Title: Solving Georgia's alternative-fuel conundrum.
Subject(s): DIESEL motor -- Alternate fuels; AIR -- Pollution -- Georgia -- Atlanta
Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle, 12/17/99, Vol. 22 Issue 29, p1B, 3p, 3c, 4bw
Author(s): Monroe
Abstract: Focuses on the challenges hindering the popularity of alternative-fuel vehicles to reduce air pollution in Atlanta, Georgia. Reasons for the lack of consumers' attention to alternative fuel technology; Investors' concerns that the technology is not financially viable.

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SOLVING GEORGIA'S ALTERNATIVE-FUEL CONUNDRUM

Remember the riddle about the chicken and the egg? Alternative fuel pundits have a new one: Which comes first, the infrastructure or the cars?

In Atlanta, where 68 smog-alert days last summer continued to chase away federal highway dollars, there still are only around 2,700 low- to zero-emissions alternative-fueled vehicles on metro highways. These numbers are dwarfed by the 3.2 million gasoline-powered vehicles currently swarming in the 13-county metropolitan area, by Clean Cities--Atlanta Executive Director Kent Iglehart's estimates.

Despite the unhealthy air, green still isn't the thing for Atlanta commuters.

Consumers don't want to buy a vehicle they can't fill up on every corner. Propane and compressed natural gas (CNG) pumps for low-emissions gas vehicles, and electric charging stations for electric vehicles (EV), are few and far between. And no one wants to build a network of alternative fuel stations, all the while praying for consumers to start buying clean cars to bring investors a return.

It's quite a pickle, but Iglehart hopes to charge that.

Clean Cities--Atlanta, a nonprofit organization that coordinates alternative fuel programs, has a recipe for a solution.

"The chicken and the egg thing comes up a lot. What we're trying to do is a chicken casserole. We're trying to do it all at the same time," Iglehart said.

Beginning in January 2000, Clean Cities will dole out $4.2 million in federal money it has received for clean vehicle initiatives. Funds are targeted toward alternative-fuel station construction and alternative-fuel fleet vehicle purchases.

The first allotment of $3.2 million will go toward infrastructure. Clean Cities is evaluating proposals from 11 groups in the 13-county metro Atlanta area that are lobbying for the funds to build alternative-fuel infrastructure.

The remaining $1 million will go to groups looking to expand alternative-fuel vehicle fleets, such as cab and utilities companies.

The aim is simple. Because most Atlantans aren't willing to abandon their cars for other modes of transportation, Clean Cities wants to make cleaner vehicles a viable option for commuters.

The lack of available infrastructure "is an enormously limiting factor," said Denise Wright, executive director of the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA), one of the groups applying for the infrastructure funding.

Infrastructure first

BATMA is asking Clean Cities for around $400,000 to help build Atlanta's first alternative multifuel station. BATMA's proposal is the only one to incorporate all three types of alternative fuels -- propane, CNG and electric.

Wright said she got the idea for the multifuel station last year when trying to decide what type of fuel to use for the upcoming Buckhead Shuttle system, a 10-vehicle fleet that will serve as supplemental mass transit to MARTA throughout Buckhead.

"We didn't want to commit to one type of fuel for our buses. That got me thinking. Why not do them all?" Wright said.

The idea is that fleet vehicles, such as the Buckhead shuttle, could use the systems enough to justify installing them initially. Then, with the infrastructure in place, commuters would be encouraged to purchase alternative-fueled vehicles.

"If there are two cars in your garage, one of them should be an [alternative-fueled vehicle]," Wright said.

The cost of clean driving

But even with infrastructure in place, the cost for alternative-fueled vehicles remains a high hurdle.

"One of the biggest challenges for the electric battery vehicle is price," said Kateri Callahan, executive director of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas (EVAA).

In California, tax breaks for electric vehicle owners serve as purchase incentives, and strict emissions laws threaten polluters. But gasoline still reigns.

Callahan said very few California consumers are buying EVs.

"Some are people with individual environmental interests. They're also the ones that would have the first computer. They're technology geeks," Callahan said.

Electric vehicles sell for around $30,000. Even though a mere 50 cents worth of electricity could fuel such vehicles, the vehicles' short 100-mile range per charge isn't exactly a selling point, Callahan added.

And while compressed natural gas vehicles have a range equivalent to a petroleum-fueled car, the issue of available infrastructure arises again.

"There's not a station on every corner," said Clean Cities' Iglehart.

Callahan said something has got to give. "[Atlanta] has a huge air-quality problem that's connected with the mobile sector," she said.

According to Partnership for a SmogFree Georgia statistics, 53 percent of Georgia's smog comes from cars, small and large trucks, buses and motorcycles.

But at present, alternative-fueled vehicles aren't even available to most Georgia drivers. Groups like Clean Cities and EVAA are focusing their efforts on government and corporate fleet vehicles.

Locally, MARTA operates 182 CNG buses, and expects to purchase 82 more by mid-2000. Atlanta-based Georgia Power Co. is leading Atlanta's clean car commute charge and offers a clean emissions vehicle leasing program for their employees. Both companies supply a fueling infrastructure for their own fleets.

Another alternative

Still, Atlanta's drivers at large don't have the alternative-fuel option.

So what's the clean alternative to alternative-fuel vehicles? Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is placing its bets on hybrids.

In January 2000, the Honda Insight will make its Georgia showroom debut. The Insight, powered by both gasoline and a self-charging electric battery, has the low-emissions benefits of an alternative-fueled vehicle, without the problems associated with infrastructure and range.

"The goal is to make an all-out assault on efficiency," said Robert Bienenfeld, manager of the advanced environmental vehicles marketing division of Honda.

The Insight runs on unleaded fuel, and the battery charges itself as the motor runs. To save on fuel and cut back emissions, the electric battery boosts the engine when the car is starting up or going up hills. The Insight gets around 70 miles per gallon, which means on only 10 gallons of gas, the car could forge from Atlanta to Detroit without having to stop for a fill-up. Honda officials hope to sell 4,000 Insights for around $20,000 each in the United States next year.

Even with cleaner cars hitting the streets, BATMA's Wright thinks electric, propane and CNG vehicles do have their place.

"I think diversification is the key," Wright said. "It doesn't make sense to deplete one type of fuel -- nobody knows which technology is going to be the most viable yet."

In other words, it's a case of not putting all the eggs in one basket.

Another way to go: GM's entry in the advanced technology vehicles field is the Triax.

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By Matt Monroe, Staff Writer