Rental Agencies Offering Alternative-Fuel Cars : Environment: In California, Avis, Hertz and Dollar will try cars using cleaner-burning methanol.
Rental-car drivers in California can help reduce air pollutants by opting for alternative-fuel vehicles as they begin to enter the marketplace.
One car-rental company has launched a pilot program in the state, and two others expect to introduce the new vehicles into their California fleets this fall.
These low-emission vehicles, known as variable fuel vehicles (VFVs) or flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), are equipped to run on M85 or unleaded gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels. M85 is a clean-burning fuel produced from natural gas that contains 85% methanol (methyl alcohol) and 15% unleaded regular gas. A car using M85 is said to have 30%-50% fewer smog-forming emissions than its gasoline-only counterparts.
Working with the Sacramento-based California Energy Commission, Avis launched a yearlong alternative-fuel pilot program in early May at Sacramento Metropolitan Airport using 20 specially designed 1992 Chevrolet Luminas. (Chevrolet has also made the VFV-model Lumina available to the general public by special order.)
Dollar Rent A Car expects to use the 1993 Dodge Spirit and Plymouth Acclaim as alternative fuel vehicles this fall at Los Angeles International Airport, according to Gary Paxton, Dollar’s president. Paxton said the company will wait to gauge public acceptance of the new vehicles before determining whether to expand the program throughout California and other markets.
Also this fall, Hertz will begin offering 50 1993 Ford Taurus flexible fuel vehicles at the Sacramento Airport as part of a pilot program.
While methanol only costs about 75 cents a gallon, it takes 1.7 gallons of methanol to do the work of a gallon of gas, said Claudia Barker, a spokeswoman for the California Energy Commission. According to Barker, the price of M85 is competitive with premium unleaded gas. However, “as M85 becomes more prevalent, the price should go down,” she added.
The cost of renting a variable fuel vehicle is no more than the price of other Avis cars of similar categories, said Robert Le Valley, an Avis spokesman. “As an incentive to renters, we’re also charging less for refill if renters return the VFVs without a full tank.”
Mileage while using the VFVs is not quite as good as with regular unleaded gas, but the overall performance of the car is better, according to Le Valley.
Methanol fuel such as M85 is currently available at a limited number of service stations throughout California. By July 1, that number will increase to 44, then 93 by 1993, said Barker.
“Large fleet car operators must explore alternative fuel or power sources, including electricity, to power our vehicles,” said Robert Salerno, senior vice president and general manager of Avis. “Clean, alternative fuels such as methanol provide two benefits for California: reducing air pollution and offering a non-petroleum-based transportation fuel.”
“These FFVs will take any kind of unleaded fuel,” said Joe Russo, a Hertz spokesman. “Renters will drive out with a full tank of methanol but they can fill up, if needed, with unleaded fuel. These are transitional cars, and we hope that drivers will get accustomed to methanol. This will get progressively easier as more service stations dispense methanol, which they will do as more alternative fuel vehicles are on the road.”
Barker, for one, hopes that day is not too far away.
“By the end of the decade, we’d like to see 25% of the cars being driven in California operating with a variety of alternative fuels, which also include compressed natural gas and electricity-powered vehicles,” she said. “This would mean a very significant drop in pollution.”
By next year, according to Barker, what with the increase in service stations offering methanol fuel throughout California, rental car drivers should be able to drive from, say, San Francisco to San Diego while filling up exclusively with M85. Maps/lists showing locations of these stations will be provided free to renters by both Avis and Hertz. As more and more service stations offer M85, the maps will be updated.
At this point, however, a special methanol credit card is needed to purchase M85, with this card only available to owners of variable fuel vehicles, fleet owners or renters.
Meanwhile, the California Energy Commission is developing a system with Avis whereby renters can purchase a short-term M85 fueling card for use at service stations. “This card would probably be like a coupon or marker that would allow purchase of a certain dollar value of M85,” Barker said. “The same system would apply to other car rental companies offering flexible or alternative fuel vehicles as well.”
Other car rental companies remain noncommittal about their plans for alternative-fuel vehicles. Spokespersons for Budget, Thrifty and Alamo each said that their company was still testing the concept, but had no concrete course of action.
