Gas costs give boost to fuel efficiency
As prices at the pump soar, hybrids and cars using alternative fuels are gaining popularity.
Gasoline prices continue to edge up - to an average of $2.73 a gallon locally - and Clayton Lane continues to buy Toyota Prius cars for PhillyCarShare's fleet of 300 vehicles.
"We buy them constantly because they are among the most fuel-efficient cars on the market," said Lane, deputy executive director of the nonprofit agency that promotes shared car ownership.
More and more motorists and fleet buyers are doing the same as gasoline prices continue to rise, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Yesterday, for example, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. reported its best-ever monthly sales, led by its gas-electric hybrid models, including the Prius. So far this year, Toyota has sold 61,635 hybrid units, up 68 percent over the same period a year earlier, the company reported.
With an EPA city rating of 60 miles per gallon, the Prius suits PhillyCarShare just fine. "We tend to get very fuel-efficient, very environmentally efficient cars," Lane said. In addition, hourly rates for members to use a car include the cost of gasoline.
In the five-county area, gasoline prices have been rising at the rate of a penny a gallon a day over the last week, up to $2.73 a gallon, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. In southern New Jersey, gas has been going up at a slightly faster rate - 8 cents in seven days, to $2.56 a gallon.
As usual for this time of year, much of the increase is a function of gasoline inventory. "As long as inventories are low and demand is high, pressure remains at the pump," said Catherine Rossi, spokeswoman for the automobile association.
"We don't expect prices to lower until inventories go up," she said.
That is why the automobile association and other prognosticators will take a long look at today's weekly gasoline production report from the U.S. Department of Energy.
With the start of spring, inventories are often low because refineries switch formulas from a gasoline that is more appropriate for winter driving to one better suited for summer weather.
Refineries typically try to use up the winter stock. Then, as they are trying to replenish with the summer fuel, they sometimes run into manufacturing difficulties in the refineries as they convert the equipment from one type to the other.
The general world mood, now driven by the standoff between Britain and Iran over 15 captured British sailors and marines, also contributes to higher prices at the pump.
Yesterday, though, crude oil fell more than $1 a barrel as tensions seemed to ease somewhat between the two nations.
But those global pressures do appear to affect consumer behavior, said Charles Territo, director of communications for Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "Some consumers are concerned about energy independence," he said.
Automakers, he said, will make what people want to buy. But there is increasing interest in cars powered by alternative fuels, such as ethanol or clean diesel.
In Pennsylvania, 328,000 hybrid electric, ethanol-powered or clean-diesel vehicles were on the road last year, up 16 percent from 2005, according to R.L. Polk & Co. figures cited by the organization.
In New Jersey, 231,266 alternative-fuel vehicles were on the road in 2006, up from 191,008.
"This year, manufacturers are offering more than 200 models that achieve more than 30 m.p.g.," he said. "That's the most we've offered."
There are also 60 models using alternative fuels. "That's up from 12 in 2000," Territo said.
But, he said, for alternative-fuel cars to become the norm, consumers will have to press filling-station operators to install clean diesel or ethanol-fuel pumps.
"There are 180,000 filling stations nationally, and 1,100 of them offer ethanol," he said. "That's not good at all."
Next month, when the Princeton-based National Association of Fleet Administrators holds its annual exposition in Houston, there will be a section devoted to "nothing but green fleets," communications specialist Jeanne Gannon said.
"We are under a lot of pressure legislatively," she said. "We're developing a social conscience, and it's just the price of gas is driving things up. It's been pretty dramatic."