Photo Courtesy of Toyota
These Factors Are Impacting Sales of Alternative Fuel Vehicles
February 2015, Automotive Fleet – Feature – (Link)
“There are many reasons for an individual, company, or fleet buyer to consider and choose hybrids, electrics, or other alternative-fuel vehicles. Whether the selection is determined by an ecological point of view or one to lower certain operating costs, one factor is the same for both: the level of sales penetration over the past four to five years.”
“Through September 2014, according to data from www.hybridcars.com, hybrid vehicle sales increased, but the percentage of total sales at 2.88 percent was less than the previous year’s 3.32 percent. Plug-in hybrid and total electric vehicle sales increased slightly for 2014, but still made up just over one-third of 1 percent of total sales. Another alternative fuel, diesel, within the car and utility models, increased in 2014 to 0.89 percent. There are other alternative fuels that have garnered interest, such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied propane gas (LPG), with the majority of these used in more commercial applications.”
“For fleet users, some of the factors that are part of the decision to “go green” continue to be acquisition costs, which can change due to product price adjustments from various manufacturers, as well as the availability of state and federal tax incentives that are in effect or are running out.”
The plan is to combine existing courses from three colleges through a shared program to provide a knowledge and skill foundation for workers entering employment at power generation facilities. Courses will be delivered primarily through distance learning at the participating colleges, then to job sites as workers complete their program. A study of the course and program approval process at desert region colleges was conducted to identify and propose enabling policies for shared courses. These recommendations were presented to the Regional Consortium Steering Committee on September 19.
Two professional development seminars for Coachella Valley middle and high school teachers were held on July 29 to provide an introduction to renewable energy technologies and present ways the technologies can be used to motivate and teach students fundamental science, engineering, and math lessons. 30 teachers participated in the training conducted by the DSN at the Desert Energy Enterprise Center.
This is a regional student competition involving teacher professional development and the forming of student teams that build, test, and present wind turbine designs. The program begins with teacher training and curriculum resources. Teams then compete in the Challenge event. Last year’s event had the highest turnout so far, with 99 middle school and high school students participating in the competition.
On November 15, the teacher workshop preparing for the 2015 Challenge was conducted. A special effort was made to include teachers from the Inland Empire portion of the region. 25 teachers participated from 10 school districts throughout the region. Additional structured activities for teachers and their students, featuring a variety of technologies, are being planned in the coming year to encourage student engagement in science and engineering.