Cars On Alcohol, Part 10: Infrastructure For Alt Fuels

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Methanol's green glow was undeniable in the early 1990s, but the lack of an extensive refueling infrastructure posed big challenges for flexible-fuel vehicles. Still, there was substantial interest on the part of government and business fleets to try these vehicles, with incentives provided by state and federal agencies. Getting M85 cars in front of the public was achieved through Hertz rental fleets at key California airports. Clean air programs were primary drivers for M85 vehicles as cities and states sought ways to improve their air quality through the introduction of low emission vehicles and alternative fuels. The reports here, reprinted just as they ran in the 1990s, document the unfolding events that found methanol vehicles on the road and paving the way for the ethanol vehicles we have today.

M85 FUELING INFRASTRUCTURE CHALLENGES
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 1994 As the fledgling methanol fueling infrastructure builds and automakers take increasingly larger orders for their flexible-fuel vehicles, it’s evident that methanol powered vehicles remain in the running as integral components in the fight for clean air. While they do have detractors, they also have vocal proponents. Among them is South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (Diamond Bar, Calif.) clean fuels officer Paul Wuebben.

“The most significant potential to replace petroleum over the next 10 to 20 years remains fuel methanol because of its relative ease as a liquid,” Wuebben told Green Car. “It can easily be used throughout the supply system. Also, its greater energy density compared to compressed natural gas, and its relative ease in making the vehicle “invisible,” are characteristics that create an easier avenue for its broad commercialization.”

Why is methanol such a high-profile alternative fuel in California as opposed to other states? Say Wuebben: “There’s a large public demand for improved air quality in our cities. We have the worst air quality problem. At the same time, there’s been a very strong impetus for us to establish a viable long-term energy policy which reduces our reliance on imported oil. We’re a huge consumer of gasoline and diesel fuel,” he continues. “It makes us very ripe for development of all fuel alternatives.” With U.S. oil imports now expected to top 50 percent on an annual basis, rather than merely spiking to this level as it has at times in the past, this is viewed by Green Car editors as becoming increasingly more important.

SCAQMD’s clean air plan calls for 33 percent of passenger cars in the South Coast Basin, which includes the Los Angeles region, to run on alternative fuels by the year 2010. But current market penetration of alternative fuel passenger vehicles is less than 1 percent. While government fleets have traditionally led the way to purchasing AFVs, private industry has stepped up to make significant purchases during the past two model years. Green Car editors note that while government purchases of alternative fuel vehicles are critical to creating a momentum for AFV and FFV sales, private fleets, and ultimately individual motorists, are key to sustaining this momentum and achieving long-term success for these vehicles.

State and local government agencies are working with automakers to get flexible-fuel vehicles in the public eye. Case in point: Ford is working with the Dearborn Police Department (Dearborn, Mich.) in a three year test evaluation of 45 Taurus FFVs, 20 of which are serving as regular patrol cars and 25 as support vehicles. To provide a variety of data to Ford, 30 of these are being run exclusively on M85, five on unleaded gasoline, and 10 on a mixture of both fuels. Results after a full year of testing indicate the program has been very successful, ?with the vehicles performing beyond our expectations,? according to the Dearborn police chief. In additional, department sources say the cars are so much like gasoline-powered vehicles the only time they?re conscious of using a different fuel is when they?re at the pump.

Other programs are creatively placing motorists behind the wheel of methanol-fueled cars. Following the successful implementation of FFV rental cars in a trial program at Avis, Budget, and Hertz sites in Sacramento, Calif., Hertz now has its sights set on purchasing up to 1,000 flexible-fuel methanol vehicles over the next two years. These will be for rental use at four Southern California airports ? Los Angeles, Orange County, Ontario, and Burbank.

An initial 200 Ford Taurus FFV models will be placed in rental service first in the $1.5 million project, which is also being financially supported by the California Energy Commission and SCAQMD. Hertz spearheaded the state’s rental FFV effort by introducing Chevrolet Lumina VFV models at its Sacramento airport location in third quarter 1992.

Putting flexible-fuel vehicles in travelers’ hands to provide consumer experience with FFVs is only one component in this program. Importantly, rental cars are sold to the public as rental agencies regularly update their fleets, typically every six months. This means that near-new FFVs could soon make their way into private hands in larger numbers.

As already cited, the most formidable obstacle to mass commercialization of flexible-fuel methanol vehicles is the dearth of M85 refueling facilities. Simply, there’s little incentive to drive an FFV if convenient refueling can’t be found. The number of flexible-fuel methanol vehicles on the road is likely to grow as M85 refueling facilities are increasingly made available. However, new stations have come slowly. Now it appears there’s significant movement in the wings for M85 refueling stations.

“The fuel infrastructure is starting to grow significantly,” says Wuebben. He points to Metallgelsellschaft’s five year plan to introduce hundreds of M85 fueling facilities at independent stations in California, an integral part of a plan to bring fuel methanol to drivers in key states striving to meet air quality standards. “That sets the stage for a really historic competition between natural gas-based methanol and gasoline or diesel fuel,” Wuebben concludes.