Austin, Texas, taps Houston firm to provide alternative fuel for city fleet

According to the city, the six-year contract secures an estimated 3.2 million gallons of E10 gasoline and/or ethanol and 3.2 million gallons of biodiesel fuel for the city’s fleet.

The move marks another step in the city’s implementation of the Austin Climate Protection Plan, which calls for all city facilities, fleets and operations to be carbon-neutral by 2020. Austin Mayor Will Wynn introduced the plan last year.

The city’s Fleet Services Department and the Austin Climate Protection Plan staff have analyzed the city’s existing fleet, as well as new vehicles being ordered, for compatibility with alternative fuels that will reduce its "carbon footprint."

The city’s approval of the multiyear contract secures the fuel required to power new alternative-fuel city vehicles that go into service and existing fleet vehicles that convert to alternative fuels, the city said.

The city plans to convert several of its fuel sites to accommodate alternative fuels. When this conversion takes place, the city said, more than half (roughly 51 percent) of the city’s fleet vehicles and equipment will be operating on an alternative fuel or hybrid technology.

The remaining fleet will operate on an alternative-fuel blend of E10 (90 percent gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol)—which is compatible with most fuel-engine systems without modification—until those vehicles are replaced.

The city’s entire diesel fleet will operate on biodiesel.