4,000 Electric Vehicles To Be Leased by US Army
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 12. 1.08
photo: Native American Biofuels
Considering that many of its higher profile vehicles really suck fuel like there’s no tomorrow, you may not think that the US military concerned itself much with reducing fuel usage, but based on a recent announcement that’s apparently not the case.
According to Army Times, the Army will be deploying 800 Neighborhood Electric Vehicles next year for on-base transportation. That will be expanded to 4,000 over the next three years with “at least 10,000 vehicles overall” to be deployed eventually. So, just how much fuel will this save? Read on:
11.5 Million Gallons of Fuel Saved
According to deputy assistant Army secretary for energy and partnerships Paul Bollinger, the 4,000 35 mph electric NEVs will save some 11.5 million gallons of fuel annually. And instead of spending on average $2400 per year on fuel for the vehicles the NEV will be replacing, it will have to spend only $400 for the electricity to power the NEVs.
The electric NEVs will be supplied by E-Z-Go, Native American Biofuels International , and other unspecified sources. The first of the vehicles will be leased on an annual basis from Native American Biofuels. At some point the Army may purchase the vehicles outright. The first of the vehicles are expected to be deployed at Fort Belvoir in Virginia by December 15th of this year.
That’s Less Than a Day’s Fuel Consumption
Good on the Army for thinking about electric vehicles, but to put some perspective on the amount of fuel saved by this move consider this: The yearly savings of all these electric vehicles is less than one day’s overall fuel consumption of 340,000 barrels of oil.
via: Army Times
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Come on, guys, the proverbial thousand mile journey begins with the first step. I used to work for a business that sold John Deere Gators to the Army and most of these were used for transportation on bases, for soldiers to get from one point to another. If the army is considering using electric vehicles, believe me, it is a beginning and these guys will move very rapidly to buy more of these when they need to replace their Gators - if they work well and come at a decent price. They are subject to budget constraints after all. Personally, I do think the military need to get some credit for what they are trying. Treehugger has talked in the past about several military buildings getting solar roofs - any move by them towards green tech is admirable. This is also an area where companies developing green products could get more actively involved - if something is used by the military it will show flaws in its design up very fast. Working with the army could help accelerate product development in a way that civilian sales would never be able to match.
Do look at the sunny side of things - even 1% reductions in fuel consumption are worth applauding. Incremental reductions are what are going to make the earth a cleaner place, not some sudden and miraculous new tech that changes everything overnight.
Cheers!
The optimist in me wants to applaud them for taking a step in the right direction, the cynic in me wonders if it's just good publicity.
But either way it is an endorsement of a form of transport that if it is coupled with a switch to clean safe renewable energy is part of a switch to carbon neutral transport. And that's got to be a good thing.