 Green and getting greener
<<Sounds of hybrid truck operating>> Narrator says: It’s a case of ‘if some is good, more is better’. It’s been two years since King County Fleet Administration took delivery of its first hybrid utility truck, and so far so good. On the outside, the bucket-lift truck looks like any of its counterparts, but it has logged about 7,000 miles this year on less than 800 gallons of fuel, which is a drastic fuel and CO2 savings from a conventional diesel truck. there are currently three heavy-duty hybrids in use by Fleet Administration, one more lift truck and a flat-bed tow truck that can carry two vehicles at once, at up to 15,000 pounds apiece. Acting fleet director Jennifer Lindwall explains the reasoning behind going hybrid. Fleet Administration Division Director Jennifer Lindwall says: I think the benefits to the county are in a couple of ways. One is certainly, we all experienced last year spiking gas prices. So the difference is having some of the alternative-fuel vehicles is significant when gas was in the $4-$4.50 range. It's down now, and I think people are sort of breathing a sigh of relief. Who knows how long that will last? So, trying to be fiscally responsive and responsible, but also making sure we're doing everything we can for the environment and trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Narrator says: Part of the effort of reducing greenhouse gas emissions includes more exploration. At Fleet’s Renton Maintenance Yard, the county recently tried out a Ford pick-up truck that had been retro-fitted to burn liquid propane. Fleet Equipment Supervisor Bob Toppen says: Currently we're looking at hybrid vehicles. Of course, they've been around for several years now and those are fine for moving people from point A to point B. But, a lot of our customers actually have the need to out and carry tools out to a job and have a truck to get their job done. This particular truck here is a propane truck. It runs on a liquid propane system and it replaces the original gas system that was installed on the truck when it was originally manufactured. To the driver it's pretty much seamless other than you fill up at a propane tank instead of a gas dispenser. Range is approximately the same, fuel economy's approximately the same. A big advantage is that with the federal rebate back on propane fuel, your cost of fuel is considerably less and than even current prices of gasoline, so that's a big advantage. Narrator says: The Fleet Division will be ordering two more heavy duty hybrids, one more lift truck and a mobile lube truck that allows crews to maintain vehicles in the field. On the smaller side of things the county is also looking at hybrid and compressed natural gas vehicles. Part of this exploration effort includes testing the vehicles over long periods of time and assessing data. Glen Hiraki works at the county’s waste-water treatment plant in Renton, and had been driving a Toyota Prius, that on top of being a hybrid also has an extra retro-fitted battery pack. King County Project Representative Glen Hiraki Says: There is actually a data logger in the car, and all that information on where it’s driven, how it’s driven, the mileage, it’s all being recorded at a remote location. I pretty much just drive the car as normal and go about my business and how the car’s performing is being tracked at this other location. It pretty much drives like a regular Prius. What the conversion entailed is adding an additional battery pack, which allows the car to drive a little bit further and a little bit faster on battery power alone, and it'll go about 30 miles. And once that additional battery pack is depleted, the car just converts back to the regular Prius mode and it drives like a regular Prius. Narrator says: The extra battery pack on glen’s hybrid vehicle allows him to get between 80 and 110 miles per gallon. And he says he only fills the tank about once a month, or about once every 750 miles. But on top of the direct benefit the county sees to cutting fuel costs and emissions, there is also the big picture. The county is part of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition, a collection of public and private agencies that work to reduce overall petroleum consumption. Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition Program Manager Stephanie Meyn Says: The Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition is part of a national program within the U.S. Department of energy called the clean cities program and we are one of 85 cities that has a coalition. And King County is a major sponsor and a major participant in this coalition. They've been awarded as a top fleet in the 100 best fleet[s], which is a program that's affiliated with the coalition. And they do a lot to test some of these new vehicle technologies and share that information with other fleets in other counties and other cities in the region. So, they're a really great resource for other fleets to know about any of the technologies they've tested, the software they've used; all the things that go into making a green fleet. Narrator says: The heavy-duty hybrids also offer the benefit of less overall maintenance, not to mention the fact that they’re quieter and can stay out longer without refueling. Of the many challenges involved in testing out these new and fledgling technologies, one of the biggest is changing perception and getting people comfortable with a new way of operating a vehicle. Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition Program Manager Stephanie Meyn Says: But i think most of it is about attitude to begin with. There are still challenges with the mechanics. That side of it, that people who are used to dealing with gasoline or diesel vehicles may not be familiar with the technology, they've heard a lot of rumors. Usually the bad cases get highlighted in the media and so people hear about biodiesel, they think 'oh I heard that one story about that one guy who didn't change the filter enough and may have had a problem with it'. But, what clean cities does, and what King County and all these best practices show is that if you follow what the mechanics and the drivers have shown to be best practices for these new technologies, the adoption is pretty seamless. Narrator says: Toppen says one of the things he’d love to see in hybrid form is a snow plow, and with the efforts of the county and clean cities coalition, he may not have to wait too long to see it become a reality.
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