Fleet AFV Program Report for Fiscal Year 2005 (February 25, 2006)

This report summarizes the U.S. Department of State (DOS) fiscal year (FY) 2005 performance in meeting the goals of Executive Order (EO) 13149, Greening the Government through Federal Fleet and Transportation Efficiency, and in meeting the requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct; 42 U.S.C. 13211-13219) as amended by the Energy Conservation Reauthorization Act of 1998 (ECRA; Public Law 105-388) and the EPAct of 2005 (Public Law 109-58). Exhibit 1 summarizes DOS’s compliance success in meeting these requirements.

Exhibit 1. DOS Performance – EPAct/EO 13149 Requirements FY 2005

Authority/Mandate	Performance Measure	Goal/Requirement	DOS Performance in FY 2005
EPAct	Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) acquisitions	75% of the 43 covered (all domestic, non law-enforcement [non-LE], light-duty [LD], not operated in a metropolitan statistical area [MSA]) vehicles acquired in FY 2005 must be AFVs	Acquired 63 AFVs, earned 11 additional credits1 for total of 74 credits or 172% of covered acquisitions
EO 13149	Alternative fuel use in AFVs	By end of FY 2005, increase alternative fuel use in AFVs to a majority of the total fuel used in those vehicles (all weights)	Achieved 22.3% alternative fuel use in AFVs
EO 13149	Fuel economy of LD vehicle acquisitions	By end of FY 2005, increase fuel economy by 3 miles per gallon (mpg) compared to FY 1999 baseline of 15.7 mpg (for all domestic, non-LE, LD, petroleum fuel vehicles)	Increased to 17.9 mpg, an increase of 2.2 mpg over FY 1999 baseline
EO 13149	Petroleum consumption	By end of FY 2005, reduce covered consumption by 20 percent compared to FY 1999 baseline2 of 293,729 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE) (for domestic, non-LE vehicles of any weight and operating in or out of an MSA)	Consumed 279,435 GGE, a decrease of 5.0% from the baseline2

¹Credits earned for acquisition of dedicated medium-duty (MD) AFVs and for use of biodiesel.
²Baseline adjusted in FY 2004 to account for a large increase in the number of vehicles due to the addition of reporting elements to the DOS FAST (Federal Automotive Statistical Tool) hierarchy.

EPAct Compliance

DOS exceeded the EPAct requirements for AFV acquisitions in FY 2005 with an EPACT percentage of 172%. For FY 2005, DOS:

• Acquired 43 covered (all domestic, non law-enforcement (non-LE), light-duty (LD), not operated in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA)) vehicles. Not only were 35 (81%) of them AFVs (all E85 flex-fuel vehicles [FFVs], except one CNG bi-fuel), but also an additional 23 LD AFVs and five MD AFVs were acquired for non-covered (law enforcement) vehicles, totaling 63 (35 + 23 + 5) AFV FY 2005 acquisitions.
• Received an additional ten credits for acquiring 5 MD AFVs (CNG dedicated).
• Received one credit for use of biodiesel.

Earned a total of 74 (63 + 10 + 1) credits (including vehicle acquisitions and credits) for an EPAct percentage of 172% (74/43).

AFV Acquisitions

DOS has successfully met the EPAct requirement every year (see Exhibit 2) as reflected in FAST, mainly due to its policy of acquiring AFVs for all covered vehicles to the maximum extent that AFVs meeting operational requirements are available from original equipment manufacturers. GSA-leased vehicles comprised 98% of the FY 2005 acquisitions.

Biodiesel credit

Biodiesel became available in FY 2005 for the first time to the 17 DOS diesel vehicles in the Washington metropolitan area. B20 (a fuel blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% petrodiesel) is now being sold at the Pentagon CITGO station. Those diesel vehicles used 3,737 GGEs of B20 from that station since the pump opened. This quantity of B20 consists of 677 GGEs of pure biodiesel and 3,060 GGEs of petroleum diesel. This earned DOS one AFV credit, since federal fleets earn one credit for every 450 gallons of pure biodiesel used.

Exemptions

DOS acquired 117 total LD vehicles in FY 2005. Of those acquisitions, only 43 were "covered" for the purposes of EPAct compliance, leaving 74 exempt vehicles as follows:

• 66 law-enforcement vehicles operated by Diplomatic Security.
• Eight operated in a non-MSA.
  

FY 2006 Planned and FY 2007 Projected Acquisitions
DOS plans to continue its policy of acquiring AFVs exclusively for its non-exempt fleet, except where operational requirements make that impractical.

• In FY 2006, DOS plans to acquire (through replacement by GSA of GSA-leased vehicles) one CNG dedicated vehicle, three CNG bi-fuel vehicles and 41 E85 FFVs. Also, one new E85 FFV will be purchased.
• In FY 2007, DOS projects that the following AFVs will be acquired through replacement by GSA of GSA-leased vehicles: 57 E85 FFVs and 11 CNG bi-fuel vehicles. Also, two new E85 FFVs will be purchased.

The CNG vehicles (dedicated and bi-fuel) will be used in the Washington, DC area, where reductions in conventional vehicle emissions are especially helpful. The availability of adequate CNG fuel remains a concern and could affect these plans. With the credits that these vehicles, plus other AFV acquisitions and biodiesel usage, will earn, the DOS expects to exceed the EPAct percentage requirement (75%) in both years.

EO 13149 Compliance

EO 13149 calls for each agency to reduce vehicular petroleum consumption (for domestic, non-LE vehicles of any weight and operating in or out of an MSA) by 20 percent by the end of FY 2005, and specifies three approaches agencies should take to achieve this goal:

• Comply with EPAct’s annual AFV acquisition requirements (as previously discussed).
• Use alternative fuels in fleet AFVs the majority of the time.
• Increase the fuel economy of all domestic, non law-enforcement (non-LE), LD, petroleum fuel vehicle acquisitions by 3 mpg by the end of FY 2005, as compared to baseline FY 1999 acquisitions.
  

Use of Alternative Fuels in AFVs

Despite the increase in the number of AFVs (mostly E85 FFVs) in the fleet, the lack of alternative fuel infrastructure continues to be a major problem. Consequently, the amount of alternative fuel used in FY 2005 was 22.3%, significantly short of the majority usage required. DOS will continue seeking opportunities to increase the amount of alternative fuel used to achieve the majority mandate. It should be noted, however, that alternative fuel refueling capability is not commercially available in the geographic area (El Paso, TX, and outlying sites) where the International Boundary & Water Commission (IBWC) operates a number of DOS AFVs covered by this requirement; this aspect makes both individual vehicle and overall fleet compliance problematic at best for both the IBWC and the DOS as a whole.

B20 Use: As explained above, B20 just became available in the Washington DC area in FY 2005 and is not available in other areas in which DOS vehicles primarily operate. Through a financial partnership agreement with the Arlington, VA Public Works Department, DOS diesel powered vehicles will be able to refuel with B20 at the Arlington Regional Transit (ART) refueling site in Shirlington, VA when that capability is available in the late spring of 2006. DOS plans to maximize use of biodiesel in diesel vehicles whenever possible to do so.

CNG Use: DOS is now operating 12 dedicated CNG vehicles in the Washington DC metropolitan area: six buses, two LD 4X2 vans, and four MD vans. DOS also operates 27 CNG bi-fuel vehicles: one heavy-duty (HD) vehicle, 23 MD vans, one LD van, one LD pickup and one sedan.

Lack of adequate CNG refueling infrastructure continues to cause serious problems, especially for the six dedicated CNG buses. The buses have the CNG fuel tank capacity to last two days before refueling but are unable to get enough fuel pressure from the CNG pump (Pentagon Quarters K CITGO) that is convenient to them to allow driving for more than one day. Consequently, the buses must refill every day, which incurs additional costs in manpower and fuel.

The alternate CNG site is near the Washington Navy Yard and is not convenient for normal refueling operations, given the distance from the DOS combined with normal metropolitan area traffic congestion. For a number of years, DOS sought funding to construct its own CNG refueling station in the Washington, DC area, but the high cost could not be justified. The DOS has instead entered into a financial partnership agreement with the Arlington, VA Public Works Department that will allow refueling of DOS CNG vehicles at the Arlington Regional Transit (ART) refueling site in Shirlington, VA, when that capability is available in the late spring of 2006. The DOS is also in the process of finalizing an agreement with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to use their CNG station at Clark Street near the Ronald Reagan National Airport.

E85 Use: The amount of E85 consumed by all DOS vehicles has remained about the same for the past three years (between 3,000 and 4,000 GGEs). E85 is available at the Pentagon CITGO station, which is conveniently located for only a few of the DOS E85 FFVs. While DOS is increasing the number of E85 vehicles in the fleet, the amount of E85 that is used cannot increase significantly until more E85 stations become available, especially in the El Paso, TX geographical area. To increase driver awareness to use E85, mirror hang tags and stickers encouraging the use of E85 were sent out to flex-fuel vehicle custodians in the Washington, DC area. These items were accompanied by a memorandum explaining the need for using E85.

Improve Fuel Economy

In FY 1999, the average fuel economy of the conventional-fuel, non-exempt, LD vehicle acquisitions (there were 15) was 15.7 miles per gallon (mpg).

• By FY 2002, the average was 17.8, which exceeded the requirement in EO 13149 to increase the average fuel economy by 1 mpg by the end of FY 2002 for the covered LD acquisitions over the FY 1999 baseline.
• In FY 2003, the average fuel economy was 18.0 mpg for the conventional-fuel, non-exempt, LD acquisitions (there were 13).
• In FY 2004, the average fuel economy was 18.7 mpg for the conventional-fuel, non-exempt, LD acquisitions (there were 73). This FY 2004 average fuel economy met the EO 13149 requirement to increase the fuel economy by 3.0 mpg over the FY 1999 baseline (15.7 mpg).
• In FY 2005, however, the average for the covered vehicles acquired was 17.9 mpg, which falls short of the E.O 13149 goal. Ironically, the decrease in the fuel economy in FY 2005 is a result of doing well in acquiring AFVs to meet requirements, as explained below.
  

In FY 2005, there were only 15 vehicles that met the criteria (domestic, non-LE, LD, petroleum fuel vehicles) for FY 2005 acquisitions that must conform to the fuel economy requirement. Fourteen of the 15 vehicles were larger LD vehicles (i.e., vans, pickups, and SUVs) which are not always available as AFVs in the models required, while the requirements for smaller LD vehicles (sedans) are being filled with AFV sedans (which are readily available), in keeping with DOS policy to acquire AFVs whenever possible. Consequently, the DOS fuel economy for FY 2005 is calculated on a small pool of larger LD vehicles, resulting in an average of 17.9 mpg, which is 2.2 mpg more than the baseline of 15.7 mpg, thereby falling short of the goal of 18.7 mpg.

By contrast, in FY 2004, when the average fuel economy rating of new acquisitions actually met the EO 13149 goal, there were 73 non-LE, LD, gasoline vehicle acquisitions. Sedans comprised 23% of those vehicles (17 of them), bringing up the average fuel economy to 18.7 mpg, and therefore the EO 13149 goal was met in FY 2004.

In summary, the success of the DOS policy to acquire AFVs whenever they are available is having a detrimental effect on the fuel economy rating of the petroleum fuel vehicle acquisitions. The reason for the effect is that the non-AFV acquisitions tend to be models of vans, pickups, and SUVs that are not available as AFVs, and do not get as good average fuel economy as a group of vehicles containing a large proportion of sedans.

Petroleum Consumption Progress Report

DOS reduced its petroleum fuel consumption in FY 2005 by 5.0% compared to the FY 1999 baseline. This falls short of the EO goal of 20%, but DOS will continue to work toward the 20% goal, which could be achieved if more E85 stations were available and convenient to the E85 vehicle fleet.

Exhibit 3 shows a history of DOS’s non-exempt petroleum usage and the revisions of the FY 1999 baseline petroleum consumption (gasoline and diesel combined) as the number of vehicles for which DOS assumed reporting responsibility grew. In FY 1999 the original non-exempt DOS fleet consisted of 157 vehicles operated by the Fleet Management Office (FMO). In the last three years, DOS assumed reporting responsibility for an additional 342 non-exempt vehicles operated mainly by Diplomatic Security and IBWC.

An insight into the progress that has been made on one of the reporting elements can be seen by considering the original 157-vehicle FMO fleet, for which the original FY 1999 baseline of 91,780 GGEs was set. For those vehicles, CNG consumption has risen from 2,237 GGEs in FY 1999 to 24,441 GGEs in FY 2005 due to the replacement of diesel/gas buses and vans with CNG dedicated vehicles. That represents a displacement of petroleum fuel use of 22,204 GGEs (24,441 GGEs - 2,237 GGEs) from the original 91,780-GGE baseline — a 24.2% reduction in petroleum fuel usage since FY 1999. However, the reduction is counted for the agency as a whole, and the rest of the agency has not had that same degree of success for a number of reasons, but primarily because of the lack of commercially available refueling infrastructure, especially in the El Paso, TX area.
Exhibit 3. DOS Petroleum Fuel Use (for covered vehicles)

Year	Petroleum Consumption (GGE)	# of Non-exempt Vehicles
FY 1999 original baseline	91,780	157
FY 2000	87,548	155
FY 2001	83,902	168
FY 2002	99,131	179
FY 1999 baseline revised (1/04)	179, 411	317
FY 2003	176,184	317
FY 1999 baseline revised (12/04)	293,729	517
FY 2004	290,076	517
FY 2005	279,435	499

Efficiency measures: FMO personnel have practiced appropriate fleet management efficiency measures and encouraged others to do the same in the ongoing effort to reduce petroleum consumption. Specifically, FMO published a Department Notice soliciting the cooperation of all DOS employees, especially drivers, vehicle custodians, and managers in reducing petroleum consumption by

• Driving vehicles more efficiently (slow starts, observing posted speed limits, removing unnecessary cargo, adhering to established maintenance schedules)
  • Combining trips
• Reducing the number of assigned vehicles
• Sub-pooling or shared-use of vehicles between offices located in close proximity to one another
• Conducting business by telephone, e-mail or teleconference
• Using commercial delivery services, taxi cabs, DOS shuttle buses, and public transportation
• Placing transport requirements on contractors
• Using CNG and E85 in bi-fuel and flex-fuel vehicles, respectively
• Ordering AFVs and smaller and/or more fuel-efficient models (including hybrids) to replace current vehicles (e.g., replacing large 4x4 SUVs with FFV minivans).
  

Conclusion

The DOS is fully committed to compliance with the EPAct and EO requirements. With its policy of acquiring exclusively AFVs for its non-exempt fleet, except where operational requirements make such acquisitions impractical, DOS expects to continue its record of exceeding the 75% EPAct percentage for the foreseeable future.

With the number of AFVs increasing and the developments for CNG and B20 fuel becoming available in the Washington DC area in FY 2006 at a new site (Arlington County), alternative fuel usage is expected to increase somewhat, but the alternative refueling infrastructure (especially E85) is still inadequate to serve the number of AFVs in the fleet.

Excellent progress has been made by the original 157-vehicle non-exempt fleet that DOS reported on in FY 1999 and upon which the original petroleum fuel consumption baseline was established. Because of the replacement of diesel/gas vehicles with CNG dedicated vehicles (most notably six buses) the petroleum fuel consumption for this group of vehicles has been reduced by 24.2% from the FY 1999 level.

Due to increases in the numbers of vehicles for which DOS has reporting responsibility since FY 1999, the DOS "non-exempt fleet" has more than tripled in size. DOS will continue working to achieve the fuel reduction goal.

Special Note: Fuel Data Changes since FAST Submission

The challenge of obtaining accurate data on alternative fuel consumption continues. Each CNG purchase transaction usually appears as 1 unit in GSA fuel reports. Thus, estimates must be made as to how many GGEs of CNG on average are purchased per transaction. Also, the biodiesel that DOS used in FY 2005 was not coded on the fuel report as B20 but as diesel, a problem that is being investigated. Each year, DOS tries to make appropriate estimates and adjustments to the fuel report. This year, there was much less time than usual between receipt of the GSA fuel reports and the closing of FAST, so those adjustments and estimates were inadvertently not made. In addition to these problems, an error was made in entering some of the diesel fuel as "GGEs" rather than "natural units." None of these problems were noticed until after FAST closed.

Since FAST closed, however, the fuel data have been thoroughly reviewed, resulting in the need for some relatively minor revisions. The corrected data are shown in Appendices A (where the biodiesel credit has been added) and B, whereas the versions of these reports in FAST still contain the errors. While the corrections were not large, they nonetheless resulted in a change to the alternative fuel percentage (increasing it from 7.8% to 22.3%), the petroleum fuel reduction (reducing it from 5.1% to 5.0%), and the EPAct percentage (increasing it from 170% to 172% due to the biodiesel credit received).

Appendix A

Department of State

Complex-Wide AFV Report 2005 - Actual

Appendix A (continued)

Department of State
Complex-Wide AFV Report 2006 - Planned

Appendix A (continued)

Department of State
Complex-Wide AFV Report 2007 - Projected

Appendix B

Department of State

Petroleum Consumption Report