Exelon Utility Companies Add More Hybrids to SUV Fleets
05 April 2006
Two utility companies, ComEd and PECO, have added more Ford Escape hybrids to their vehicle fleets. Each utility is a unit of Exelon Corporation.
Northern Illinois utility company Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) has added 35 new Escape hybrids to its fleet. This brings ComEd’s total number of Ford Escape Hybrids to 49, which is roughly 30% of its overall SUV fleet. Supervisors and technical inspectors throughout ComEd’s service territory will use the vehicles.
ComEd first added Ford Escape Hybrids to its fleet last year. Those vehicles delivered about a 10 mile-per-gallon improvement in fuel economy, compared to the utility’s conventional Escape SUVs.
ComEd also is one of the nation’s largest consumers of biodiesel fuel. All of the utility’s 2,100 diesel-operated vehicles run on a B20 soy biodiesel blend.
Southeastern Pennsylvania utility company PECO added 15 new Ford Escape hybrids to its fleet, bringing the total number of hybrids to 41, which is more than 40% of its overall SUV fleet.
PECO also first added Ford Escape hybrids to its fleet last year and experienced comparable reductions in fuel economy.
Plans are in place to convert PECO’s diesel transportation fuel to B20 by the end of 2006.
The acquisition of hybrid vehicles is one of the elements of parent company Exelon’s greenhouse gas reduction program. Exelon has established a voluntary goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% from 2001 levels by the end of 2008.
ComEd recently filed a petition with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) requesting approval of its proposal to expand its portfolio of wind generation resources to 300 MW, with deliveries to begin no later than Dec. 31, 2007. The company also purchases the output of approximately 133 MW of landfill gas-to-energy generation.
In March, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) ranked PECO WIND in the top ten green power programs based on total number of customers. More than 24,000 customers have chosen to purchase PECO WIND, placing it seventh on the DOE’s list.
This may be a foolish question, but why do Supervisors and technical inspectors throughout ComEd’s service territory need SUVs in the first place? Why can't they use sedans that get much higher MPG than even hybrid SUVs?
Posted by: stomv | 05 April 2006 at 02:12 PM
I am imagining that at least the technical inspectors might need to haul around technical equipment for their jobs. I am also imagining that they might need to drive on dirt roads or access trails in order to reach outlying power transmission lines and facilities, such as long distance high tension lines that criss-cross rural districts.
Posted by: NBK-Boston | 05 April 2006 at 02:32 PM
Both have to carry a massive amount of stuff with them and have to go into places a non utility vehicle likely would get stuck.
as suvs are both cheaper and get better gas lage by far then uvs they dominate the market now.
Posted by: wintermane | 06 April 2006 at 05:33 AM
That's at least some good news coming from ComEd/Exelon these days. If they could only figure out something useful for their excess tritium coming from the nuke plants, they'd really be making green progress.
Posted by: byron | 06 April 2006 at 07:52 AM
When somebody else pays for the gas managers will pick comfort over economy every time.
Posted by: tom deplume | 06 April 2006 at 09:37 AM