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Ford Sales Show More Companies are Taking Advantage Of Incentives

21 February 2000

Ford Sales Show More Companies are Taking Advantage Of Incentives for Alternative Fuel Vehicles

    COSTA MESA, Calif., Feb. 21 -- More companies are turning to
alternative fuel vehicles in response to increased regulatory pressure,
raising environmental concerns and to take advantage of new state and federal
incentives.
    Today, American Livery of Orange County, CA is taking delivery of 76
natural gas Crown Victoria sedans from Ford Motor Company and is the
first taxicab company in the country to switch 100 percent of their fleet
(104 vehicles in total) to natural gas vehicles (NGVs).
    "More and more of our customers are telling us they are switching to
alternative fuel vehicles because they want to be seen as part of the solution
to addressing tough environmental problems," said Ron Robbins, Executive
Director of North American Fleet, Lease and Remarketing Operations.  "In
addition, incentives and lower fuel costs can make natural gas vehicles less
expensive to operate than gasoline vehicles.  The combination of environmental
and economic benefits is really unbeatable."
    Natural gas reduces vehicle emissions by about 90 percent compared to
gasoline vehicles.  In fact, replacing gasoline-powered taxis with 76 natural
gas-powered cabs will reduce air pollution by more than 53 tons a year in the
Orange County/Los Angeles area, and American Livery's total fleet of 104
natural gas taxis will reduce air pollution by more than 73 tons.
    In addition to the environmental benefits of natural gas, taxicab
companies in New York City, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles are
benefiting from lower fuel cost.  In November, 1999, the U.S. Department of
Energy Clean Cities program identified a $0.48 cost savings in Southern
California between a gallon of gasoline and an equivalent gallon of natural
gas.
    Because natural gas burns cleaner than gasoline, companies can also save
on maintenance costs.  A U.S. Department of Energy study of the Washington,
D.C. area Barwood Cab Company, found a reduction in annual maintenance cost
per vehicle of over $1,300.
    Two reasons taxi companies are particularly good customers for natural gas
vehicles are that taxi fleets rack up high miles, so the lower fuel costs mean
greater annual savings.  Also, taxi companies do a large part of their
business around airports, which are under increasing public and regulatory
pressure to clean up emissions of ground support vehicles including taxis,
airport shuttle vans and runway vehicles.
    Other large natural gas taxi fleet purchases include:
    -- Checker Cab of Atlanta, 50 vehicles
    -- Taxi Systems of Los Angeles, 47 vehicles
    -- Co-op Cab of Toronto, Canada, 40 vehicles
    -- City/County of San Francisco, 33 units
    -- Barwood Taxi of Maryland, 10 units
    -- New York City Taxi, 178 units (includes municipal and police fleets)
    -- State of New Jersey Purchasing, 102 units (includes municipal and
       police fleets)
    The growing interest from private fleets is in part due to the increasing
availability of incentives, rebates and tax credits from the federal
government as well as states, municipalities and even fuel providers.  A
sample of organizations providing incentives include*:
    -- U.S. Federal Tax Deduction: $2,000-50,000 available for the purchase of
       qualified clean vehicles
    -- Arizona: Up to $2,000 incentive for the purchase of alternative fuel
       vehicles (AFVs)
    -- California: $5,000 incentive towards qualified zero emission vehicles,
       $3,000 toward ULEV, $200-800 for AFVs in Sacramento and $1,000
       incentive from the San Diego Air Pollution District for natural gas
       vehicles
    -- Colorado: Incremental rebate based as a percentage of the AFV option
       cost; 50% for low emission vehicles (LEV), 75% for ultra-LEV, 85% for
       super ultra-LEV and zero emission vehicles (ZEV)
    -- Georgia: $1,500 tax credit and HOV lane access for AFVs
    -- Illinois: Up to $4,000 rebate per vehicle for 80% of the incremental
       cost for AFVs
    -- Massachusetts: Funding is available to state and municipal fleets to
       cover the incremental costs of AFVs
    -- Maryland: $200-800 tax credit and up to $4,000 from Clean Cities
       programs to qualified buyers
    -- New York: Tax credit for 50% of the incremental cost to purchase an
       electric vehicle up to $5,000.
    -- Oklahoma: Tax credit of 10% of the total cost for AFVs
    -- Pennsylvania: Tax credit for 30% of the incremental costs for AFVs
    -- Utah: Tax credit for 20% up to $500 for the purchase of AFVs, and
       $1,000 to 2,300 per vehicle credit is available for ground
       transportation fleets from the Salt Lake City Department of Airports

    * Source: Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center

    Ford offers a wide range of natural gas products.  The Ford Crown Victoria
NGV is the only factory-produced, natural-gas powered taxi available and one
of the first vehicles to meet CARB's LEV II emissions standard -- years before
regulatory requirements.
    Last year, Ford introduced bi-fuel versions of the Ford F-Series truck and
Econoline van.  In the spring of 1997, Ford began offering dedicated natural
gas versions of the F-Series and Econoline.  These vehicles were the first
worldwide to be certified as Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles under the
strict criteria of the California Air Resources Board.