Picture This!
What's
new this week in transportation
Improving air quality with hybrid gas/electric cars
A case filled with solid-state electronics (above)
sits above a 4-cylinder gas engine in a new hybrid-fuel car in the King
County motor pool. A large battery is in the trunk. On the
dash (see inset), an Energy Monitor
[enlarged view:
21K] shows drivers which source is powering the
car. In this example, the arrows show the engine is powering the
motor, which in turn is charging the battery. When the battery is
full, the engine shuts itself off and electricity powers the car.
King County is renewing its commitment to clean air by increasing the number of new-generation hybrid vehicles in both its fleet and in a popular car-sharing program.
The county is using the newest hybrid vehicles--which operate on electricity and gasoline--on two fronts. Recently purchased Toyota Prius
cars will increase the number of hybrid passenger vehicles in the county's
fleet to 30. And, with the help of a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), King County will soon add hybrid vehicles to the county-supported car-sharing program.
"King County has played an important role in this region in introducing ground-breaking transportation strategies that reduce traffic congestion
as well as lessen greenhouse gas emissions," said County Executive Ron
Sims. "This is another important step in that direction."
The Toyota Prius is called a hybrid vehicle because it is propelled by an efficient combination of electricity and gasoline. When the vehicle
does not need much energy to travel or is stopped, the engine charges the
battery. When the battery becomes fully charged, the gasoline engine shuts
itself off, and the car is propelled by electricity. When the battery
begins to run low, the gasoline engine restarts in order to charge it.
Chuck Findley, acting regional administrator for the EPA, says transportation sources contribute about one-third of the greenhouse gas
emissions nationwide and are one of the largest contributors of air
pollution in the country. Reducing those emissions is the goal of the
EPA's new Clear Air Transportation Communities program, which awarded King
County $150,000 to enhance the car-sharing program.
According to Sims, "King County is unique in being the only public transportation agency in the United States to develop and support car
sharing as a transportation choice. The hybrid demonstration in the
car-sharing program will combine low-emission vehicles with a program that
already reduces miles driven. That can only increase the positive impacts
of the project."
Local air quality was a major concern for the county when it first began exploring alternative fuels for its vehicles in 1993. At one time,
King County had the largest fleet of police pursuit vehicles operating
with compressed natural gas vehicles (CNG) in North America.
As those CNG vehicles aged, King County officials looked to the latest technology to replace them. Windell Mitchell, the fleet manager for King
County, said the hybrids that are now being purchased meet the county's
goals to improve air quality, save fuel and cut operating costs.
"These vehicles are being purchased as part of Executive Sims' Earth Legacy Initiative and to reduce operating costs," Mitchell said. "The latest hybrids produce only 50 percent of the air pollutants emitted by
cars of traditional design, and they get twice the gas mileage of ordinary
vehicles."
Currently, King County has approximately 2,500 passenger vehicles in its fleet, including police cars. The additional hybrids are expected to
arrive in October and will give King County one of the largest fleets of
publicly owned hybrid vehicles in the region.
Related
links
King County Earth Legacy
Initiative Web site
"King
County cleans up air quality with purchase of new hybrid cars," news
release, August 23, 2001
"Sims
outlines actions County is taking to tackle climate change," news
release, May 10, 2001
"Second
Annual Northwest EnviroExpo set to Debut new Toyota Hybrid Car and
hundreds of Other Environmentally-friendly Products," news release,
March 20, 2000 |
