Have you ever wondered about all those vehicles that you see around the City with that great Santa Monica logo? Have you been curious about the "CNG Fuel Only" logo on some City vehicles? If you have, then you have come to the right place.

It is the job of The Fleet Management Division of the City of Santa Monica to ensure that City Vehicles are available, dependable, safe to operate, cost effective, and energy efficient. We purchase and maintain almost 70% of all City Vehicles and provide scheduled maintenance to reduce overall vehicle operating costs, extend useful life, and minimize downtime. Santa Monica's Fleet Management Division is one of the most innovative and forward-looking in California and the Nation.

At Fleet we use

• Cleaner fuel
• Alternatively fueled vehicles
• And environmentally friendly products!

Fleet is committed to the City of Santa Monica's Sustainable City Goal and is a member of "Clean Cities," a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy which promotes the use of alternative fuel vehicles. "Clean Cities" works directly with local governments, such as Santa Monica, and they have been very helpful in our goal to reduce toxic emissions.

We are doing this by purchasing environmentally friendly vehicles powered by alternative fuels - including CNG, electricity, and propane. Also under study are hybrid vehicles.

Of 585 City Vehicles, we estimate that potentially 409 can be alternatively fueled. Our goal is that 75% of all fuel consumed by Fleet Vehicles be alternative fuel. We are almost there!

What is CNG? It stands for Compressed Natural Gas. And it is the very same gas that is used by your dryer, your oven, and your furnace at home. It is a domestically produced, clean burning fuel, whose main constituent is methane, a relatively unreactive hydrocarbon. The process requires that the gas be separated from free liquids such as crude oil, water, and entrained solids. It is much, much more complicated than that, of course, but in a nutshell, the dehydrated or "compressed" gas, with further treatment, can be used in vehicles. For those that are interested in more information, we highly recommend the Department of Energy's website.

In 1998, Maintenance Management installed a CNG fueling facility at the City Yards to provide CNG fuel for City Vehicles. There are two fast-fill and 34 slow fill stations, which dispense approximately 12,000 equivalent gallons in therms of CNG per month. Construction of this facility was partially funded by a $350,000 grant from SCAQMD. This onsite facility drastically reduces the cost of refueling CNG Fleet vehicles.

Keep your eyes peeled for City Vehicles with a CNG logo. That is the Fleet Maintenance Division working to make your city more liveable and more breathable.

In 1996/1997 fiscal year, to help us reach our reduced emission goals; we instituted a Capital Improvement Program for Vehicle Replacement, the goal of which is to replace outdated, high maintenance equipment with "alternatively fueled" vehicles. Our replacement schedule for vehicles extends through 2008/2009. Through fiscal year 1999/2000, approximately $14.6M has been set aside for replacement of 313 vehicles. And we have received, to date, $739,000 in Grant funding to offset the incremental cost of purchasing Heavy Duty Alternatively Fueled Vehicles. Again, saving Santa Monica taxpayers money. And, of course, we are continually looking for additional grant funding.

Additional elements of the vehicle replacement program include:

• A computerized Vehicle Management reporting system that tracks costs and utilization by vehicle and City Division. This allows us to efficiently manage vehicle maintenance and repair activities.
• Auction of surplus equipment to achieve maximum return on assets.

Our objective with Fleet Maintenance Products is to purchase less toxic or recycled products for all vehicles. It is yet another way that the City of Santa Monica Fleet Division contributes to the Sustainable City goals. Following are a few ways that Fleet has been proactive in purchasing alternative products for its vehicles:

• Propylene-glycol antifreeze (We know, it's a mouthful.) is less toxic to the environment than traditional antifreeze and is used in all of our vehicles.
• All 585 Fleet vehicles use re-refined motor oil, which costs up to 25% less than virgin motor oil.
• The entire City Fleet uses retread tires.
• We use only water-based part cleaner and break cleaner.
• We recycle waste oil and recycle all used filters and use only reconditioned batteries.

For each alternative maintenance product purchased, Santa Monica conducted a "pilot program." For instance when the City began using re-refined Motor Oil, we tested the product in half the fleet before purchasing the alternative product for the entire fleet. One of the first pilot programs was "retread tires." The City of Santa Monica has used re-tread tires for over 20 years.

FACTOIDS!

ELECTRICAL VEHICLES EMIT NO TOXIC EMISSIONS. Have you ever noticed that electric vehicles have no exhaust pipe? Think about it. No exhaust, no need for an exhaust pipe! And keep in mind that electricity is relatively inexpensive in comparison to Unleaded or Diesel fuel. We are evaluating the electric vehicles in different capacities -- you can see some of them at work at the beach and at the promenade. We have received funding for our leased electric vehicle program and are working on getting more.

36 heavy-duty diesel vehicles have been replaced by Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles since the beginning of the Vehicle Replacement Program, resulting in the reduction of nitrous oxide air emissions by 20,452 lbs. and reductions of Carbon Monoxide emissions by 57,987 lbs. in 99/00 Fiscal Year alone.

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