New Study Shows Fleet Purchases of More Efficient, Lower-Carbon Vehicles Can Spur Major Decreases in Emissions and Fuel Consumption

7 October 2009

The “greening” of corporate vehicle fleets presents an opportunity to move a substantial number of highly efficient, clean fuel vehicles onto the road in a relatively short timeframe with results that are both environmentally and economically positive, according to a new report by the Sustainable Transportation and Communities group at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit research organization.

In the report, The Economic and Environmental Impacts of a Corporate Fleet Vehicle Purchase Program, the group examines the economic and environmental contributions of converting corporate fleets from gasoline to compressed natural gas (CNG) and hybrid vehicles.

Using AT&T’s vehicle replacement program (a 10-year program to buy or convert 15,000 of its vehicles to cleaner technology, earlier post) as a case study, CAR estimated the impact of buying or converting 15,000 vehicles to cleaner technology over a 10-year period. Replacing fleet vehicles powered by standard internal combustion engines with either hybrid vehicles or vans and trucks converted to CNG could reduce gasoline consumption by more than 49 million gallons during the next 10 years and trim carbon dioxide emissions by 211,000 metric tons total over that period. In addition, the AT&T replacement program will help support an average of 1,000 vehicle-manufacturing related jobs each year from 2009-2013.

In the United States, a greening of corporate vehicle fleets presents an opportunity to generate both economic and environmental benefits. Fleet vehicles account for nearly one of every five new vehicle purchases in the United States each year. Because fleets tend to turn over quickly, there is an opportunity to move a substantial number of cleaner technology cars and trucks onto the road in a small number of years. Moreover, if historical rates of fleet vehicle turnover are maintained, clean technology vehicles purchased for corporate and rental fleets would find their way into the used car market and end up in the hands of private owners very quickly—spreading the benefits of fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles even more widely.

Taking this further, if half of US corporate fleets were to emulate a green fleet plan similar to AT&T’s over the next ten years, CAR estimates annual CO₂ emissions could be cut by the equivalent of 1.2 million vehicles. Such a shift to hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles could also cut annual gasoline consumption by 1.5 billion gallons once the technology shift was complete, and could create or retain some 20,000 assembly jobs. If just one-quarter of corporate fleets were to switch to green vehicles, the benefits would still be quite substantial—reducing emissions by the equivalent of 600,000 vehicles, cutting gasoline consumption by 750 million gallons a year, and supporting 10,000 assembly jobs.

— “Economic and Environmental Impacts...”

The report was prepared for AT&T.

Resources

• The Economic and Environmental Impacts of a Corporate Fleet Vehicle Purchase Program (CAR)