Obama's Green-Car Plan -- Bloomberg -- The US Government Bought One (1) Prius Last Year

In 2010, the most-recent data available, 
the U.S. government’s gasoline use rose to a 25-year high. 
During a recession.

The US government bought one Prius last year.

"The government must lead by example."

A 25-year high. During a recession. Sounds like the government is not affected by the downturn in the economy. Total US demand for gasoline dropped 6 percent last year, but US government use surged (at least in 2010). 

This is really quite an incredible story.

President Barack Obama’s administration is buying fewer hybrid and electric cars and more vehicles that can consume both ethanol and gasoline to meet 2015 environmental goals, favoring older technology over new.

Obama gave speeches across the U.S. last year touting his twin goals of buying only alternative-fuel vehicles for the U.S. fleet by 2015 and getting 1 million electric vehicles on the country’s roads by that year.

That’s looking more difficult as the federal government learns the same lesson that U.S. car consumers have already figured out: it is tough being green. Rather than leading the way, the government has discovered that the high cost of hybrids and electric cars and their lack of availability often mean it makes more sense to buy cars with fuel-efficient conventional engines. 

Okay, so these are the data points:

First, the government is buying a lot of so-called "green vehicles" because they are able to use E85 fuel -- gasoline with 15% ethanol. The problem is this: E85 refueling stations are hard to find, and so the government drivers simply fill up with regular gasoline. So much for "green vehicles."

Second, the government, for whatever reason started buying more E85 vehicles at the expense of true hybrids and electric vehicles. The government purchase of "true" green vehicles fell 60 percent (some numbers rounded at this blog) so that the government could buy "so-called green vehicles" instead.

And thus:

The problem is that buying and driving ethanol fueled cars solves very little. The GSA, which owns about a third of the federal fleet, said last year that 88 percent of its alternative-fuel vehicles are capable of using ethanol. Still, ethanol fuel pumps are not very common and car owners, including the federal government, often have to use gasoline instead.

The data points:

• 162,000 refueling stations across the US that sell gasoline.
• There are only 2,512 ethanol pumps across the entire US -- the article doesn't separate E90 and E85; I don't believe I have ever seen an E85 pump.
• There are only 6,033 electric recharging stations, which, of course, would only be used in an emergency; most people would re-charge at home.
• 55% of government drivers were given waivers to use gasoline when ethanol was not available

Government purchases:

• The US government bought 55,000 vehicles last year
• It bought 2,600 hybrid, EVs, and fuel-cell vehicles (less than 5% of total purchases)
• It bought no -- repeat, no -- algae-fuel vehicles

Go to the link to see a break-down of the alternative vehicles the government bought. It is of interest that the government bought one Prius.

I can't make this stuff up.

I assume the GSA couldn't justify the expense of buying the Prius and thus bought one. Hmmmm. It would be interesting to know who bought that Prius. The government did buy 145 Volts, but then, of course, the government owns the company that makes the Volt. Or at least a significant share of the company that builds the coal-burning car.