Age of Alternative-Fuel Autos Around the Bend : Environment: The Bush Administration is perceived as the champion of methanol. The propane industry is launching an assault against methanol and finds itself jockeying for a fuels niche along with others in Washington.
Amid the morning rush of commuters, the white Ford Taurus blended well with the hundreds of other cars on Washington’s traffic-clogged six-lane Beltway.
But as the sedan passed an 18-wheeler at 60 miles an hour, the driver flicked a switch just below the dashboard and the Taurus became like no other car on the busy highway.
It was now running on propane instead of gasoline.
As Congress moves toward enacting tougher laws to combat urban pollution and other environmental concerns, including global warming, the word is out: The 1990s may well become the decade in which the alternative-fuel automobile with its fewer pollutants will challenge the conventional gasoline-powered car.
Phase-In by 1995
President Bush has proposed legislation calling for a phase-in of thousands of alternative-fuel vehicles beginning in 1995 and for production of at least 1 million such cars a year by 1997 in urban areas with the worst smog.
William Reilly, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says there is no other way to attain a significant reduction in urban smog and still acknowledge Americans’ love of their automobiles than to phase in large numbers of cars that use cleaner fuels than gasoline.
As a result, there has been a rush to Washington by almost every conceivable maker and promoter of alternative fuels in an attempt to carve out a niche in that yet-to-be-defined future market of motor vehicles.
The parking lots on Capital Hill were dotted one day recently with vehicles powered by various fuels from propane to hydrogen.
Among then were:
- A transit bus with a specially designed engine powered by natural gas.
- A Mercedes-Benz sedan powered by an experimental solar-hydrogen system.
- Vehicles from beer and pizza trucks to mid-size sedans all fueled by propane.
The propane-powered sedans--including the white Taurus--were equipped with duel-fuel systems that allowed with a touch of a switch to shift from unleaded gasoline to propane, even at highway speeds, with hardly a notice.
But the alternative fuel most talked about for passenger cars--and cited specifically by Bush--is methanol, a liquid that comes from methane, the main component of natural gas. Methanol is in large supply, requires no pressurization and could be dispensed from service station pumps alongside those offering gasoline.
Methanol has been so widely discussed that producers of other alternative fuels have sent their representatives to Capitol Hill to complain that it is the only substitute fuel the EPA and the White House are interested in.
‘Bias’ Toward Methanol
“What we’re striving for with the EPA and the legislative (lobbying) is a level playing field,” said Bob Meyers, executive vice president for marketing at Petrolane Inc., the country’s largest retailer of propane. He said there is clear evidence of a “bias” toward methanol in Washington.
Top EPA officials do tilt toward methanol and White House counsel C. Boyden Gray has made no secret of his views on the fuel. He has been driving a Chevrolet Citation that runs on alcohol for several years.
“Many people have portrayed the Administration as being dominated by methanol junkies,” Patrick Quinn, the EPA’s director of congressional liaison, told a propane industry group, insisting that such a characterization is not true.
In an interview, Quinn acknowledged that methanol appears to be a “fuel of choice” as an alternative to gasoline for most passenger cars. But he said the agency plans to establish pollution standards for other fuels as well and envisions both propane and compressed natural gas as eventually gaining significant niches, especially in such areas as fleet vehicles and transit buses.
Growing Numbers
There already are an estimated 350,000 propane-powered vehicles in use nationwide, almost exclusively in fleet operations.
Among them are more than 250 taxis in Las Vegas, 160 school buses in Kansas City, Kan., sheriff’s department cars in Sarasota, Fla., and a variety of delivery trucks. Propane has been used in farm vehicles for years.
But propane still is primarily used for heating, with only about 3% of sales going to vehicles. “What we see now is a golden opportunity (for expansion). The niche we see is really in the fleet industry,” says Jerry Schmitt, a marketing consultant for Ferrellgas, a major propane retailer.
But all this talk of substitute fuels for gasoline has not escaped notice of the petroleum industry.
New Gasolines
Atlantic Richfield Co. recently announced it would begin offering a reformulated, cleaner-burning leaded gasoline for older cars. Other oil companies reportedly are developing cleaner-burning unleaded gasoline and plan soon to put them in test markets in light of the expected tighter air pollution standards being debated in Congress.
Meanwhile, the oil industry has unleashed a public relations assault on methanol, including newspaper ads saying that it is highly toxic and even small amounts could be fatal if swallowed; that it releases formaldehyde, an ozone-causing and probably carcinogenic pollutant; and that it would likely be more expensive than gasoline.
The EPA responded with a report on methanol saying that the fuel remains a sound alternative, that its expected price will be competitive with gasoline and that its safety risks are no greater than with other fuels, including gasoline.
