Auto Manufacturers Converge In Oklahoma To Discuss CNG Vehicles For State Fleets

Representatives from the nation's auto manufacturers, including the Big Three, were in Oklahoma City August 8 to meet with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin and procurement experts to ask questions surrounding a recently issued multistate request for proposal.

The RFP, which comes as a result of a nationwide, bi-partisan effort led by Fallin and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, asked the nation's auto manufacturers to produce affordable and functional compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles for use in state automobile fleets.

As of the beginning of August, twenty-two states had joined the RFP, indicating their intention to purchase CNG vehicles for use in state fleets.

With 123,000 CNG vehicles in the nation, and 1,000 fueling stations, the Governors hoped this new commitment would help overcome the obstacles, including limited infrastructure and consumer demand, which may be holding automakers back from producing a wider variety of CNG vehicles.

August's meeting, which was open to the public, was intended to provide a general overview of the RFP and an open-forum opportunity for dealers and automakers to ask questions of the states' representatives.

The natural gas vehicles industry still faces hurdles. Chief among those is a pending rule proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is poised to place natural gas vehicles at a competitive disadvantage relative to other alternative fuel vehicles. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards currently being considered by the federal government lean heavily towards electric cars.

"We're at a critical juncture right now. It's vital that the federal government remains technology-neutral and lets the market decide what alternative fuel technologies work," said Fallin. "We want the nation to realize that clean-burning natural gas is a technology that works today and offers a viable path toward achieving energy independence in the U.S."

While fourteen Governors have signed a MOU in support of the initiative, in total twenty-two states have shown an interest in the RFP including Oklahoma, Colorado, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

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