MCLB-ALBANY — One might not envision white, electric-powered cars as a mode of transportation employed aboard a military installation; it’s more logical to first think of camoflauge- painted tank-like vehicles.
While there are indeed plenty of military vehicles at Marine Corps Logistics Base- Albany, it’s the little, slightly egg-shaped white cars that stand out.
The cars, which the base’s fleet manager, Mike Elliott, calls “scooters,” are a preferred mode of transportation for certain on-base tasks. Elliott as ordered 120 of them in the two- and four-seat models. Just five gas scooters remain, he said, but not for long; Elliott has ordered five electric scooters to replace their gas counterparts.
The impetus for environmentally-friendly changes at MCLB-Albany came nearly six years ago, when President Bush sent out a “white letter” calling for 75 percent of the vehicle fleet (excluding combat vehicles) to be run off alternative fuels by 2008.
“We haven’t met that goal,” Elliott said, “but we are working on it.”
The scooters get up to speeds of 20 miles per hour; a fully-charged battery lasts nearly eight hours.
“We’re saving $25,000-$30,000 a year in just scooters,” he said.
The base’s green efforts don’t stop with the scooters.
“We got with the environmental branch and worked with them on changing some of the forklifts,” said Elliott.
Today, there are 44 electric forklifts running off gel batteries.
“It makes it a lot cleaner air for the employees ... and in any enclosed building,” he said.
The difference between gel batteries and those with battery acid is significant.
The gel batteries, Elliott explained, “are totally maintenance free. That is, there is no need for the sulfuric acid compound of traditional batteries.
“It’s just charge and go,” he said.
The base’s reduction in fuel emissions means a smaller carbon footprint.
“By using the better fuels that we use and the alternatives, it keeps us under (federal emission) limits,” said Robert Metts, pollution prevention manager and acting air program manager. “Ambient air quality is great.”
The base also has made the switch — where it can — to compressed natural gas rather than gasoline.
“Albany wasn’t a designated or required area for compressed natural gas,” Elliott said, “but to reduce the cost of fuel, we used (grants) to do it here.”
For about four years now, biodiesel has been used at the base as well. There, about 60,000-70,000 gallons are consumed annually, Elliott said.
“We burn biodiesel in everything that normally runs on diesel fuel,” he said.
As the base purchases new general service administrative automobiles, it ensures that the models are flexfuel.
In the next few months, a 10,000-gallon E85 tank, in the process of being installed, will be ready for use.
The 85/15 gas-to-ethanol blend is “30-40 cents (per gallon) cheaper than gas,” said Elliott, who purchases the base’s fuels through the government.
“Also, we are looking for electric hybrids,” he said. “We want to use those for the base police.”
Next up on the base’s green list is switching to nonhazardous cleaners, Metts said.
“I think that Albany, for as small a base as we are, took a giant step to go green,” he said. “There’s a lot of other bases on the East Coast that (haven’t).”