receptacles “On the road, the truck runs on an efficient com- for driving electric hand tools and other equipment. bination of biodiesel and battery power,” TXU says. Eventually the trucks could be fitted with heavier “At job sites, the utility bucket can operate for up to electrical systems for putting power back into the grid, two hours on the battery charge, without the engine and they may even evolve into plug-in hybrids, says idling that is necessary with conventional bucket trucks. Bill Van Amburg, senior VP at WestStart-Calstart, a Cutting CAIDI, Maybe key organizer of the program through its Hybrid “The result is fuel savings, along with reduced Truck User Forum initiative. emissions and less noise in neighborhoods where “We haven’t even started to scratch the surface,” service restoration is underway.” Van Amburg said Friday. But, “you have to prove core Besides TXU and program leader Florida Power value first,” he told F&F, referring to the vehicles’ & Light, participants in the hybrid utility truck immediate obvious fuel-savings advantages. program are Alabama Power, American Electric The Model 4000 International trucks have DT 466 Power, Baltimore Gas & Electric, ComEd (Exelon), diesel engines and lithium ion battery packs. Eaton’s Duke Power, Entergy, Florida Power & Light, Georgia Kevin Beaty declines to list specific suppliers, noting Power, Hydro Quebec, the Missouri Dept. of that they may well change when the vehicles eventual- Transportation, Pacific Gas & Electric, PEPCO ly enter real series production. International (engineering), Jon Hembree, 260-461-1701; fax 260-461-1601; [email protected] International (sales), Jim Williams, 630-753-5239; [email protected] Eaton, Kevin Beaty, 269-342-3022; [email protected]; www.eaton.com Rich Piellisch, Editor & Publisher U.S. Army/NAC, Paul Skalny, 586-574-5436; fax -574-8906; August Pacific Press [email protected]; www.tacom.army.mil 560 Fourth Street, Suite B Florida Power & Light, George Survant, San Francisco, CA 94107 USA 561-691-7619; [email protected] 415.896.5988 telephone / 415.896.5989 fax ComEd, Pat Pineau, [email protected] 630-576-6163; [email protected] Kathy Thorne for Subscription Inquiries Pacific Gas & Electric, Efrain Ornelas, 415-972-5617; Professional Newsletter Management Services, Inc. [email protected]; www.pge.com PO Box 335 / Boyds, MD 20841 USA WestStart-Calstart, VP Bill Van Amburg, 626-744-5650; 301.540.3971 telephone / 301.528.2497 fax [email protected]; www.calstart.org [email protected] San Francisco’s First Hybrid Orion Fleets & Fuels is published 24 times a year by August Pacific Orion parent DaimlerChrysler and series drivetrain supplier Press. $397 per year world rate. Quantity discounts available. BAE Systems will celebrate delivery of the first hybrid Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Richard Piellisch. electric transit bus to San Francisco’s Muni this Thursday, COPYRIGHT © 2006 August Pacific Press. All Rights Reserved. June 1. Officials of Muni and the supplier companies, and Fleets & Fuels subscribers are free to share Fleets & Fuels with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom are expected to attend. colleagues on-site, via whatever means they find convenient, and are urged to get in touch with the publisher regarding Muni has ordered 56 of the Cummins ISB diesel-fueled discounts for additional, off-site subscriptions. series hybrid vehicles (F&F, May 30, 2005). ISSN 1075-0134 BAE info, Stephanie Diehl, 607-770-3679; [email protected] www.FleetsandFuels.com More Events on Page 8 COPYRIGHT © 2006 AUGUST PACIFIC PRESS 3 Fleets & Fuels May 29, 2006 Natural Gas Vehicles CNG for SCAT Agency that Had Opted for Gasoline Hybrids 249 More for OCTA Now Says It Wants to Go with CNG After All Board of California Agency Votes Unanimously South Coast Area Transit in Ventura County north To Spend Up to $106 Million for More New Flyers of Los Angeles appears to be going with compressed Southern California’s Orange County Transportation natural gas buses after all, after saying late last year Authority voted early this month to step up its planned that it would be buying gasoline-fueled hybrid purchases of CNG-fueled New Flyer buses, commit- electrics (F&F, December 5). ting in $106 million to the purchase of 249 new 40- “A policy decision was made by our board to footers, topping an existing order for 50. continue using CNG,” says SCAT fleet and facilities “The CNG buses will be used to replace older director Robert Lurie. diesel buses and to expand OCTA’s bus fleet, especially Pricing prompted the decision, says an industry as rising [gasoline] prices help to boost demand for source, as CNG made on-site for around $1.25 per public transit,” the agency says. “The new buses will gasoline gallon equivalent looks quite attractive be delivered in stages between 2007 and 2009. compared with gasoline that’s now at $3. “And when “The purchase will boost the number of large the $0.50/GGE rebate begins on 1 October,” the buses in OCTA’s fleet from 564 to 756.” source says, “CNG will be astoundingly cheap.” OCTA last year committed to CNG instead of the Another source suggests another possibility for LNG used to fuel 232 of its older vehicles, tapping fuel-miserly SCAT: CNG-fueled hybrids. Trillium USA for a new CNG fueling installation A decision is expected at SCAT’s next board (F&F, September 26).