April 8, 2005 -- Houston Mayor Bill White today announced plans to convert a substantial portion of the City’s fleet of cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles to cleaner emissions hybrids by the year 2010.
“This makes economic sense, it makes environmental sense and it is going to set an example,” said Mayor White. “We’re going to save on fuel costs and we’re going to help save our air quality.”
“It’s great to see the City of Houston take this very significant step toward healthier air. And that’s what it’s all about -- healthier air,” said Dr. Ramon Alvarez of Environmental Defense. “The most basic role of government is to protect its citizens, and Mayor White’s commitment to cleaner city vehicles is a commendable step in protecting the health of Houstonians.”
From left, Mayor Bill White, Council Member Addie Wiseman,
and Jack Steele with Houston-Galveston Area Council
The new plan being implemented will be to buy hybrids for the nonspecialty civilian fleet (meaning standard cars, pickups and SUVs) when available. It is estimated that 80 percent of new vehicle purchases and over 50 percent of this portion of the City’s fleet could be clean technology, lower emissions hybrid vehicles by the year 2010.
The City fleet of vehicles consists of more than 11,000 units, of which 3,554 make up the civilian, light-duty, “nonspecialty” fleet. The entire fleet travels over 100 million miles annually, consuming approximately 10 million gallons of fuel, and costing approximately $31.7 million yearly to maintain and operate.
The Toyota Prius gasoline/electric hybrid is comparable in size to the conventional gasoline-fueled mid-size standard sedans and is moderately smaller than the full-sized sedans acquired by the City. Over a five-year, 70,000-75,000 mile period, industry projections show that despite the higher incremental cost of the hybrid, this cost is virtually recovered through higher resale value, and lower operating and maintenance costs when compared with the standard mid-sized sedan. The hybrid provides a net benefit of almost $1,900 as compared to the five-year life-cycle of a gasoline-fueled full-sized sedan, according to an analysis done by the City.
According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the hybrid vehicle generates 65 percent less in smog-forming emissions than the mid-sized conventional sedans and 40 percent less than the full-sized sedans purchased by the City, equating to a reduction of 0.21 and 0.08 tons per 1 million miles traveled, respectively. At this emissions output level and traveling the same distances, it would take 571 hybrid vehicles to generate the same emissions as only 202 or 345 of the mid-sized and full-sized sedans, respectively.
The current City fleet includes 130 hybrids. In addition, there are 76 Toyota Prius and 7 Ford Escape (SUV) hybrids on order.
The City is also looking at reducing the total number of vehicles it operates.
Mayor White’s announcement came in conjunction with “Fresh Air Friday,” an annual project by the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Harris County and the City of Houston to educate the public about the risks of air pollution, promote clean air programs and support ways to keep the city beautiful.