How to Choose An AFV

Choosing the right Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) for your fleet is not an easy task. Armed with the proper information, HOWEVER, can be done successfully. Once you have the correct information, you’ll be more confident that the choices you’ve made today are wise ones, and that they’ll help transition you into the future.

There are three basic steps in the process of making the best AFV choices.

Inventory Your Fleet

The first step in the process of choosing the right AFVs is to inventory and analyze your fleet. An effective tool for accomplishing this task is a single-page vehicle inventory form where the numbers of light-duty sedans, pickup trucks, vans and club wagons, medium-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, specialty vehicles, etc. are recorded. This allows you to see at a single glance the makeup of your fleet today.

Next, you’ll want to project what that same vehicle inventory will look like in 3-5 years. How will the mix of vehicles change? Will you have more pickups? Less SUVs? More heavy-duty vehicles?

Completion of this process will allow you to understand not only what your current fleet mix is, but also what it likely will be in the future.

Determine Alternative Fueling Available in Your Area

One of the biggest mistakes some fleet operators make is choosing AFVs for which there is no fueling available in the area. For example, Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) are very convenient light-duty AFVs because they are capable of operating on either E-85 (85% ethanol blended with 15% gasoline) or gasoline.

However, if there is no E-85 fueling available in the area, the FFV choice is probably not a wise one because the vehicles will not be able to actually operate on the alternative fuel and the goals of reducing dependence on petroleum products, as well as improving vehicle emissions, will not be accomplished.

The consequences of not considering the alternative fueling available in your area are at least as serious for other fuel types as well. The best way to avoid this challenge is to thoroughly research the kinds of alternative fuels available in your particular area. Good sources of information include the local Clean Cities Coalition and the U.S. DOE website www.ccities.doe.gov.

As you are looking at alternative fueling infrastructure, you will want to pay particular attention to whether there is publicly accessible fueling available and how well it is sited relative to your service area’s geography. A map of your service territory, overlaid onto a map of all alternative fueling sites in the area, is a helpful tool to help determine which fuels make the most sense for your fleet.

Become Familiar with Alternative Fuel Vehicles Available

Once you have an accurate picture of your fleet’s current and future makeup, and you have determined the types of alternative fueling that are most readily available in your area, you are now ready to look at the various types of AFVs available from manufacturers. Again, it is helpful to overlay your vehicle inventory with a matrix of AFVs available from manufacturers. For example, if E-85 is widely available in your service area, and a large portion of your fleet is mid-size sedans, Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) might be the best choice for your fleet.

If your fleet is composed of pickup trucks and vans, and if compressed natural gas fueling is conveniently located within your service territory, then natural gas powered vehicles might be the best choice for your fleet.

Keep in mind that there might be more than one alternative fuel of choice, depending on the types of vehicles you use and their availability from manufacturers as AFVs, as well as the types and location of alternative fueling infrastructure in your area.

Get Assistance in Making the Right Decision

While this narrative provides a simple discussion of the process of choosing the right AFV for your fleet, still it is not always an easy decision. AFVI offers two kinds of assistance for fleet operators who face this daunting task. The first type of assistance is a one-day training course, which includes all the forms and systems necessary, to help fleet operators make these difficult decisions.

AFVI also provides one-on-one consulting where we bring our expertise directly to your fleet. In this process, we work individually with companies to assist in the fleet assessment, local alternative fueling assessment and matching of AFVs with current fleet mix.