Obama: Federal government must use alternative fuel vehicles by 2015

President Obama announced yesterday that starting 2015, all new cars and trucks bought by the federal government will be either hybrids, EVs, and other alternative-fuel vehicles. Currently, the government operates a fleet of more than 600,000. The administration also plans to form partnerships with private companies who seek to upgrade their larger fleets to alternative-fuel vehicles.

The initiatives come as part of a broader administration push announced yesterday to cut America’s 11 million barrels-a-day imports by 1/3 by the year 2025. “We cannot keep going from shock to trance on the issue of energy security, rushing to propose action when gas prices rise, then hitting the snooze button when they fall again,” Obama said.

In fiscal ’09 and ’10, the government bought 145,473 vehicles; 10% of which were hybrids. Purchasing of these cars by the government will have to increase tenfold to meet the president’s goal.

Roland Hwang, transportation director for the National Resources Defense Council praised the move, saying it was a “great way to aggregate demand, get volumes up and drive prices down for new technologies,”

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: AutoWeek