If you listened to or read our post on T. Boone Pickens speaking at the AFVI Expo in May, then you know that he's a big proponent of wind power and natural gas (some say he needs to learn more about hydrogen cars). Mr. Swift Boat is all over the media today because of an announcement regarding something called "The Plan," Pickens' big new idea to shift some of the $700b the U.S. spends each year on foreign oil into increasing domestic energy production. Unsurprisingly, Pickens says that wind and natural gas are the ways to go. Maybe this is what he meant when he said he wanted to be a player in the fall election.

Pickens spoke to NPR this morning about The Plan, which includes installing 2,500 wind turbines in Texas to deal with Peak oil (The Plan website says that happened in 2005). As for natural gas, Pickens says it should win as a power source for vehicles because it is cheaper than gas, abundant and domestic.

If you need a jolt of irony with your lunch today, check this out. Pickens told NPR that, "The mistake was made because we didn't have the leadership that stepped up and said, 'We cannot continue to import foreign oil.'" One reason no one stepped might be that people like Pickens invested a lot in oil companies looking for oil in foreign lands. Sheesh. h/t to Dave B.

[Source: Pickens Plan, NPR]

The U.S. Department of Energy today took the wraps off of an online Alternative Fuel Station Locator that should make it a bit easier to find the right fuel if you need something other than gasoline or diesel. Just put in your address, the fuel you're looking for, how wide a radius you'd like the database to include and presto. Instant results. As I still drive a gasoline-powered car (an efficient one, mind you), I can't personally judge the accuracy of the information for local pumps, but if you're knowledgeable about these sorts of things, give the online station locator a test and see how it does.

The DOE's map includes pumps/stations that offer:

• Biodiesel (B20 and above)
• Compressed Natural Gas
• Electric
• Ethanol (E85)
• Hydrogen
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
• Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Propane)

The database should be fairy accurate, as the DOE gathers it's information "from trade media, Clean Cities coordinators, and the submittal form on the AFDC Web site." Then, each station is contacted twice a year to make sure the fuel listed is still available at the site. Happy hunting.

[Source: DOE]

Mercedes-Benz is taking more positive action to reach its goal of nixing the use of petroleum by 2015. The company has announced they have expanded their Mannheim operations to increase the range of models with the iconic three-pointed star on the front of their hoods and natural gas engines underneath them. Their natural gas program, which has focused mainly on commercial vehicles since its inception in 1994, will no longer be nick-named KEN, and will now go by the acronym-less title of "Mercedes-Benz Production Competence Centre for Natural Gas Drive" as the use of this fuel is expanded into every segment.

This means that the Econic and E-Class vehicles currently in the natural gas program at Mannheim will be joined by the B-Class and as many as 16 variations of the Sprinter van. Don't look for every other Mercedes you see to be an NGV just yet, though. Although their production has increased exponentially since 2003 and expect the upwards trend to continue, only 5,000 units are expected to be shipped this year. Get all the Mercedes-supplied facts from the press release after the break.

[Source: Daimler via The Financial]

Russia's giant natural gas company, Gazprom, has proposed developing a network of compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations for automobiles across Europe. Currently, most Central European countries get natural gas from Russia via continental pipelines. What Gazprom says now is that they and their partners could expand the use of that existing network, or even make it bigger, in order to feed CNG stations for CNG cars. Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller said that "there is no real alternative for the use of hydrocarbons at present or in the next decades," and stated that biofuels weren't a good solution because they increase food prices. Miller also said that natural gas costs half the price of oil and that Gazprom had plenty of it. Check the full press release after the jump. Thanks to John for the tip.

[Source: Gazprom]

We know that T. Boone Pickens is a fan of natural gas, but powering vehicles with the clean-burning fossil fuel isn't exactly on the top of Americans' wishlist. The newly-formed Natural Gas Vehicle Purchasing Cooperative (NGV Co-Op), started by CALSTART and operational in three states (Arizona, Nevada and California), will help fleet managers "to quickly identify, locate, and purchase a wide range of light-, medium-, and select heavy- duty natural gas vehicles at the best prices." Most CNG vehicles available today are larger work trucks, so aiming at the fleet market makes sense. The current list of available vehicles includes the following:

• Honda Civic GX;
• Chevrolet Express Van
• Chevrolet Silverado pickup
• GMC Sierra pickup
• GMC Topkick
• Ford E-450 shuttle bus
• Ford Crown Victoria
• Ford F-150
• F-250 pickup
• Ford Van
• Ford E-350 cutaway

The types, makes and models on this list will grow as more vehicles become available, and CALSTART also wants to bring the co-operative bidding process to other locations in the future. See the NGV Co-Op's announcement here.

[Source: NGV Co-op]

click to enlarge

At the website in the metal event known as Green-Car-Guide Live! 2008, Volkswagen will be showing off a prototype right hand drive version of the CNG-powered Caddy EcoFuel for the first time. Left-hand versions are already available on the European mainland. No matter where the steering wheel is, the Caddy EcoFuel can burn either compressed natural gas of biomethane in a 2.0l 109 PS petrol engine, which offers lowered emissions and fuel costs. It's still a petrol engine, and does have a petrol reserve tank along with the CNG tank (both under the van) that give a combined range of 350 miles, VW claims. The one-day Green-Car-Guide Live! 2008 show takes place this Thursday (June 12) in Liverpool. Along with speakers on green car topics, other vehicles on display will include a 100 percent biodiesel racing truck, a Honda Civic hybrid rally car, an electric Smart, and electric vans from Smith and Modec.


[Source: VW]

Liquified petroleum gas (commonly referred to as propane) has never really caught as a motor fuel in the U.S. although it is used by some fleets. However, drivers in Australia may have a new LPG-fueled vehicle to choose from. In fact they may have an LPG mild hybrid available soon at Hyundai dealers. Hyundai Australia is considering local production of the LPG hybrid Elantra that goes on sale in Korea in 2009. Australia has sufficient domestic supplies of LPG that they don't have to import any. With 3,200 LPG filling stations, Australia significantly outnumbers the 2,500 stations in the US.

Even though consumption on LPG is slightly higher than gasoline, the total operating costs of an LPG hybrid Elentra are significantly less than a Prius. In Australia, LPG is $3.26/U.S. gallon less than gasoline. That means an average driver could operate the LPG hybrid Elantra on less than $10 a week. Hyundai has field tested about 100 LPG hybrid Elantras and is reportedly close to finishing validation of the system. The mild hybrid Elantra uses a 15kW motor, LG Chem lithium ion battery and 1.6L engine. The LPG hybrid is thought to get about 47mpg (U.S.) compared to 53mpg for the Prius. Gasoline currently runs $5.80 a gallon in Australia and an LPG mild hybrid could be much less expensive to operate. Hyundai is also developing both plug-in and non-plug variants of a strong hybrids and could begin limited production of a fuel cell vehicle by 2012.

[Source: Drive.com.au]

Citroën has decided to adapt the middle model of the C3 lineup to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). The CNG version manages to reduce by 18 percent the amount of CO₂ produced by km compared to the 1.4l gasoline engined C3. Specifically, the C3 produces 159 g/km when running on unleaded and just 119 g/km when running on CNG. The C3 has 75 HP (68 running on CNG) and still manages to make 36 mpg (U.S.) on the EU mixed cycle when running on unleaded. A fully-equipped C3 costs about €16,000 in France, where only 50 CNG stations exist. The target market here is clearly Germany.

[Source: Citroën via Leblogauto]

Based on the calculations of the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle), the ADAC (the German car club) has released its 2008 ranking of green cars sold in Europe. The 5th EcoTest, as it's called, produced a list based not only in the amount of CO₂ produced per km, but also other considerations such as particulates and hydrocarbons. ADAC selected more than 700 cars for its test, with and without air conditioning, and applied the forementioned NEDC numbers to draw its own conclusions.

The results are quite similar to last year's report. The worst model was the Opel Zafira, which got 33 points just like in the previous test. Renault took a downturn, losing 6 of its previous 69 points. Why? The new Clio is much heavier than the old one and lost fuel efficiency.

The big winner is, again, the Toyota Prius, with 89 points and 4 stars, followed by another hybrid, the Honda Civic IMA with 87 points. non-hybrids did well, too: with 82 points the VW Passat Blue Motion fitted with a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) was third. Fourth and fifth were the Passat's siblings, the Skoda Octavia TDI (with DPF) and the Superb TDI. Sixth place goes to the gasoline-powered Skoda Octavia 1.6 TFSI.

ADAC made clear with the release of this ranking that it is more important to produce low-polluting cars not as niche models, but as mainstream models. Find ADAC's top EcoTest performers and a little more about the points system after the jump.

The mostly reconstituted AT&T operates a huge fleet of vehicles nationwide in order to keep its communications infrastructure in working order. As such, it has a very strong financial incentive to cut petroleum use as fuel prices keep rising. To help address that, starting in June, Ma Bell add 105 alternative fuel vehicles to its fleets in thirty cities nationwide. The new additions will consist of 25 vans fueled by compressed natural gas, 65 Ford Escape and Toyota Prius hybrids and 15 work trucks with hybrid conversions. AT&T deployed its first four Escape hybrids late last year. The phone company estimates that 124 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and over 34,000 gallons of fuel use will be eliminated annually with these vehicles. The converted work trucks could cut fuel use by 38 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent compared to conventional equivalents.

[Source: AT&T]

Ford of Italy has announced a new LPG-option for the Focus and the C-Max. The option comes from a kit sourced from BRC Equipment and can be installed by M.T.M. s.r.l. (owned by BRC). The kit allows the vehicles to use either unleaded gasoline or LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). The kit is installed to the 2.0-liter 145 HP gasoline engine. The new gas reservoir is installed into the gap usually reserved for the spare tire, holds up to 48 liters of LPG (enough for up to 400 kilometers of driving). The system is electronically managed and uses software that switches from gasoline to LPG automatically depending on engine conditions. While there are plenty of conversion kits available in Italy, it is only recently that automakers have started to offer them in new vehicles and under standard warranties.

[Source: Ford Italia]

Energtek, which we remember from their ANG (Adsorbed Natural Gas) projects, has announced that they can successfully convert a two-stroke engine to use natural gas. The converted vehicle, a Yamaha RS100T motorcycle with a locally-produced sidecar, was converted to burn natural gas by utilizing Energtek's ANG technology. The company claims that this is the first recorded success of converting a two-stroke engine for a large-scale commercial project.

Two-stroke engines are usually more polluting than four-strokes but are usually cheaper to purchase and are quite durable. Countries such as the Philippines are actually attempting to ban two-stroke engines because of pollution issues, something that natural gas conversion can ease - but natural gas-burning two-strokes still produce carbon dioxide. Full press release after the jump.

Until now, if you wanted to drive a large natural gas-powered vehicle, one option was the Opel Zafira which could haul you and your beloved ones around, albeit with only 96 HP from the 1.6-liter engine. Well, since there seems to always be a market for more power, Opel has adapted this engine to a turbo version, something that boosts power to 150 HP, (more here). This puts the Zafira in the same leage as the VW Passat Variant TSI EcoFuel. The Zafira Turbo CNG could be on sale in 2009. Opel is currently selling two CNG cars in Germany, the Meriva and the Opel Combi, at €23,640 and €17,737, respectively.

[Source: AutoNews]

Andrew Littlefair (left) and T. Boone Pickens

The majority of the attendees at the AFVI Expo's Fleet Day breakfast keynote seemed quite pleased to listen to T. Boone Pickens (just like last year). Pickens is the founder of BP Capital Management and had a sit-down discussion with Andrew Littlefair, the president and CEO of Clean Energy. Why do AFVI folks like this guy? He's got a lot of information (he's made billions in the oil and energy industry) and he sees a way to power the future (he's made a huge investment in wind power in Texas, for example. Littlefair said that without Boone, there wouldn't be an NGV industry in the U.S.

A few choice quotes:

• "We are importing 72 percent of our oil. ... We are now transferring $600 billion [a year] out of the United States to a few friends and a hell of a bunch of enemies. I can tell you, we are paying for the war against ourselves."
• "If they [China] had the Olympics today, in this smog, and ran the 100 meter dash, it would have to be a relay."
• "Diesel will never sell, again, below gasoline. It will always be more expensive than gasoline."
• "We're actually dealing with a huge shift of capital out to somewhere. We're going to be reduced to - I promise you it's going to happen pretty quick, too - we'll be reduced to something less than the superpower that we are."

Much more from Boone (including audio of his chat) after the break.

Michael Williams is a bold man. It's not because he wears a bow tie and cowboy boots; it's because he will publicly say he's a good friend of the President. Not many people around who will admit to being tight with George Bush these days. Williams, who is the chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, revealed this and many other things during his speech to the AFVI Expo crowd during fleet day last week about the power of propane as an alternative fuel. Now, why would the Railroad Commission care about propane? Well, in Texas, the Railroad Commission doesn't regulate railroads (anymore). Instead, it regulates the "state's oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and the surface mining of coal and uranium." Therefore, if you're involved in LPG or other gases in the state, then the Railroad Commission is your agency. But, if you don't want to hear about propane from Williams, then skip ahead to about minute 10:30 in the audio clip below and you'll hear a little joke about the AFVI and Moses.

Listen to Williams (15 min):



As part of the Fleet Day opening session, there were many keynote speakers who discussed alternative fuels for fleets. Read about and listen to them after the break.