USACE Makes the Most of E85 Fueling Opportunities

In 2015, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) to increase alternative fuel use in dual-fueled vehicles by tracking fueling behavior in the FEMP Fleet Sustainability Dashboard (FleetDASH). Since then, USACE has quadrupled the percentage of time alternative fuel is used when available within five miles.

As directed in Section 701 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, federal fleets are required to use alternative fuel (whenever the fuel is available) in dual-fueled alternative fueled vehicles (AFVs) capable of operating on the appropriate alternative fuel. Each time federal fleet drivers fuel their AFVs, they must choose to visit stations that provide the appropriate alternative fuel and select that fuel.

Managing the fueling behavior of federal fleet drivers has proven difficult, as fleets often operate in diverse geographies where alternative fuel station availability is highly variable. Fleets must also manage an inventory of vehicles that continuously changes as vehicles of varying fuel types enter and leave the fleet. Finally, fleet drivers vary in how long they have driven for the fleet and how often they may drive. These variables make it difficult to maintain consistent fueling behaviors for the fleet in total.

FEMP supported the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) development of the FleetDASH website, which helps fleets track performance toward the goal of increased alternative fuel use; FleetDASH also raises awareness of existing alternative fuel infrastructure in a fleet's operating geography. The tool relies on fleet credit card transaction data, primarily provided by the General Services Administration Fleet Drive-thru system, to identify instances where alternative-fuel-capable vehicles purchased gasoline when alternative fuel was available nearby. FleetDASH determines fuel availability by using the database supporting the DOE Alternative Fueling Station Locator.

These missed opportunities to use available alternative fuel create a key management metric to track fleet progress toward increasing alternative fuel use. Brad Gustafson, FEMP's Federal Fleet Program Manager, noted that "integration of FleetDASH with existing database resources and tools is a proven means to diversify fuel use and streamline fleet operational management."

FleetDASH is updated monthly through an automated process that does not require an increased reporting burden on participating agencies. Fleets can view overall fuel consumption trends and track performance over time. The tool also allows users to drill down into the organization to individual vehicles and individual fueling transactions. Missed-opportunity transactions are flagged, and users can identify the specific alternative fuel stations in the vicinity of the transaction. Fleet managers can use this information to highlight fleet successes and address instances where fleets could increase alternative fuel use.

USACE worked with FEMP to provide NREL access to the necessary data sets and developed a hierarchy of its organization to be implemented in the tool. With agency data loaded in FleetDASH, fleet users were provided access per fleet management direction. As fleet users began engaging with the tool and fleet management raised awareness of the requirement to use the fuel, the fleet began addressing missed opportunities and increased alternative fuel use.

At the beginning of Fiscal Year 2015, the USACE fleet was purchasing alternative fuel 12% of the time it was available. By Fiscal Year 2017, the fleet often purchased alternative fuel over 50% of the time it was available on a monthly basis. This increase resulted in the fleet using an additional 181,000 gasoline gallon equivalents of alternative fuel and increasing alternative fuel use 368% in 2017 compared to 2015. [1]

USACE reported that a key to increasing fleet alternative fuel use was the buy-in of agency management, which regularly tracked fueling behavior performance and created accountability among fleet personnel.

"We found that the greatest issue with increasing alternative fuel use was overcoming the mindset that the fuels were both expensive and difficult to locate when fueling vehicles," said Tim Odell, USACE fleet manager. "Through a concerted training and education effort targeted toward all levels of USACE personnel, we were able to show that fuel cost and availability were not the obstacles that many believed them to be. The Alternative Fuels Data Center Alternative Fueling Station Locator and the FleetDASH program were also significant in helping in overcoming the initial resistance that we faced. The Alternative Fuels Data Center Alternative Fueling Station Locator provided an easy-to-use program that allowed end users to identify alternative fueling opportunities, while FleetDASH allowed for the tracking of alternative fuel usage and the development of meaningful metrics."

FleetDASH is an example of building on available data to provide a management tool to fleet managers. FleetDASH is built around fuel purchase data, and telematics systems automatically collect vehicle performance data. Combined, these complimentary toolsets allow fleets to reduce reporting time and focus management efforts on efficiently meeting mission needs.