the oems and their afvs - convention & tradeshow … oems and their afvs boone pickens accepts...
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ALTERNATIVE FUELS & VEHICLES NATIONAL CONFERENCE + EXPO TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009
An AF&V 2009 FirstToday’s ride-and-drive is the first for the2010 model Prius — new diesel vehiclestoo, and the CNG Dixie Chopper. —Page 3
A Million HybridsThat’s just in the U.S. as Toyota maintainsits leadership. —Page 4
Honda GX, FCX, PeterbiltHonda is here with its dedicated-CNGCivic GX car as placements of the hydro-gen fuel cell Clarity FCX continue, and aClass 8 hybrid truck with Eaton drive is de-ployed for parts deliveries. —Page 5
Putting Diversity to WorkA wildly varied constituency and a host oftechnical and political issues challenge theNational Biodiesel Board. —Page 6
GESI Gets Bigger, BiggerCNG station-builder has new products,people, and locations: it’s expanded fromits California base to the Midwest.—Page 7
Trillium Maintains FocusCNG provider still concentrates on large-volume installations. —Page 9
Don’t Forget TrainingAFVi’s own “dean” of the industry wel-comes NGVs’ dramatic resurgence in theU.S. but warns that a current shortage ofqualified technicians may well get worse —with potentially serious, even catastrophicconsequences. —Page 10
Boone Pickens accepted the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute’snew “Green Giant” award from AFVi chief (and AF&V 2009hostess) Annalloyd Thomasson at the Clean Energy-hostedbreakfast here yesterday.
His Pickens Plan, she noted, has brought natural gas as a trans-portation option to the notice of the public and policymakersalike. Natural gas has been recognized as an important part ofthe battle to wean America from petroleum dependence, shesaid, and “Transportation is at the heart of it.”
Among many other observations, deploying 350,000 naturalgas trucks, Pickens said, could alone reduce oil imports by 5%.
Automakers are taking a beating this year but they’re still making progress in alternative fuels. And, say what youwill about the OEMs, they’ve got the factories and the engineers, the networks of dealers and the brands, that makeboth professionals and consumers buy.
Jim Harger of natural gas provider Clean Energy Fuels (above left) shares a laugh with Bob Carrick of Freightliner.They’re happy because the new CNG-fueled Freightliner is making its first appearance anywhere here this week. It’sgot a Cummins Westport ISL G engine meeting 2010 emissions limits and fuel system by Fab/AFV with tanks by Lincoln Composites. An LNG version with Chart/NexGen tanks is entering production first. Lincoln also supplied theaccumulator shells for Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp hydraulic hybrid (inset), with series drive by Parker-Hannifin.
“America needs a new ethanol approach,” says Growth Energy, which has come onthe scene as “a new, proactive group committed to the promise of agriculture andgrowing America’s economy through cleaner, greener energy.” The Washington-based group wants to see “smart policy reform.” It’s organizing a new grassrootspush and has come to AF&V 2009 as a gold level sponsor (Booth 326).
Growth Energy’s Jennifer Powell with Gilbarco Veeder-Root dispsenser and ‘Edgar.’
A Green Giant, He Is
Growth Energy for Ethanol
The OEMs and Their AFVs
Boone Pickens accepts the AFVi’s “Green Giant”award from AFVi chief Annalloyd Thomason.
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April 21, 2009 Convention & Tradeshow News
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To participate in today’s ground-breaking ride-and-drive, simplybring your valid driver’s license andsign up at the appointment sched-uling desk, located adjacent to theAF&V 2009 registration counters.
You’ll receive a set appointmenttime for each vehicle you would liketo experience. Then, on Tuesdayfrom 1:30 to 5:00 p.m., the auto -makers await your arrival.
Dear AF&V 2009 Attendees:What a difference a year makes.
Think of what has happened in a fewshort months. An unprecedentedhundreds of millions of dollars wereallotted in the Federal stimulus billfor the advancement of alternativefuels, vehicles and technologies. TheEnvironmental Protection Agencyis expected to rule favorably thisspring on California’s request for awaiver from federal requirementsthat allows them to set tailpipe emis-sions standards higher than the fed-eral governments. The Clean AirAction Plan at the Ports of Los An-geles and Long Beach has unleashedunprecedented financial opportuni-ties for the replacement of oldtrucks. And, 2008 marked the yearthat “alternative fuels” became thewidely accepted societal lexicon forlow carbon fuels and clean vehicles.
When Peggy Noonan was thespeech writer for President RonaldReagan, she had a very candid, three-
part reaction to working in theWhite House.
Stage One: I hope nobody figuresout how stupid I am.
Stage Two: after few months in theWhite House: Hey, I’m as smart aseveryone else.
Then a few months later cameStage Three: Oh my God, we’re incharge?
And to us, “in charge” meansbeing part of a rich communitydriven by passion and smarts. Lookaround at the people, companies and
products that are part of this con-ference. We’ve got Jerome Webber,representing AT&T, the companythat soon will deploy a staggering15,000 alternative fuel vehicles.Richard Lowenthal, the head ofCoulomb Technologies, figuring outsmart charging for electric vehicles.The Honda FCX Clarity was re-cently named the “World Car of theYear,” and Toyota is launching theirnext generation 2010 Prius at thisshow. Westport Innovations is ex-periencing unprecedented growthwith their natural gas engines, anddozens of U.S. Department of En-ergy Clean Cities coordinators arehere, busily growing the programwith their many stakeholders.
The “take charge” prowess of ourgovernment and industry leaders isimpressive. Just as impressive are thedecision-makers on the front linewho have to navigate this ever-changing terrain. Here are the ques-tions we’ve heard in the past yearthrough our fleet training and con-sulting work:• How do you decipher and land on
the right fuel, vehicle, or technol-ogy choice?• Who will tell me the real life cyclecost of the vehicle?• What are the maintenance andservicing training needs?• How do you solve the infrastruc-ture problem?• How do I learn about and accessgovernment funding?;• How do you compare and docu-ment emissions benefits?;
Today is Fleet Day, and our goalis to answer those questions and nodoubt raise some more. Today’s ses-sions include product rollouts, theRide-and-Drive, sessions on infra-structure, funding, emissions, andthe business case.
Whether you are interested inbiodiesel or hybrids, the Who’s Whoof the industry is on hand to makeyour drive down the alt fuels road asmooth one. Henry Ford said,“Coming together is a beginning.Keeping together is progress. Work-ing together is success.” Here’s tocontinued success.
—Annalloyd Thomason
Annalloyd Thomason
Got a Question? The Answers Are Here
Disney Rides You Can DriveTuesday Afternoon Ride-and-Drive
PublisherKirk Fetzer
EditorRich Piellisch
PhotographerMel Lindstrom
Production DesignerMaureen Spuhler
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Fun, no? Darren Hughes on the newCNG-fueled Dixie Chopper XCaliber.
American Honda Motor Company• Civic GX (CNG)
Bosch• BMW X5 (Diesel)• Mercedes Benz ML320 (Diesel)• Volkswagen Jetta (Diesel)
CT&T Florida/e-zone• e-zone (Electric)
Dixie Chopper• XCaliber Mower (CNG)
Ford Motor Company• Escape (Hybrid)• Fusion (Hybrid)
Global Electric Motorcars• e4 (Electric)• eL XD (Electric)
National Biodiesel Board• Volkswagen Jetta (Biodiesel)
Renewable Fuels Association• Flex Fuel Vehicle
Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.• Camry (Hybrid)• Highlander (Hybrid)• Prius (Hybrid)
ZENN Motor Company• 2008 ZENN (Electric)
2010 Toyota Prius makes world debut at a ride-and-drive event today.
Ride-and-Drive Vehicles Scheduled
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Clean Energy Claims an Idaho FirstClean Energy (Booth 334) yesterday reported a contract withRepublic Services and the City of Boise to build and oper-
ate a compressed natural gas (CNG) time-fill station and provide fuel for Republic’splanned deployment of a new CNG re-fuse truck fleet that will be the first inIdaho. Republic has an exclusive contract
with the City of Boise to provide all solid waste and recy-cling services to more than 68,000 residential and commer-cial customers in the Greater Boise area, Clean Energy said.
A GEM of a Chrysler“We are coming off of the bestyear in our history” says GlobalElectric Motorcars presidentRick Kasper, seen here with re-gional sales manager LennySzabo (left). Will sales at least be flat this year? “The year isyoung,” Kasper told ShowTimes. GEM is at Booth 452.
CleanFuel Propane School BusesCurtis Donaldson of CleanFuel USA and Ron Smith of BlueBird will be releasing new information about propane schoolbuses in Southern California and elsewhere tomorrow at the
Propane Education and ResearchCouncil Booth 506. “This uptickin sales has pushed beyond initialforecasts, making propane the
go-to alternative fuel option for most school transportationfleet managers today.” The Vision bus with liquid injection8.1-liter GM engine meets both EPA and California stan-dards for 2010.
Beyond the ISL G – the X2G?Natural gas vehicle proponents are hoping that CumminsWestport, Inc. (Booth 234) will launch a spark-ignition, dedi-cated-methane variant of Cummins’s new 11.9-liter enginefor big buses and Class 8 over-the-road trucks. Don’t expectword until much later in the year, however, as even the basediesel version of the large new en-gine — tentatively dubbed the X2— has not been formally an-nounced. Meanwhile CWI’s cur-rent “flagship,” the 8.9-liter, lead-burn stoichiometric ISL G,already meets 2010 emissions limits, doing so with exhaustgas recirculation (EGR) and three-way catalyst. CWI reportedlate last year an order for 260 ISL G engines for 45-footCompo-Buses by North American Bus Industries. The NABI45C vehicles are for LA Metro in Los Angeles, which holdsan option for 740 more of the lightweight, high-capacity buses.Fab Industries/AFV is installing the buses’ CNG systemsusing Type IV all-composite fuel cylinders from Lincoln Com-posites (Booth 546). CWI meanwhile confirms that its 5.9-literB engine will not be offered for 2010 compliance.
S N A P S H O T SS N A P S H O T S
Toyota, which launched its foray intohybrid vehicles by offering the first-generation Prius in Japan in late 1997,says that sales of its half a dozen Toy-ota and Lexus hybrid models in theU.S. have now topped one millionunits. Toyota said it’s accounted forthree quarters of the U.S. market.
“One million hybrids in less thannine years indicates how quickly Amer-ican consumers have accepted this im-portant technology,” said ToyotaMotor Sales president Jim Lentz.“With 10 new hybrid models betweennow and 2012 in various global mar-kets, we plan to sell one million gas-electric hybrids per year, worldwide,sometime early in the next decade.”
Cumulative worldwide sales of Toy-ota and Lexus hybrids have exceeded1.7 million vehicles. The Prius totalis more than 1.25 million.
Toyota has provided the 2010 modelPrius for the AF&V 2009 ride-and-drive. The new vehicle “raises the barfor hybrid vehicles,” the automaker said.
“Prius will once again set new stan-dards” — including EPA-estimatedfuel efficiency rating of 50 mpg.
A larger and more powerful 1.8-literAtkinson-cycle, four-cylinder enginewill produce 98 horsepower at 5,200rpm in the new Prius, Toyota says(combined net horsepower, with elec-tric motor, is 134). The increasedpower and torque means the enginecan run at lower RPM, saving fuel.
Toyota says that the 2010 version ofthe car’s Hybrid Synergy Drive is 90%new. “The system blends the best ofparallel hybrid and series hybrid de-signs to achieve the ability to operateon the electric mode alone, and tocharge the batteries while the car isrunning,” the company said. The car’sinverter has a new direct cooling sys-tem to reduce size and weight. Aero-dynamic improvements contribute tothe 2010 mileage gains too.
Toyota will continue to use nickelmetal hydride batteries in the 2010 Prius.
Looking ahead, Toyota is working ona hybrid version of the compact Yaris.
A CNG-fueled Camry Hybrid wasshown as a concept car at the Los An-geles Auto Show late last year.
Toyota’s Ed La Rocque is hostingbreakfast this morning.
Hybrids and Biodiesel BothImpartial energy observers agree thatto replace oil, the U.S. will need a hostof solutions. The Florida Power &Light utility is a pioneer in both hy-brid work trucks and biodiesel, havingled a pooled procurement of so-calledHTUF work trucks with Eaton elec-tric drives — which it has proceededto fuel with biodiesel.
Accordingly, George Survant ofFP&L will speak at two AF&V 2009
sessions this afternoon: In High Gear:Electrification of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Transportation Technologies in Swan9/10, followed later by Homeland Se-curity: Growing Domestic Fueling Solu-tions with Biodiesel in Mockingbird. Alsoto participate are representatives ofexhibitors Dueco-Odyne for hybrids(Booth 335) and the National BiodieselBoard (Booth 410).
Eaton is at Booth 449.
Toyota Tops a Million U.S. Hybrids,Says Its 2010 Prius ‘Raises the Bar’
April Smith, Marvene Christopherson, Sean Lenihan, Ed La Rocque and the 2010 Prius.
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Honda says it’s the first in its industry to intro-duce a Class 8 hybrid diesel electric truck, de-ploying a Peterbilt 386 with Eaton (Booth 449)parallel drive for dealer deliveries from its partscenter in Alpharetta, Ga. The Honda truck fleetoperated by UPSFreight Truckload“typically travels300,000 miles perday,” Honda says.The hybrid will betested in a hillyroute in Tennesseeand a relatively flat one in Georgia to evaluatefuel economy under various conditions. Hondawill alternate the hybrid with a standard dieseland will collect data using engine telematics tocompare performance.
Testing and evaluation will take place over thenext year. Honda says it will be adding PeterbiltClass 7 medium duty hybrid trucks at its partscenters in Alpharetta and Irving, Texas “soon.”
Eaton Hybrid for Honda
When it comes to U.S. passenger cars, there’s stillonly one natural gas vehicle from an OEM: theCivic GX from American Honda. And while pro-duction is limited to about 2,000 units per year,Honda says that recent events — the financial cri-sis and the drop in gasoline prices — vindicatedecisions last year not to radically increase out-put of the dedicated-CNG sedan.
Separately, Honda last month began sales ofits all-new 2010 Honda Insight with an MSRPof $19,800 for the Insight LX. The five-passen-ger car has a 1.3-liter engine and 10-kilowatt elec-tric motor for an EPA-estimated city/highwayfuel economy rating of 40/43 miles per gallon.
Honda is forging ahead with its commercial-ization of hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehiclestoo, affirming plans to place triple-digit num-bers of its state-of-the-art “Star Garnet Metal-lic” (red) FCX Clarity with the driving public.
Foton America is showing its Chinese-builtCNG transit bus with enough U.S. compo-nentry — including ISL G engine from Cum-mins Westport (Booth 234) and U.S.-madefuel cylinders — to satisfy Buy America re-quirements for federally supported agencies.
“This city bus is fully customizable and ispriced to effectively eliminate all diesel in-cremental cost concerns,” Foton says.
Foton, which made its debut at AF&V 2009in Las Vegas, will offer a CNG bus for roughlythe same price as a diesel bus.
A production-ready vehicle, with fuel sys-tem by AFV/Fab Industries and initial fuelcylinders from Lincoln Composites (Booth546), is to arrive for FTA Altoona testing inSeptember.
Tim Bannon of Macnab Transit Sales withCliff Clare, and VP Jared Schnader of Foton.
Foton Forges Ahead:Economical CNG Buswith Chinese Chassis
GX Still Only U.S. NGV by an OEM
Elizabeth Munger & Eric Rosenberg at Booth 428.
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Denver’s FuelTek for Pioneer PickupsDenver’s FuelTek (Booth 621) has converted 25 Ford F-250pick-ups to bi-fuel CNG-gasoline operation for Pioneer Nat-ural Resources, and has installed a fueling station near Trinidadto support Pioneer’s Raton Basin operations in Southern Col-orado. FuelTek offers its own EPA-certified bi-fuel systemsfor 2008 Ford F-250 and E-350 vans, installs equipment fromBaytech (Booth 616) and Altech-Eco (236), among others, andoffers propane conversions. Most of the CNG fuel cylindersfor Pioneer were supplied by SCI. FuelTek also buys CNGtanks from Lincoln (546) and Luxfer (414).
Truckers DeliveredVirginia-based FleetSeek isat Booth 550 offering “com-prehensive, accurate, and up-to-date demographic and mar-keting information” on more than 200,000 truck fleets viaa custom-built internet search engine. All of the informa-tion is “from the fleets themselves,” says Laurel Johnson, aFleetSeek business development director. It’s gathered notfrom public records but by “a team of in-house researcherswho sit down and smile and dial,” she told ShowTimes.
FirmGreen to Offer CNG, Delivered FirmGreen (Booth 513), which is producing CNG from land-fill gas near Columbus, Ohio, is converting a 16-passengerFord E-450 shuttle bus to the clean fuel (conversion by BAF).FirmGreen also expects delivery by May 1 of a mobile fuel-ing trailer by Canada’s Dynetek (Booth 245), replete with dis-penser, to allow CNG deliveries to customers. RhondaHoward is here for FirmGreen with company presidentSteve Wilburn.
ANGI for Turnkey NGV FuelingANGI Energy, founded in 1983, bills itself as one of the fewcompanies “exclusively dedicated to providing highly inte-grated turnkey NGV refueling solutions.” Products includecompressors, control systems, dryers, storage and dispensers.With Hurricane Compressors, ANGI has supplied more600 complete fueling installations worldwide. About half ofits business is outside the U.S. ANGI president Andy Grim-mer and sales chief Dan Hicks are here. Booth 451.
Go Natural CNGGo Natural CNG is the newname for Utah’s formerly
SNO-Motion Solutions/Motion Technology. The companyclaims the largest selection of EPA-certified CNG conver-sion kits available “anywhere,” handling Baytech, BAF, FuelTek, NaturalDrive, Altech-Eco and Emissions Solu-tions, Inc. hardware. Go Natural also supplies cylinders, andsays it’s developing its own EPA-certified system too. “Ourmission is to build the most complete and comprehensivenetwork of parts, supplies, knowhow and proven processes,”Go Natural says. Booth 512.
S N A P S H O T SS N A P S H O T S
The National Biodiesel Board repre-sents a broad swathe of alternative fueladvocates: drivers of converted vehi-cles running on recycled vegetable oil,growers of conventional (food) andnew (non-food) oil-producing crops,algae developers, the refiners whoprocess the oils, hard-nosed jobbersoffering the renewable for strictly eco-nomic (including marketing) reasons,
and purveyors of fil-ters and additives.
NBB itself workstechnical, political andmarket issues. The taximplications of thenew ASTM biodiesel
standard is a current focus, as is bestuse of the BQ-9000 quality assuranceprogram, and training. A recent effortcovers cold soak filtration issues.
NBB just filed a formal response tothe European Commission’s provi-sional duties on U.S. biodiesel — andassailed the EC’s “arbitrary proceduralconclusions and inaccurate market as-sumptions.”
The association is wrestling with thebroad fuel-vs-food issue, and the im-plications it has for new regulatorystructures like the Low Carbon FuelsStandard in California.
Missouri-based NBB (Booth 410)launched a sustainability website atits annual meeting in San Franciscoearlier this year (next year’s will be held
at the Gaylord resort outside DallasFebruary 7-10), urging scientists to en-dorse a Sustainability Declaration:“Biodiesel can reduce dependence onpetroleum, help address climatechange and boost domestic econo-mies,” it states.
“We’re here, now, we’re getting bet-ter all the time, and we represent thefuture, not the past,” association chiefJoe Jobe said, calling on his industryto “leverage its diversity.”
While an auto industry in transitionand a new president represent oppor-tunity, biodiesel is under attack frompetroleum industry and other forceswishing to preserve the status quo.
“As oil prices have retreated,” Jobesaid, “once again alternatives are beingsuffocated out of the markets.”
“Sound, stable, long-term energypolicy is necessary,” he said.
Biodiesel fleet operators includingBruce Chesson of the nearby KennedySpace Center, Nina Hoffert of Lake-wood, Colo., and George Survant ofFlorida Power & Light will speak atthe Homeland Security: Growing Do-mestic Fueling Solutions with Biodieselsession in Mockingbird this afternoon.
NBB technical chief Steve Howellwill be there, as well as at an earlier af-ternoon session on 2010 diesel enginerequirements, also in Mockingbird.
UTC, Dynetek on Oakland BusesUTC Power (Booth 314) is supplyingits PureMotion brand 120-kilowattambient-pressure fuel cell units topower 16 new hydrogen buses by Belgium’s Van Hool forOakland, Calif.-basedAC Transit.
The vehicles willhave Siemens electricdrivetrain hardware (with lithium ionbatteries for regenerative braking), androof-mounted, Type III, carbon-on-alu-minum hydrogen fuel tanks by Canada’sDynetek Industries (Booth 245).
AC will own, maintain and operate
12 of the buses in revenue service for it-self and other San Francisco Bay Areaagencies. Four will go via UTC to Con-necticut Transit in Hartford, AC says.
UTC notes that itszero-emission fuel cellpower units are in use inSpain, Italy and Belgiumtoo, and that the fuel
economy of hybrid fuel cell buses pow-ered by the PureMotion Model 120 “isnearly two times better than a diesel-powered bus.”
Mike Tosca is transportation pro-gram manager at UTC.
Joe Jobe
Biodiesel Board:Can Its Diversity Prove a Virtue?
NBB faces challenging OEM issues, too.
California’s Gas Equipment Systems, Inc. weighsin with a broader product line and new personnel,and reports more than half a dozen new projects inCalifornia and one in the Midwest.
UK compressor supplier CompAir, acquired lastyear by longtime GESI supplier Gardner Denver,has authorized GESI to package the full CompAirline of CNG compressors. “Combined with Gard-ner Denver, this addition will allow us to cover avery broad range of scfm outputs,” says GESI pres-ident Larry Ozier. “Like GD, the CompAir line ofcompressors are very robust and well designed,”he says. The two have merged manufacturing atthe CompAir plant in Ipswitch, England.
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If you’re here for EVs, don’t miss The GreenLight: Electric Vehicles Changing How CitiesDrive in Pelican this afternoon.
Scheduled participants include Rick Kasper,president of Chrysler’s Global Electric Motor-cars (Booth 452), Bill Williams of Canada’s ZENNMotor (Booth 352), Project Get Ready’s MattMattila, and David Wor thington of SonomaCounty, Calif., which is working on EV charg-ing infrastructure with Nissan and other OEMs.
Discussion will cover federal funding, prepa-ration for a plug-in future, and the partnershipsthat are accelerating EV market penetration.
San Francisco-based consultant Rick Ruvolowill moderate.
Green Light Today
GESI: More Products, People, Projects, Places
William Rigsby and Helda Rodriguez of Nova-Charge, which is providing scalable, revenue-producing ChargePoint brand public EVcharging stations from Coulomb (Booth 606).
Paul Green, a 44-year CompAir veteran,“will take the lead in helping us develop themarket in the U.S.,” Ozier says. Kelly Craw-ford will help with business development atGESI headquarters as Rich Stoddard takes theMidwest region. He’s based in Aurora, Ill.
GESI expects to break ground at Groot Dis-posal in Elk Grove Village, Ill. on May 1. Theplan includes two 171 scfm Gardner Denvercompressors providing fuel for Groot’s 40 newCNG refuse trucks, Ozier says. GESI also pro-vides fueling for the McNeilus Trucks factoryin Minnesota. McNeilus has stepped up its ef-forts in CNG trash tracks, and is developing aCNG concrete mixer on a Kenworth chassisunder a South Coast Air Quality ManagementDistrict contract.
In California, GESI• will soon break ground on the Morongo BasinTransit Agency Phase II project in Joshua Tree.
GESI completed phase I at the agency’sTwentynine Palms location in 2007. • expects to break ground on two new CNGfueling stations in the California Central Val-
ley, a combination public/private access stationin Exeter and another in Turlock. • has been awarded a contract to construct theCNG fueling station for the City of Chowchilla. • expects to begin construction in May of apublic access CNG station for Avery Petro-leum at an Avery gasoline fueling station in La-guna Niguel.
GESI broke ground on a new CNG stationfor the City of Rancho Cucamonga yesterday.The installation will include time and fast fillfor the city’s fleet. Booth 536.
GESI president Larry Ozier.
Evolve Concept (they’re showing real EVs too).
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Plug-In Yard Hostlers by CapacityCapacity of Texas has developed a plug-in hybrid electricversion of its Trailer Jockey brand yard hostler, terming itsPHETT, for pluggable hybrid electri-cal terminal truck, “not a retrofit but aguaranteed OEM solution.” The serieshybrid design features a 225-horsepower3-phase AC traction motor by Baldorwith an EnerSys lead acid battery array charged by 40-ampsingle-phase 220V grid power — or via an onboard 40-hpCummins Onan diesel engine. Capacity projects fuel sav-ings of up to 60%. “This product will change perceptionsand reduce operational expense of terminal tractors as weknow them today,” said Capacity president Phillip Ford.
Fleets & Fuels, April 6
Diesel Replacement in CambridgeBoston’s Alternative Vehicle Service Group reports an orderof seven diesel-replacing, CNG-fueled ElDorado buses byCRTMA – the Charles River Transportation ManagementAssociation of Cambridge, Mass. Fleets & Fuels, April 20
CNG Engine Option from DoosanKorea’s Doosan is taking the wraps off a lean-burn, 11-literengine for natural gas vehicles, noting that a simple softwarechange will allow it to run on blends as high as 60% hydro-gen. An initial 290-horsepower version is planned, saysKwangsup “K-sup” Hwang, who is running the project fromDoosan’s branch in Suwannee, Ga., where the engine willbe built. Fleets & Fuels, September 1
Kia’s Forte Propane HybridKia launched the Forte LPI propane/LPG-fueled hybrid for the Korea market, usinglithium ion batteries from GM Volt supplier LG Chem. Kiasaid it will spend some $6 billion on R&D this year with par-ent Hyundai, “with majority of money pumped into devel-opment of new hybrid and fuel cell electric cars such as KiaForte LPI hybrid and Borrego FCEV.” Fleets & Fuels, April 6
Ever Spent $400 on a Business Dinner?Are you sure you fed the right peo-ple? Fleets & Fuels: Always chockfull of real-world contact infor-mation – phones and e-mails – forkey players. (24 times a year)
F L E E T S & F U E L SF L E E T S & F U E L S
New hydrogen stations in Californiainclude the first to tap a refinery pipe-line and the first by independent own-ers of a major-brand gasoline station.
A station on Toyotaproperty in Torrance is tobe fed by Air Products’17-mile pipeline, whichcarries hydrogen made vialarge-scale natural gas re-formers in Wilmingtonand Carson at a pressureof 800 psi. The pipelinepressure will help curb station operat-ing costs as the fuel is compressed for5,000- and 10,000-psi vehicles.
In nearby Harbor City, the inde-pendent owners of Mebtahi Chevronhave tapped Air Products to truckcompressed hydrogen from the newShell-Toyota facility via a 7,500-psitube trailer, DoT-approved last year,by Structural Composites Industries(SCI). “We use the same low-cost mole-
cules,” says Air Products’ Dan Rabun. It’s economical too because no com-
pressor will be needed to fuel 5,000-psi vehicles, he says.
The base cost of pipelinehydrogen may be reckonedat about $2.50 per kilo-gram, about equal in energycontent to a gallon of gaso-line.
The Harbor City projectis backed by the CaliforniaAir Resources Board.
CARB is also supporting a new ShellHydrogen station at Newport Beach,where hydrogen will be made on-sitevia natural gas reformation. And, theagency is backing a fueling unit at theUniversity of California Los Angeleswith hydrogen made via a (relatively)low-temperature, UCLA thermochem-ical process. The idea is to “decom-pose” water with no carbon emissions.
Fleets & Fuels, April 6
Hydrogen Highway Taps Pipeline
Delphi is targeting high-volume applications in the electric drive vehi-cle arena. The company sees annualgrowth, as the economy gets back ontrack and fuel prices rise again, of 20%per year or better for the sector, untilat least 2020.
Delphi, born of GM-Delco, is tosupply battery packs (with lithiumion cells by Sanyo; F&F, Feb. 29) forFord’s new Fusion Hybrid. Delphisupplies connectors and wiring har-nesses for electric drive vehicles too.
Higher-tech, Delphi is leading aDoE drive to lower the cost of high-power inverters for e-drive vehicles.
“The current value equation for astrong hybrid is weak,” says TomGoesch, managing director for hybrid
electric vehicles and power electron-ics at Delphi. Vehicles that sold wellwith gasoline at $4 per gallon fare lesswell at $2, he points out. Delphi’s goalfor DoE is a DC-AC inverter that’s halfthe size and cost of today’s and can becooled using the same plumbing thatthe vehicle’s engine uses.
“We have a lighter, smaller packagethan our competition,” Goesch says.
He predicts OEM announcements,heavy duty vehicle news, and newsfrom Asia and Europe in the comingmonths. “We see this as a very robustmarket growing at probably 20 to 25%over the next ten years,” he says.
“It’s going to grow fast.” [Ford is at Booth 434 here.]
Fleets & Fuels, April 6
Delphi Packs for Ford Seen FollowedBy More OEM Electric-Drive Business
Fleets & Fuels357 Haight StreetSan Francisco, CA 94102
www.fleetsandfuels.com
Delphi’s on the Fusion Hybrid as it works to make inverters smaller and lighter.
Air Products’ reformer inCarson feeds refineries.
Gas backed the devel-opment of an Auto carCNG truck that wasshown at the recentFaster Freight CleanerAir California confer-
ence in Long Beach, and the prototype CNG ver-sion of Freightliner’s M2 is making its debut here.
Trillium USA pumps the equivalent of 35 mil-lion gasoline gallons of CNG per year, and busi-ness is growing at an annual 10%, Barton says.
Trillium USA is at Booth 238 here this week.
Salt Lake City-based TrilliumUSA specializes in largeCNG fueling installations,pointing with pride to its roleas fuel provider for natural gasbuses in New York City, LosAngeles, and Orange County,Calif. In Anaheim and at theJackie Gleason Depot inBrooklyn, Trillium has re-placed aging Knox Westerncompressors with more modern Ariel units.
In Los Angeles, Trillium is proposing to applyapproximately $6 million in early federal stimu-lus funding the Caterpillar natural gas enginesdriving compressors at three LA Metro CNG sta-tions with more efficient electric motors. The mo-tors are expected to cost less to operate in termsof energy expense, be free of local emissions, re-quire less maintenance, and last longer.
Nearby, Trillium is building a CNG station onthe premises of Long Beach and Los Angeles porttrucker Cal Cartage in support of Southern Cal-ifornia Gas’s advocacy of CNG as the superior al-ternative fuel choice for drayage operations —most of which have no long range requirements.
CNG, says Trillium president Mark Barton,“can be a very low cost fuel if you size the stationcorrectly.” The Cal Cartage station will have a200-horsepower compressor. It will be able to sup-port 35 to 40 trucks, seen ample as heavy duty CNGtrucks are only now becoming available. SoCal
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ITS Electric is in from Australia with arange of hybrid retrofit systems designedto minimize both cost and the amount ofspace they consume on a given vehicle,Electric motors to ease engine load andpare fuel burn can be mounted on lightvehicle (like the Ford F-150) differentialsor, for larger trucks and buses, on axles.“Reductions of up to 60% are beingachieved now,” the company says. ITSElectric has systems for reefer trucks too.
Hybrid RetrofitsMade a Bit Easier
CEO Cliff Hall of ITS Electric (Booth 114)
Visit our Booth #313 at AF&V 2009
High Pressure Compressor for Natural Gas Refueling Stations
BAUER COMPRESSORS INC. | 1328 Azalea Garden Road | Norfolk, VA 23502Phone 757-855-6006 | Fax 757-857-1041 | [email protected] | www.bauercng.com
Discharge Pressureup to 5000 psig
Capacity38 scfm
Inlet Pressure5 psig
Power30 hp
C220 NATURAL GAS
Lincoln Composites supplied fuel cylinders fora wide range of vehicles at AF&V 2009, includ-ing the first of Freightliner’s new CNG-fueledM2 trucks, being shown here for the first timeanywhere, and for Altech-Eco’s Ford Focus con-versions, which have just won Tier 2 Bin 2 certi-fication from the U.S. EPA.
Lincoln also supplied the 5,500-psi accumula-tor shells for Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp’snew hydraulic hybrid, on show at Booth 208.
The Nebraska firm is promoting its big newTitan brand cylinders for bulk transport of CNG.They measure more than 42.5 inches by nearly 38feet, with internal volumes as high as 8,400 liters.
Lincoln Goes Large
Trillium Is StillFocused on LargeOutlets for CNG
Trillium has installednew Ariel compressorsat the Jackie Gleasondepot in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Pneumatic Products (Booth 530) is promoting itsCNG Series adsorbers, which use molecularsieve technology for natural gas purification,specifically drying. The equipment is specificallyengineered for large flow (greater than 200 scfm)heavy-duty NGV fleet fueling applications.
Pneumatic Products uses patented technol-ogy to sense the need to regenerate the keymembrane. “The drying bed stays online untilthe energy management system signals the needto switch over for regeneration,” the companyexplains. The design reduces energy consump-tion, making the system cheaper to operate andreducing its environmental impact.
Pneumatic Products, has its headquarters inOcala, Fla., northwest of Orlando and locationsin Canada, Britain and China).
Drying, Efficiently
The world is abuzz with talk of com-pressed natural gas for transportation— CNG. One year ago at this confer-ence, UPS made yet another an-nouncement of their plans to growtheir CNG fleet. Last month, AT&Tjoined the pack by announcing thatthey will add 8,000 CNG vehicles totheir fleet. This market growth is greatnews, but, my inner NGV trainer voiceis screaming “Warning! Warning!”
For more than two decades I’ve trav-eled around the world as a CNGtrainer. I am troubled over the seriouslack of qualified and trained mainte-nance technicians, coupled with a major stationoperator education deficit. Let me say this in adifferent way. Even in a climate with very fewfueling stations, we don’t have a skilled work-force to maintain the vehicles or the stations.Now, compound that with new market growthand if the industry can’t reshape this reality, we’regoing to have some problematic, as Ricky saidto Lucy, “’splainin’ to do.”
I want to give you an example of what I’m talk-ing about but first I want to be very clear that Iwill stake my professional reputation on CNGas a transportation fuel that is perfectly safe andclean. My client is an operator of a public retailCNG station that put its station maintenanceout to bid. A commercial building maintenancecontractor was hired based on his maintenanceexperience with a gas station and a natural gas
boiler, neither of which qualifies someone to main-tain a CNG station. A short time later, I was askedto inspect the station and discovered that the con-tractor had installed a 3,000 psi rated nozzle on the3,600 psi dispenser hose. This unsafe situation wouldallow over pressurization of a 3,000 psi rated vehi-cle and could potentially result in rupturing thecylinder or an even more severe catastrophe.
NGVs are safe and they are not the same as a gaso-line vehicle. There are all kinds of things an unfa-miliar driver wouldn’t know, like what to do whenfueling an NGV and you turn the nozzle on and the
gas won’t flow. Or that cylinder inspections are re-quired by the National Highway TransportationSafety Administration every 3 years or 36,000 milesbecause a damaged cylinder could have a life-threat-ening outcome. Or, why you may have oil in the fuelsystem in spite of declarations of innocence fromthe fuel provider and the station operator.
This is the most promising time I’ve seen for theindustry. I salute those lobbying for incentives, re-questing production of dedicated vehicles, and thoseexpanding the fueling infrastructure.
Equally as important is ensuring that fleet oper-ators understand why training and education is crit-ical to the safety of their employees and contractors.Someone once told me, “There’s no heavier burdenthan a great potential.” CNG has come a long way,and this is our chance to get it right.
Growth Is Great But Training Is Essential
Leo Thomason applauds the CNG market surge but hopestraining keeps pace. He’s continuing this real-world NGVtraining session here tomorrow. Sign up at Booth 420.
The Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conferenceand Expo returns to the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotelnext year. The dates are May 9-12, 2010.
YOU’VE GOT TO GO GREEN. THE TIMES DEMAND IT.
Foton America is dedicated to offering our clients
alternatives to the traditional forms of transporta-
tion at outstanding prices. With a commitment to
quality across the world, Foton brings its new line
of the alternative fuel vehicles to America.
Our company understands the challenge.
Come see us at Booth 900, or visit our website
for more details: www.foton-america.com
