Executive Speeches

Remarks of Eugene W. Zeltmann, President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Power Authority, at the Electric Drive Transportation Association Conference & Exposition, Orlando, Florida

September 21, 2004

Good afternoon. It’s great to see all of you here for the start of what I’m sure will be an outstanding conference.

The timeliness and importance of our agenda for the next couple of days couldn’t be more evident.

You’ll recall that it was just a few weeks ago that oil prices were at record levels of close to $50 a barrel. Although they’ve come down since, they’re still plenty high, and we face the ongoing threats of price volatility and potential supply shortages.

This country’s growing dependence on oil imports—with its obvious implications for our national security and balance of trade—continues.  And let’s not forget the environmental impacts of burning oil—whatever the source.

Electric-drive transportation has thus become far more than just a potentially attractive option. It is today an essential element in what must be a national commitment to a clean, sustainable transportation sector.

More than two-thirds of all the oil consumed in the United States is used for transportation. And while high gasoline prices have caused lots of dismay, it’s still business as usual for most people when it comes to driving habits and vehicle choices.

Worldwide, the environmental problems are getting worse in a sector that’s putting carbon into the atmosphere at alarming rates. In China, for example, nearly two million new vehicles were sold last year to people who had never before owned a car.

Given similar trends in other countries, a report done for the Pentagon last year suggested the possibility of heightened international tension—and even war—as the result of widespread crop failures, drought and energy shortages brought on by global warming and related effects.

Despite dire warnings like this, we can create a far different—and brighter—future if we act aggressively to cut our dependence on oil for transportation.

In New York State, we’re determined to get to the future before it gets to us. Governor George Pataki has aggressively promoted electric and hybrid-electric vehicles and other clean transportation options through strict vehicle emission standards, bond act financing and tax credits.

The Governor has also issued an executive order setting increasingly ambitious annual targets for purchase of clean-fueled vehicles for the state fleet. The order requires that by 2010, all new light-duty vehicles obtained by state entities be clean-fueled—except for emergency, police and certain other types.

As the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, my organization—the New York Power Authority—is playing a major role in advancing the electric-drive transportation agenda.

Thus far, we’ve been involved in putting more than 700 electric and hybrid-electric vehicles in service in our fleet and those of our electricity customers and other entities. Collectively, these vehicles—including about 185 no longer in use—have traveled more than 3 million miles. They’ve proved their worth as passenger cars, school buses and delivery vans and in other everyday applications.

Basically, we see ourselves as a catalyst to advance the use of electric-drive technology. We think that the more EVs and hybrids we can put on the road—the more we can build awareness of the benefits—the faster our initial impact is likely to spread.

That was the goal of the NYPA/TH!NK Clean Commute program—which is now winding down after a highly successful run.

This was the nation’s largest electric-vehicle station-car demonstration program—with close to 100 commuters involved at the start. It featured Ford’s TH!NK city, a two-passenger car with a range of about 50 miles between recharging—ideal for distances typically traveled to and from train stations.

Ford leased the vehicles for about three years to commuters using various train stations in the New York City Metropolitan area. The program made possible a clean, all-electric commute since the area’s commuter and subway trains run on electricity—most of which we supply as the U.S.’ largest provider of power for mass transit.

The vast majority of participants were more than satisfied with the TH!NK cars and some even gave them pet names—which I won’t burden you with today.

So why is the program winding down? For one thing, Ford sold its Norwegian subsidiary that made the car and dropped plans for an American version. Beyond that, the three-year waivers from U.S. safety standards are expiring. So not only are we unable to expand the program—as we’d originally hoped—we can’t even continue it beyond next January, when the last of the current leases run out.

Our TH!NK city experience shows both the promise and the pitfalls of efforts to promote all-electric vehicles at a time when they’re losing favor with auto manufacturers who are focusing on hybrids and the future promise of hydrogen fuel cells. But we’re proud of what we accomplished and we’re moving ahead on other fronts.

We recently worked with DaimlerChrysler and Ford in programs to distribute more than 330 neighborhood electric vehicles to county and municipal governments and other public entities throughout New York State. You can now find DaimlerChrysler GEMs—for Global Electric Motorcars—or Ford TH!NK Neighbors cruising public parks in New York City; patrolling suburban communities; or making their way around close to 30 State University campuses.

Though they have a top speed of only 25 miles per hour, they’re filling important niches as emission-free alternatives to small pickup trucks and passenger vehicles.

We’ve also helped to obtain 30 electric delivery trucks for the U.S. Postal Service in New York City—giving a whole new meaning to the term “e-mail.” The short distances that the trucks travel on their routes—between seven and 20 miles a day—and the extensive idling that takes place between stops make them prime candidates for electrification.

Also in New York City, we’re planning to co-fund a program at La Guardia Airport to replace a number of Delta Airlines support vehicles that run on gasoline or diesel fuel with EVs. We expect the program to get under way this year with installation of rapid-charging equipment like that shown here at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

This is a prime example of a specialized niche application for EVs. Potentially far greater impact could come from widespread use of electric and hybrid technology for mass transit—an area which, as I mentioned, is of particular interest to the Power Authority.

Several years ago, we helped to fund development of a prototype and the purchase of 10 hybrid buses for a pilot program in New York City. The city’s Transit Authority has gone on to order an additional 325 of them—making this the largest hybrid-electric bus initiative in the nation.

These buses outperform regular diesel-fueled buses in various categories—offering more than 30 percent higher fuel economy and cutting greenhouse gas and particulate matter emissions by about 30 percent and 95 percent, respectively.

In addition, we’ve put into service the first two all-electric school buses in the Northeast—for use in New York City. One of those buses recently began serving a religious school in Brooklyn—which seems fitting since we’re clearly doing God’s work.

Oddly enough, our biggest impact with school buses isn’t coming from electric-drive technology, but through our $6 million program—now in progress—to install advanced pollution controls on about 1,000 existing diesel-fueled buses. This effort is part of a broader Power Authority program to offset even the minimal emissions from a series of small, clean power plants that we installed in New York City back in 2001 to help stave off threatened electricity shortages.

True, this isn’t quite the same as putting a fleet of electric or hybrid vehicles on the road. But it complements our activities in those areas and contributes to the overall goal of cleaner air.

That’s also true of an anti-idling truck-stop electrification project we helped to fund at the Hunts Point market in the Bronx—home to the world’s largest wholesale food distribution center. Overhead climate-control systems and electrical hookups are available at 28 parking bays. This enables truck drivers to power their on-board appliances and refrigerated trailers without running their engines or diesel generators.

You may have noticed that much of what I’ve been talking about so far has centered on New York City. The city—like other urban areas—has significant air-quality problems. But we’re also working to bring electric-drive transportation to parts of the state where air pollution is not necessarily a pressing concern.

Last year we began a $1.2 million program to help New York’s municipal electric systems and rural cooperatives purchase electric and hybrid vehicles for their fleets. We provide the up-front financing and recover our costs through a surcharge on the systems’ electric bills.

Thus far, the municipal systems’ statewide organization and three individual systems have obtained—or approved the purchase of—Toyota Prius hybrids under the program. Another system has ordered the new Ford Escape hybrid SUV. Still another is awaiting delivery of the John Deere E-Gator—an electric off-road utility vehicle.

We’ve also broadened the program to include the GEM neighborhood electric vehicle and the Chevrolet Silverado—a mild hybrid pickup truck that comes equipped with 120-volt outlets to power outdoor electrical equipment such as lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and chain saws.

The Silverado could become particularly attractive since we recently started a program—named “Green Care Clean Air”—to provide rebates for the systems’ purchases of such equipment. This program should strike a blow for cleaner air since gasoline-powered lawn equipment is a potent—and often unregulated—source of pollution.

All of the municipal systems and cooperatives receive hydroelectric power from the Power Authority. So they’ll be using clean, renewable power to fuel clean vehicles and machinery—a grand slam for the environment.

I’ve been doing my part for many years with an old electric lawnmower—but I can assure you our program will involve more current models.

Elsewhere, we’re helping others showcase their commitment to environmental quality in areas we’ve designated as Green Zones. The goal here is to demonstrate how electric-drive vehicles and electric-powered equipment can replace traditional models that run on gasoline or diesel fuel. We’re focusing now on parks and college campuses.

Our long-term objective, of course, is to turn every place into a green zone of sorts. But how?

At the Power Authority, we see plug-in hybrid technology as a promising option for the future. With EPRI and Southern California Edison, we’re co-funding DaimlerChrysler’s pilot demonstration of the Sprinter van—an all-purpose plug-in hybrid utility vehicle.

Cost is still a big problem, but we think that will ease as battery technology improves. We hope to join EPRI and others in putting an additional 30 demonstration vehicles on the road in the next two years.

Since roughly half the cars in the U.S. travel 20 miles a day or less, use of plug-ins with 20-mile-range batteries would create significant benefits. On short trips, the plug-ins would provide the oil savings and emission reductions of all-electric vehicles. And they’d also offer greater flexibility since they’d avoid the range limitations that have impeded broad market acceptance of EV technology.

If our current efforts pay off, plug-in hybrids could serve as a transition to the day when hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles hit the road. That’s probably at least 10 to 20 years from now—in fact, a study last year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that hybrids would outnumber fuel cell-powered vehicles until at least 2020.

Nevertheless, the Power Authority is already involved in planning for the hydrogen future.

Among other initiatives, we’re helping to fund New York State’s “Hydrogen Roadmap”—a $750,000 program to set the course for hydrogen-related research and development in the state. And we’re building on that by contributing to a state effort to provide $1.5 million for hydrogen technology demonstration projects.

These efforts are by no means confined to transportation—but they’ll give an important boost to our work in that area.

As I said at the start, the challenge in this—and our other endeavors—is to get to the future before it gets to us. At the Power Authority, we’re convinced that electric-drive transportation—in all its forms—has enormous potential to take us there. At this very critical time, it’s up to all of us to ensure that the challenge is met and the potential is realized.