Vehicle By Vehicle, Howard County Government Is Working Towards Lowering Emissions

I’ve been fascinated by the recent ads for the new electric Volt car from Chevrolet.  From what I’ve read, it seems to be a fairly affordable completely electric car, which has the option of running on gas for longer distances.  Pretty cool. 

Of course, I’m still looking at hybrids as well.  It’s surprising that we don’t see more of them on the road in this area. 

One place you are going to start to see more hybrids is within Howard County’s fleet.  Last week, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman announced that two new hybrid vehicles have been added to the fleet, replacing two older trucks within the Bureau of Highways.  As vehicles exceed their life and are scheduled for replacement, the County plans to purchase alternative fuel vehicles whenever they can. Both of these recent new hybrid vehicles are expected to be in service this spring.  They will be part of the Tree Maintenance Division. 

These particular trucks are interesting for a couple of reasons. First, they do what all hybrid vehicles do – they combine an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, resulting in better fuel economy, better fuel performance and “reduced petroleum consumption and vehicle air pollution emissions worldwide” according to GreenHybrid.com. 

Secondly, “diesel emissions are completely eliminated when the hybrid truck operates equipment (like overhead tree trimming equipment) solely on the truck's battery power, instead of allowing the engine to idle” explains Kevin Enright, Director in Howard County’s Office of Public Information. 

“Local government should always strive to put our words into action and I believe the introduction of these trucks to our County fleet reinforces our commitment to both sustainability and savings,” said County Executive Ken Ulman.   

This latest expansion brings Howard County’s hybrid fleet to 91 vehicles, including the diesel-electric buses operated by Howard Transit.  This transition to a hybrid fleet is projected to save the County tens of thousands of dollars annually.   

Enright tells me that as recently as last week meetings have been held and research has been started looking into the idea of adding more fully electric vehicles.  They are investigating the available electric vehicles on the market and which, if any, may make sense to consider for the County fleet.  

In fact, the County already owns two battery electric vehicles (BEV), which are propelled 100 percent by an electric motor that draws energy from an on-board rechargeable battery. BEVs produce no tailpipe emissions. Howard County currently uses one at the courthouse and one at the landfill. Enright says, “This type of campus application is ideal for electric vehicles and we are considering it for our parks and recreation areas also.  For on-road use, the County is actively conducting a market survey of emerging electric vehicle technology and products, and exploring the infrastructure to support these vehicles. We are exploring the application and availability of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV) and road-ready Battery electric vehicles (BEV).”

The County's fleet, with the exception of the Howard Transit buses, which are alternative fuel transit buses, currently includes GEMs, Toyota Prius, Ford Escapes and Mercury Mariners, Honda Civics (Health Dept), Ford Fusions and, most recently, two International 4300 DuraStar Hybrid trucks. 

According to Ulman, the Howard County fleet consists, in total, of 1,178 vehicles.