New vehicles combine gas, electricity for cleaner air
After nearly a decade of exclusively buying cars that run on electricity or compressed natural gas, Santa Monica has begun investing in a new kind of vehicle.
It’s the Toyota Prius, which runs on an electric motor that is continually recharged by an internal gasoline powered engine.
Since 2001, the city has purchased more than a dozen of the $22,000 vehicles. Officials say they plan to buy three more over the next year.
Last year the city spent about $2 million replacing their alternative-fueled Buick Crown Victoria’s. Next year officials say they won’t budget nearly as much because most of the older vehicles have already been replaced.
“In an eight-mile wide city, it makes sense to run these cars,” said Bernardo Klein, the city’s acting fleet maintenance manager. “We are getting 60 miles per gallon on the highway and over 35 miles per gallon in the city. Over the years we’ll make our money back in fuel savings.”
The car’s emissions are so low that it’s cleaner than using electricity from power plants, making it a better choice than electric vehicles, officials said.
Since the vehicles are constantly recharging themselves, they do not need to be plugged into an electrical outlet every eight hours — like most electric-powered city vehicles.
The cars are used by city employees on municipal business, from public works inspectors traveling to a construction site to city administrators driving across town for a meeting.
Currently 75 percent of the city’s fleet of cars and trucks has been transitioned into alternative fueled vehicles. Federal laws require municipalities to buy alternative fueled vehicles, but city officials say they are going beyond the government’s mandate.
They have also begun purchasing compressed natural gas garbage trucks, bulldozers and heavy load trucks.
“This is a very environmentally conscious city,” said Klein. “We are proving to the world that it can be done. You can provide a high quality of services while not polluting the air.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 20, 2002. Read the original PDF.