The U.S. Department of Energy has released a smartphone and mobile device app for locating alternative fuels by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL), and an Excel tool for calculating alt fuel ROI from the Argonne National Laboratory.
NREL’s mobile app is designed to provide information on more than 15,000 alternative fuel stations across the country including electric vehicle charging, B20 biodiesel, compressed natural gas, and liquefied natural gas (CNG and LNG), E-85 ethanol, hydrogen, and propane fuels. The app even goes as far as to provide station addresses, phone numbers, and operating hours. Moreover, the app has a filter function, in which drivers can enter criteria to find stations that meet certain parameters, for instance, searching by method of payment accepted.
For industry professionals, Argonne Laboratory created the Alternative Fuel Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Transportation Tool (AFLEET), to assist Clean Cities stakeholders in estimating petroleum use, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions. and the cost of ownership of light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles through Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. There are three calculation methods via AFLEET:
1. Simply Payback- this estimates a simple payback of the purchase of an AFV in comparison to a conventional vehicle based on acquisition and annual operating costs, as well as average annual petroleum use, GHGs, and air pollutant emissions.
2. Total Cost of Ownership- determines the estimated net present value of operating and fixed costs over the years of planned ownership of a new vehicle, including lifetime petroleum use. GHGs and air pollutant emissions.
3. Fleet Energy and Emissions Footprint- this estimates the annual petroleum use, GHGs, and air pollutant emissions of existing and new vehicles, taking into account the fact that older vehicles typically have higher air pollutant emission rates than newer vehicles.
To view the official article from the DOE, click here.