Showing off a green fleet
Project: Vehicle and Equipment Show
Jurisdiction: New York City
Agency: Parks and Recreation Department
Vendors: Kirkland, Wash.-based Kenworth, Warrenville, Ill.-based International, Cleveland-based Eaton, Detroit-based General Motors, London-based BP
Date: May 22, 2007
At its annual truck show, the New York Department of Parks and Recreation featured hybrid and alternative-fuel trucks, biodiesel providers, electric cars and even solar-powered carts among 130 vendors. The 19-year-old event has become a showcase for clean and alternative-fuel technologies, with light-, medium- and heavy-duty manufacturers turning out to display their latest “green” products for all of the city’s fleets, as well as other area municipalities.
Alternative truck highlights included the first East Coast appearance of Kirkland, Wash.-based Kenworth’s T270 hybrid truck project and a hybrid International 4300 utility truck put together by Warrenville, Ill.-based International and Cleveland-based Eaton. Other advanced technologies on display included Detroit-based General Motors’ E85 ethanol fuel-powered pickups, plug-in electric cars from a variety of manufacturers and a full lineup of trucks running on natural gas. “Biodiesel vendors at this show a few years ago sold us on the value [of that technology], and now all 650 of our diesel trucks run on biodiesel 20,” says Keith Kerman, chief of operations for the Parks Department.
The department plans to retrofit a large percentage of its fleet with diesel oxidation catalysts and to buy 48 new trucks with 2007 emissions technology. It also is building two compressed natural gas fueling sites and is converting approximately 800 pickups and vans to E85. The department even runs two solar-powered electric carts donated by BP.
