Final Report Rochester Vehicle Fleet Alternative Fuels Systems Study

tolerance to risk associated with alternative fuels usage than was appropriate and acceptable
to the City fleet, whose primary organizational imperative is complete dependability. The
NYSDOT had made a large financial and organizational commitment to compressed natural
gas, as had Brookhaven National Laboratory; the lack of light duty vehicle production by the
major auto manufacturers has affected Brookhaven in particular. PTC and City of Lakewood
had successful integration of E85 and biodiesel respectively into their fleets, and these
experiences were directly applicable to the City of Rochester’s fleet configuration and usage
patterns; the City appears able to do a phase in of biofuels as did those organizations.
Executive Briefings from Fleet Experts
Two fleet experts who had utilized alternative fuels in their fleets were brought in to provide
executive briefings to the Project Advisory Committee, in order for fleet staff and PAC members
to gain a more hands-on perspective. Steven Russell, Fleet Services Superintendent of the City
of Keene, New Hampshire, was brought in as a cold weather biodiesel expert. Michael
McClurkin, recently retired Supervisor of Fleet Operations of the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Commission, was brought in as an E85 fleet integration expert with extensive experience with
other alternative fuels.
Research and Data Collection
In addition, the Fleet Counselor Team engaged in research, analysis, information gathering and
data collection on a variety of topics as part to the work on the study. This included analysis of
the characteristics of the City fleet, a review of the current state of the alternative fuels and
alternative fuels environment, a review of availability and costs of vehicles and equipment and
funding alternatives. The results of this work are contained in the final report document and are
reflected in the following section on Recommendations.
Study Recommendations
• It is recommended that biodiesel be integrated into the fleet, first on a pilot test basis via a
temporary tank at Mt. Read, to be used on no less than seven units of a vehicle class. The
best biodiesel blend can be determined, and then utilized on a fleet wide scale in the
second year.
• Flexible fuel vehicles, which can run on E85 ethanol/gasoline mix, or gasoline, should be
acquired. Next, the city needs to create a fueling station for those vehicles in the second
year. New infrastructure will be required for this station based on tankage limitations at
Mt. Read. Regional production trends of biofuels will likely have a significant impact on
fuel availability and pricing.
• The FuelMaker compressed natural gas fueling appliance at Mt. Read should be
expanded in order to utilize more natural gas vehicles, which are currently limited to the
Honda Civic GSX in the original equipment manufacture category. These vehicles can
be accumulated at a rate of three-five per year over the first 1-2 years, and New York
State Research and Development Authority funds sought via the Clean Cities Challenge
to help meet both the incremental cost of the vehicles, and the station expansion costs.
• The small electric neighborhood vehicle fleet should be expanded by five-ten units over
the first two years, for niche applications.
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Final Report