City looking to bolster its environmental image as well as save money, increase fuel efficiency of its fleet. By Sarah Coppola AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Wednesday, December 01, 2004 The City of Austin is about to amp up its cool factor. This month, the city will order five Ford Escapes, the hip, first-of-its-kind hybrid sport-utility vehicle. The SUVs will be used by Austin Police Department managers for nonpatrol work. Austin will be one of the first U.S. cities to order the SUVs, which arrived on the market in September and are in high demand. Under a lowest-bid contract, they'll cost the city $24,000 each. The purchase is part of Austin's ongoing effort to phase in fuel-efficient cars to its fleet. It is also part of a broader trend: once-dowdy government agencies scooping up hip hybrids. The cars send a message, observers say: that cities practice what they preach about energy efficiency. "It's about setting an example and getting due environmental credit," said David Friedman, a research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based group. "It says that you're a concerned and innovative city." Austin already owns 28 Toyota Priuses, smaller hybrid sedans, and 277 cars that run on clean-burning propane. The cars make up 7 percent of the city's fleet and are scattered among city departments, from Austin Energy to the Austin Water Utility. http://www.statesman.com/business/content/...11/2HYBRID.html
Well good for the city to publicly make such a purchase and endorce the hybrid technology. It's a shame, however, that they didn't hold out for the Highlander. In addition to being able to say that they have hybrids in their fleet, they would also be able to say they have Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles (PZEVs) in their fleet.
With their commitment to Hybrid technology, I'm fairly sure that they will also purchase some Highlanders when they come out. Think of it as a potential end of the accounting year spending deal (I realize that different companies use different accounting cycles).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"54777)</div> They still can, the Escape gets that rating.
While it is a (comparatively) good step, why do the 'non patrol managers' need to drive SUVs? A smaller car like the Prius is more efficient, cheaper ( base version) and is what the govt needs to curb the growing SUV menace. It is improper for any govt agency to nice person more SUVs to the roads unless absolutely neccesary.( like the Border Patrol might have a genuine need for them). Not paper pushing managers in cities.
The article claims that the reason the city is getting SUVs instead of more Prii is because the police communications equipment won't fit in the Prius (the cars are for the police department). I wonder about this though, because the most recent review I read about the Escape vs. Prius indicated that the author thought the Prius was roomier than the Escape. I know he definitely said that about the back seat leg room... and I think about cargo, but not sure.
