Money for Nothing?
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!
March 4th, 2008 at 9:58 am
If I was relocating a business, Utah would sure look good if I needed to run vehicles and switched to compressed natural gas! 63 Cents Per Gallon
Arizona needs to get a clue and enact some modest and fair incentives for light duty NGV’s for our citizens and businesses , Alternative Fuels can help offset the damage
of high fuel prices on our economy and our lives!
With Utah’s recent natural gas fuel price drop to 63 cents per gallon, YES a fuel price went down and natural gas used by CNG vehicles in Utah are now fueling for only 63 cents per gallon at stations available to the public. Natural gas vehicles have become a very hot commodity in Utah and the demand has spread into adjoining states. Dave Clement of CNG Services of Arizona reports he gets calls almost daily from people in Utah looking for natural gas vehicles, CNG conversions for existing vehicles and home fueling equipment that can be hooked to gas lines.
The state of Utah offers several incentives for alternative fueled vehicles, for a new CNG vehicle a $3000.00 tax credit and for an aftermarket converted vehicle $2500.00. The federal government also offers tax credits, but only for new dedicated equipment. The price at the public CNG pumps is the big news, 63 cents per gallon at strategically located locations in existing service stations in 26 towns along Utah’s freeway system. The public in Utah fill up their NGV’s at regular gas stations unlike the few and far between stations in Arizona where its usually in an industrial area or major airport.
It would be a great step forward to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil if the rest of the country followed Utah’s lead. Build the Vehicles! Build the Stations! Do away with Imported Petroleum!
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NGV Now! We have the fuel, we have the technology, let’s use it!
Drive Clean, Drive Natural gas!