Capable of Being Centrally Fueled
Energy Policy Act (EPAct) regulations apply to fleets that are "centrally fueled" or "capable of being centrally refueled." A vehicle is considered centrally fueled if it is fueled "75% or more of the time at a location that is owned, operated, or controlled by a fleet or covered person, or is under contract with the fleet or covered person for refueling purposes." EPAct interprets centrally refueled broadly. A vehicle does not have to be fueled onsite to be considered centrally refueled. For example, fleets are considered centrally fueled if they have a credit card agreement that results in centralized billing data.
If its vehicles are not centrally fueled, the fleet must then determine whether they are "capable" of being centrally refueled. The preamble to the final rule indicates that a vehicle is capable of central fueling if 75% or more of the vehicle's annual miles traveled are derived from trips that are less than the "operational range" of the vehicle, defined as the distance a vehicle can travel on a single fueling.
In the history of EPAct, only one fleet — a state university forestry department — was able to show that it was not capable of being centrally refueled. The department sent its vehicles into remote areas for weeks at a time. Using trip logs comprised of distances traveled and time operated outside the Metropolitan Statistical Area, the university was able to prove to its vehicles were not capable of central refueling.