Quantcast





RSS
February 27, 2008 | Jim Lane | Comments 0

US state governments buying flex-fuel cars to avoid using…alternative fuels; exploiting loophole in federal law that requires alt energy vehicles, but not alt energy fuels

Using a loophole in federal law, states are buying flex-fuel cars in order to avoid using alternative fuels.

More than 2,200 cars and light trucks have been purchased by the New Jersey state government to fulfill requirements from the 1992 Energy Policy Act, but the state has not provided any government-only or retail E85 pumps anywhere in the state.

The Maryland state government also recently unveiled a plan to increase purchases of hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles. Under the plan, 40% of state vehicle purchases will be flexfuel cars and trucks that run on biofuels, and to increase hybrids from 30 to 100 vehicles. The state has a 9100 vehicle fleet. E85 is not available in Maryland.
Under the Act, federal law mandated that 75 percent of new state vehicles must be able to run on alternative fuels, but the Act does not require states to purchase or use alternative fuels. Consequently, governments have been buying flex-fuel vehicles that qualify under the Act, but 30 states do not provide E85 at any state fuel depots.

In total, there are only 34 state fuel depots in 20 states, yet governments have purchased more than 40,000 flex-fuel vehicles.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter


bdnl091008Subscribe FREE to the world's most-widely read biofuels daily. Enter your email in the box below,
or click here to subscribe:

Related Stories


  • Today in Biofuels: US states buy 40,000 flex-fuel cars to avoid using alternative fuels; 20 new VE85 stations in Texas; fire chiefs say US cities and towns unprepared for ethanol fires
  • Top Story: Using a loophole in federal law, states are buying flex-fuel cars in order to avoid using alternative fuels. Under the Energy Policy Act, federal law mandated that 75 percent of new sta...
  • 92 percent of government fleet runs on gasoline; switch to flex-fuel meant bigger engines, more emissions, says Washington Post
  • The Washington Post ran an article detailing how the Federal Government's investment in more than 112,000 alternative fuel vehicles, primarily flex-fuel vehicles, has increased rather than decreased e...
  • Nissan to focus on hybrids; says biofuels too hard to find
  • Nissan indicated that it would focus on electric hybrid cars rather than flex-fuel vehicles, citing concerns about the availability of fuel. US automakers have focused on flex-fuel vehicles, hoping...
  • Harkin, Lugar introduce Consumer Fuels and Vehicles Choice Act to increase flex-fuel cars, pumps
  • In Washington, Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and Richard Lugar of Indiana introduced the Consumer Fuels and Vehicles Choice Act of 2009. According to a report at Growth Energy, the legislation will requ...
  • Flex-fuel vehicles account for 86 percent of 2007 Brazilian car sales; 4.6 million flex-fuel cars on road
  • 86 percent of all cars sold in Brazil in 2007 were ethanol enabled. The registration of 2 million cars in 2007 takes the total of cars running on ethanol blends or pure E100 to 4.6 million. Brazil now...
  • Maryland announces six new E85 stations to serve state flex-fuel fleet
  • In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced a plan to construct six new E85 pumps around the state so that the state's fleet of 1200 flex-fuel vehicles can fill up with renewable fuels. Previously, th...

    Hot Topics


    The Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy
    Latest algae-to-energy news
    Latest jatropha news
    Latest Waste-to-energy news

    Entry Information

    Filed Under: Consumers & FleetsPolicy

    RSSPost a Comment  |  Trackback URL

    You must be logged in to post a comment.