Clean-diesel, hybrids supplanting CNG, 'alternative fuels' schemes

Diesel Fuel News, March 3, 2003 by Jack Peckham

Phoenix--Only a few years ago, one of the leaders of the Calstart/Westart group that organizes the annual Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Conferences (CHDV) here boldly predicted that their mission was to bury the diesel and replace it with alternative fuels.

How times have changed. Now, fleets are starting to turn away from compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) or other "alternative" fuels because new clean-diesels and diesel-electric hybrids are not only getting super-clean, but remain far cheaper than "alt-fuel" vehicles--especially given the very high cost of "alt-fuel" refueling infrastructure.

Some examples from this year's CHDV conference:

# This year's Westart/Calstart president, John Boesel, pointed out that over 500 hybrid-electric buses in the U.S. are now either on-order or already deployed. Meantime, Hino is producing over 220 hybrid-electric delivery trucks, and FedEx and UPS--the U.S.'s biggest private-sector package delivery companies--are accelerating their hybrid-electric demonstration programs.

# UPS -- operator of 150,000 delivery vehicles world-wide -- has found that its CNG vehicles have 12% worse fuel economy and 29% higher maintenance cost than its diesel vans, as UPS official Robert Hall explained here.

Even worse, the CNG refueling infrastructure is shrinking, not growing, making UPS deliveries even more vulnerable to lack of convenient refueling. "It costs $350,000 more for a fast-fill CNG refueling system, and additional capex each six years" to replace very expensive compressors and controls ($150,000 to $250,000). None of this extra cost is required for diesel refueling.

What's more, while CNG was once touted as a "cheaper" fuel than diesel, "today we pay as much or more for CNG than for diesel," he said.

"Alternative fuel infrastructure is very difficult to support. We must have price stability, and OEM [original equipment maker] support" for the parts and supplies after the sale. Alt-fuel vehicle/parts suppliers often flunk that test after a few years, he said.

In contrast to problematic alt-fuels, "hybrids are the most promising near-term technology," since these can use the convenient, cheap diesel infrastructure. What's more, "just because it's 'alternative fuel' doesn't mean lower emissions, as poor maintenance and poor installations mean higher emissions," he said.

"We get a lot of CNG and biodiesel people calling on us, but the bottom line is that gasoline and diesel will predominate for the next 20-50 years, and we need clean fuel infrastructure. Our new 2004 tractors are very clean, and I can only imagine how clean they'll be in 2007" when EPA's ultra-clean diesel regulations take effect. "Diesel looks very promising, whereas alternative fuels increase our cost of doing business," Hall said.

# Gas-to-liquids (GTL) diesel fuel is moving up the "interest" scale, as it's now a U.S. government-recognized "alternative fuel" under the "Energy Policy Act" (EPAct), which requires certain U.S. fleets to buy vehicles capable of running on "alternative fuels." This may have a special impact on California, where it's virtually impossible for crude refiners to get government permits to expand refining capacity, yet where the demand for ultra-clean-diesel grows because of ultra-strict emissions standards.

# The U.S. military, which exclusively uses distillate fuels for tactical vehicles, ships and planes, is keen to help the private sector cooperatively advance high-efficiency diesels and diesel-hybrids. As explained by Brig. Gen. Roger Nadeau here, the military aims to slash its tactical fuel requirements 75% by 2010, in order to simplify battlefield supply logistics and cut costs (up to $40/gallon to deliver fuels to the battlefield).

The military has 250,000 distillate-using tactical vehicles that could take advantage of hybrid-electric advances in the commercial sector, he pointed out. "We need to pool R&D for both military and commercial applications," he said, pointing to the Army's "National Automotive Center" as the "interface between the military and the auto industry for technology development and acquisition."

Meantime, the military is beginning to start internal discussions about whether and how to achieve desulfurization of its distillate fuels (JP-8 and JP-5) and even how it might employ small-scale GTL to make its own ultra-clean fuel. Ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) logistics are extra-complicated since the military buys and uses fuel all over the world, not just in ULSD-mandated markets such as North America, Europe or Japan.

So, on-board fuel-sulfur-capture schemes are being investigated for applications such as military fuel-cell fuel reformers. R&D partner Delphi is investigating one such technology for military and civilian application.

Delphi's second-generation, solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) unit is now 75% smaller than the original design--at one liter per kilowatt, and now just 4 kilograms/kW. The integrated reformer/energy recovery unit is now the size of two or three briefcases, rather than filling the trunk of a car as in the first-generation unit. What's more, "we can start soot-free [fuel reforming] in as little as two seconds," Delphi engineering manager Chris DeMinco said.