It's All About the Fueling Infrastructure :: Advanced Transportation and Logistics

Photo Courtesy of Toyota

These Factors Are Impacting Sales of Alternative Fuel Vehicles

February 2015, Automotive Fleet – Feature – (Link)

by Ricky Beggs

From the article:

“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.”

“At A Glance
Factors impacting the sale of alternative-fuel vehicles include:

Lower cost of gasoline
Higher mpg of gasoline-powered vehicles
Higher cost of alternative-fuel options”

“Of 13 car, utility, and light-duty pickup models, four models actually return greater than 100 percent of their new premium and another six models retain from 76 to 96 percent of the new premium cost. These returns still prevail even when the cost of diesel fuel consistently runs 30-40 cents more per gallon.”
“The third most recognized alternative fuel, compressed natural gas (CNG)/liquefied natural gas (LNG), continues to be used more within the commercial fleets. This fuel works extremely well with usage that begins and ends at home base. Why the advantage here? It all falls back on the fueling infrastructure. Another challenge is tracking the resale of the CNG models. Many either are run for their entire usable life in one fleet or get traded prior to reaching the wholesale channels. We feel this will continue until a more widespread infrastructure is established.”
Complete article here.