Most of us would like to see more efficiency in the federal government. While we don’t necessarily expect it, we would like to see it. So it came as no big surprise that Jeff Breneman, executive director of the U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars, offered President Barack Obama praise for his recent executive order to cut waste and promote more efficient spending across the federal government. But there was an element of faint irony in Breneman’s statements too:
“The USCADC applauds the administration for looking at every opportunity to find new efficiencies and trim agency and department costs in this era of tight budgets,” he said. “Additionally, the white paper we released this week could assist the administration in cutting costs further while helping to achieve the president’s previously announced goal of reducing petroleum use in the federal vehicles by 30 percent by 2020.”
So what’s the subject of the white paper? If you guessed that it touted the efficiency of diesel cars, among other things, then you win a cigar. The coalition is upset about the fact that the Obama administration has issued orders that typically favor electric and hybrid-electric vehicles over gasoline and clean-diesel-powered vehicles that could provide equal or better overall cost-savings.
“In light of budget constraints, the administration should revisit the criteria for the federal fleet replacement program, which prescribes specific technologies for the government vehicles,” said Breneman. “A better solution entails making new fleet vehicles 30 percent more fuel-efficient than the automobiles being replaced, regardless of the powertrain technology used to achieve the desired result.”
The coalition’s director says federal departments are being forced into higher-priced technologies even if advanced gasoline and diesel cars can achieve the desired 30 percent petroleum reduction. He noted that some of the alternative technologies could require additional government spending for charging or fueling infrastructure that reaches above and beyond the premium paid for the car itself.
