Utility Company Experiments with Electric Trucks, Soy Fuels
by Francine Hardaway
Published on June 27th, 2008
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Con Edison, the utility company that serves New York City, has announced that its 1,700 trucks will be running bio-diesel based on soy, and that 50 of its trucks will be replaced by hybrids this year. This soy-based portion of the fuel will help offset almost 400,000 gallons of petroleum per year. Newer diesel vehicles will be equipped with special exhaust filters to produce cleaner emissions.
Con Edison plans to replace 50 of its smaller vehicles with hybrid vehicles in 2008. They are working with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the automotive industry on the development of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The plug-in hybrid vehicle will be able to run on electricity for extended periods. It will only use petroleum after 60 to 80 miles of travel and can be plugged into standard electrical outlets.
Con Edison has begun a pilot program with two electric-powered vehicles that are inspecting work sites. Driving one of these vehicles 1,000 miles, can save almost 800 pounds of CO2. That’s equivalent to saving 40 gallons of gasoline or one barrel of oil.
