Sometimes even I get tired of ranting about how and why the country’s (and the world’s)fuel problems have gotten so completely out of control, and when I do, it’s nice to happen upon some good news. Yes, it’s nice to be reminded that there are an awful lot of very smart people out there who are working on solutions to our problems.

Today, I got such a reminder. Today, I received a press release from CALSTART, a group that bills itself as “North America’s leading advanced transportation technologies consortium,” announcing the winners of their 2008 “Blue Sky Awards,” and it made my day. You see, there’s not just one award; there are serveral, and the winners are a pretty impressive lot.

First up is Eaton Corporation, of Cleveland, Ohio, winners of the Blue Sky Award™ for “being the world’s first in developing and bringing to market both hybrid electric and hybrid hydraulic systems for medium and heavy commercial vehicles.” Next up, Business Region Göteborg of Sweden won the Charles R. Imbrecht Blue Sky Innovation Award™ for “catalyzing Sweden’s use of biomethane as a renewable transportation fuel now powering 4,500 natural gas cars, trucks and buses and a commuter train.” Southern Counties Express, Inc., of Los Angeles, Calif., won a Blue Sky Merit Award™ for “buying a fleet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) port trucks and operating an LNG fueling station that is publicly available to the port trucking community.” Union Pacific Railroad Co. (NYSE:UPN), of Omaha, Neb., won a Blue Sky Merit Award™ for “the development, procurement and deployment of more than 150 ultra-low emitting ‘Genset’ multi-engine diesel switching locomotives.” And last but not least, ZipCar, of San Francisco, Calif., won a Blue Sky Merit Award™ for its car-sharing program and “its impact on the environment, reduction of parking demands, lessening of traffic congestion and greenhouse emissions.”

We here at Fuel Advantage magazine congratulate these winners, and we thank them for the positive contributions they have made to the world. If they keep this up, we may not need this magazine much longer!

In two weeks, I’ll be at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, attending the 2008 Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference & Expo, hosted by the Las Vegas-based Alternative Fuel Vehicles Institute (AFVi). This will be my fourth time at this event, and I can vouch for this being the most important fuel-efficiency and energy independence event of the year for the transportation industry. I strongly urge any fleet manager who is trying to use less petroleum fuel, cut fuel costs, and “green” his or her fleet to attend.

Why am I such a big fan? Because the people who attend this event aren’t just flapping their jaws about pie-in-the-sky solutions to our nation’s fuel problems; they’re putting real solutions in place today, and they’re making things happen now. This event, to be held May 11-14, is jam-packed with amazing educational sessions, an eye-popping technology showcase, a fantastic ride-and-drive (with vehicles that can get 175 mpg!) and numerous networking opportunities. And, best of all, Tuesday, May 13th is “Fleet Day,” an entire day dedicated to addressing the needs and concerns of fleet managers and operators. If you are considering biodiesel, natural gas, ethanol, propane or electric vehicles for your fleet, you’ll find an educational session on Fleet Day that will answer your questions and put you in touch with the right people to help you on your way. I’ll even be moderating a panel that day on fuel-saving technologies for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

To register for the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference & Expo, click here.

Two weeks ago I rented a car to drive from Wisconsin to Indianapolis for a meeting, and when I got to the rental office I was given the choice of two minivans: a Toyota Sienna and a Chevy Uplander. I wasn’t very thrilled with my choices, but then I noticed that the Chevy was a FlexFuel vehicle, and my attitude changed.

Here in the Midwest, E85 is cheap and plentiful. It normally sells for about 60 cents a gallon less than a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. What could be better? I could go to Indianapolis and back and use a fraction of the gasoline, and spend a fraction of the money, that I would have used in a regular vehicle!

There was no way of knowing what was already in the Uplander’s tank of course, but I was hopeful that the previous renter had had the wisdom to fill up with E85. So I set out for Indianapolis, confident that I would be making at least a small difference.

I only used three-quarters of a tank on the drive to Indy, so when I set out for home the next day I knew the moment of truth would come, oh… about midway through Illinois. And Illinois, like Wisconsin and Indiana, is corn country. I knew there would be E85 stations along the interstate every few miles, offering cheap, clean, domestically-produced ethanol at bargain prices. I even started seeing Burma-shave style rhyming roadsigns in cornfields! Oh yes, this was ethanol heaven, for sure.

But as my gas gauge sank closer and closer to ‘E’, I started to worry. I hadn’t seen any sign that the filling stations along the highway were selling E85, and when I started pulling off into the small towns of eastern Illinois, I found station after station selling straight gasoline, and nothing more. I even asked a clerk at one filling station if she knew of any stations in the area that sold E85. She looked at me blankly and said, “E-what?”

Discouraged, I put $20 of regular gas in the tank and kept looking, but I came up empty. No E85 in sight. What could have gone wrong? Well, I could have done the smart thing and checked the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition Website (www.e85fuel.com) and found the addresses to 170 stations in Illinois that sell E85–you read that right: 170! But I was not smart. I wanted to see if I could find the magic fuel unaided, and in that I failed. I drove home on expensive, dirty, imported gasoline, but filled up with E85 in my hometown before returning the van.

Lesson learned: the good stuff is out there, but for now, doing the right thing involves a little legwork. Next time I’ll know better. And maybe, next time those E85 pumps will be a little more visible to the unaided eye.

I think just about everyone knew that the California anti-idling law that took effect January 1st would send shock waves through the industry, even if nobody quite knew what those shock waves would be. A recent news item doesn’t seem related at first glance, but I can’t help but see a connection.

A story last week in the Knoxville, TN, News Sentinel led off with the headline: “IdleAire reports growing losses–Company’s SEC filing expresses ’substantial doubt’ about future.” You know IdleAire: they make the truck-stop electrification (TSE) units that slide in through the window of a truck cab, attached by a yellow flexible umbilical cord to an overhead HVAC unit. It’s a slick package, and I have talked to truck drivers who love this system because it meets all their needs at a moderate cost, and doesn’t require them to alter their truck at all.

But it does require that the truck be at a truck stop. And not just any truck stop: it has to be at one of the relatively few truck stops that have IdleAire installations. Now, what if your truck needs to cross into California? Even if you run your truck idle-free at IdleAire stations in during rest periods in the 47 other lower states, you might mot be able to do it in California. There might not be an installation where your truck needs to be. Even if there is, there may not be a stall available. Maybe you’ve chosen IdleAire over installing an APU or battery-powered on-board system. Then what?

I have a sneaking suspicion that as more and more fleets and owner-operators opt for on-board idle-reduction systems in order to do business in California, fewer and fewer of them are paying for IdleAire services. And I don’t see any way to reverse that trend. Do you?

You know something has changed in the trucking world when all the major truck and engine manufacturers are talking about fuel economy… at the Mid-America Truck Show.

That’s right, at THE truck show for owner-operators, the place where big bore diesels and raw horsepower trump all, everyone was talking about fuel efficiency. And they weren’t just talking about in private conversations, on the side. They were leading off with fuel economy, treating it like a selling point (which it always should be anyway).

There was Freightliner, telling us that their 2010 “SCR” diesel engines from Detroit Diesel and Mercedes-Benz would be offering up a three to five percent fuel economy improvement… There were Peterbilt and Kenworth showing off their diesel-electric and diesel-hydraulic trucks… There were vendors showing off new trailer aerodynamic packages, alternative fuels, and “green” initiatives galore (yes, many products were being sold on their environmental benefits, but they almost always offer a fuel-use benefit as part of the package).

Is this a sign of things to come? Yes, I think it is. I think the tide has turned, green is in, and fuel economy is going to overshadow every other issue in the trucking industry. And it’s about time!

I’ve asked the question in the past, “How expensive does a gallon of fuel have to be before Americans say ‘Enough!’” It now appears we may have an answer.

There’s a lot of buzz on internet forums and CB radio channels about independent truckers holding a national “Fuel Shut Down” on Tuesday, April 1st., to protest skyrocketing diesel fuel prices. This could be huge, or it could be a dud (or it could be a colossal April Fool’s joke). There’s no union or cohesive leadership group promoting this event, and there seems to be some confusion about the actual date of the event, but the fact that people are talking about this as a reality says something about how frustrated Americans are by rising gas and diesel prices and our government’s inability to rein in big oil companies and Middle East sheikdoms, both of whom are raking in oceans of money.

Yes, it seems that truck drivers, at least, have said “Enough!” and some of them are ready to take action by shutting down their trucks and disrupting the transportation of vital goods. Will it work? Who knows? No matter how many drivers shut down on the 1st, they’re probably not going to make a dent in the giant American commerce and industry machine, and they may harm themselves in the long run by foregoing the pay they could have been earning. But one thing’s for sure: they have started a conversation, and I predict that, whatever happens on the 1st, that conversation is not going to die down, or go away.

Every now and then I’m reminded that, no matter how long I’ve worked in this business, I still have more to learn. For example, a few weeks back I wrote a very critical blog entry about gas stations that put up signs that say “No Ethanol! Real Gas Sold Here!” In that entry, I said that anyone who used that as a selling point for their gasoline was un-American. Well, l just attended a sustainable energy conference, and I happened to mention the “No Ethanol” signs to one of the City of Milwaukee fleet engineers and he explained the the rationale for promoting “Real Gas.” It turns out that the 10 percent ethanol blend that is commonly sold at gas stations here in southern Wisconsin has a relatively short shelf-life of a year or less. That’s a concern to the many people who leave gas in their lawn mowers, outboard motors, ATVs, dirt bikes, scooters, etc., during the winter (and in their snowmobiles and snow blowers over the summer). Not surprisingly, they don’t want to have to worry that some bad ethanol is going to gunk up their fuel filter or carburetor during the off-season.

The problem is, a lot of people are still going to see this as an excuse to avoid using cleaner, domestically-produced ethanol in their cars and trucks, for no food reason. So, now I understand the rationale for the signs, but I still don’t like it.

I had an illuminating chat the other day with Alexis Coffey, Freightliner Trucks’ Medium-Duty Marketing Manager, about her company’s plans for producing hybrid work trucks. Production is already underway, so if you’ve been thinking about adding a hybrid work truck or stepvan to your fleet, Freightliner is taking orders…

According to Coffey, Freightliner Custom Chassis has been building hybrids for the delivery van market since 2003, and it’s this proven hybrid system that is now available on the Class-6 and -7 Business Class M2. “We started the concept truck two years ago, and now we’re in ‘pre-series,’” she said. “This year we could build 400 to 500 trucks. And going into full production at the beginning of next year, we’ll be talking about very high numbers. You bring me the order and I’ll build you the truck!”

Coffey sees the greatest potential for the new M2 hybrid in the utility market, in large part because the lift and the PTO on a bucket truck can be run silently on the hybrid’s battery pack. Imagine no more shouting between the guy in the bucket and the gal on the ground, because the truck isn’t running (The engine only starts up for a few minutes at a time to recharge the batteries when they get low)!

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s phenomenal news when a truck OEM like Freightliner puts it money where its mouth is and starts putting this type of advanced technology on the market. Of course it will only succeed if there’s a ready market for these trucks, and that’s where you come in. Place your orders now!

There was a standout event at the National Truck Equipment Association Annual Meeting this past week in Atlanta that got me pretty excited about fleets that are already starting to adopt hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. The day-long Hybrid Truck and Alternative Fuels Summit featured speakers from government, industry, and public-private alternative energy groups, all talking about the growth they’re seeing in this market, and the excitement was contagious.

The first such Summit, held at last year’s NTEA Show in Indianapolis, was a sell-out, and this year’s event was bigger and better. Whereas last year you might have heard speakers talking about production runs of hybrid bucket trucks for utility fleets in the dozens of units, this year they were mentioning production runs in the thousands, and in the foreseeable future.

One noteable speaker was Rachel Beckhardt, project analyst, corporate partnerships for Environmental Defense, a public-private partnership that promotes environmentally-friendly technology. In her presentation, Beckhardt invited fleet managers to go to www.environmentaldefense.org/hybridincentives for a comprehensive list of financial incentives available to them to help defray the incremental costs of buying hybrid work trucks. My favorite moment came when Beckhardt gave an example of the kind of information available on the website by saying, “New Hampshire has a big pot of money” for fleets purchasing hybrids. This is New Hampshire, folks, one of the smallest states in the nation… Imagine what kind of money is available across the country!

There are big pots of money out there for your fleet, and now you know one new way to find it!

Here in Wisconsin, we’ve had a particularly cold, snowy winter, so it comes as no surprise that a lot of people have been leaving their cars, trucks and SUVs idling to keep warm. But when is enough enough?

Honestly, it doesn’t matter if it’s 10 below out or a perfect 68 degrees: a lot of people will leave their car, truck or SUV idling while they run into the store for a pack of cigarettes, a Coke, a newspaper, whatever. How and why have Americans picked up this disgusting habit? Don’t people make the connection that leaving their Suburban idling at the curb while they buy stamps is a complete waste of gasoline (or diesel fuel)? Do they realize they’re getting exactly zero miles per gallon?

I don’t understand the disconnect. I’m sure they’re good people, and I’m sure at least 60 precent of them want our troops back safely from the Iraq oil fields, so why are they so wasteful with this increasingly scarce and expensive resource? Even if it’s below zero outside, do they really think their car interior is going to get cold in the three minutes it takes them to buy a pack of smokes? Are we really that soft? Are we really that lazy? Do we really care that little about the world around us?