Fleet Economics Analysis-CleanFleet Alternative Fuels Project

Economics is one of several key factors that must be considered by fleet operators and other decision makers as they move towards initiating or increasing the use of various alternative fuels in their fleet applications. Accordingly, the CleanFleet demonstration project was structured to generate and present a full set of comparable cost information for several of the leading alternative fuels. The cost information included the costs to acquire and modify vehicles, personnel training, facility modifications, capital and operating costs for fueling stations, and vehicle operating costs. These costs were used as the starting point for an analysis of the costs that a fleet operator might face in the 1996 time frame for implementing the use of compressed natural gas, propane gas, Phase 2 reformulated gasoline, or methanol (M-85). The cost estimates were incorporated into a popular spread-sheet used on personal computers to facilitate examining various options available to fleets. The spreadsheet will be made available to fleet operators or other interested parties so they can perform a similar analysis using assumptions appropriate to their businesses. This paper describes the assumptions used and the bases for cost estimates in the 1996 case study, along with the cost estimates themselves.