The Hamilton City Council directing its staff in 2004 prepare an implementation plan to provide an affordable way to use new vehicle and fuel technology to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. The resulting was approved in this week’s meeting of the council.

In short, as vehicles end their 10-year operational life with the City, they will be replaced with  hybrid where possible. Additionally, the City will begin using B10 in its diesels.

Two major factors drove the selection of hybrids and biodiesel: one is the rising price of fuel, the other is the need to reduce the CO₂ load.

On the current limitations of natural gas vehicles as a solution to the problems above, the plan observes:

Natural gas has been the leading alternative to gasoline for some time. GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda have all offered factory-built natural gas vehicles (NGVs) to fleets. However, the number of vehicles using natural gas in Canada has never grown beyond a few thousand, partly because of the higher cost for the vehicles themselves.

The real barrier, however, has been the unresolved dilemma for natural gas suppliers; whether to build a network of natural gas stations in anticipation of a larger NGV population or wait until the numbers justified expansion. The result has been that not enough stations have been built and NGV sales are declining as Hybrid Electric Vehicles, which run on gasoline, are gaining popularity.

The same potential market pitfall exists for a hydrogen-based transportation system—one reason that supporters are keen to get an infrastructure in place.

Resources:

• City of Hamilton Green Fleet Implementation Plan