U.S. Department of Justice
Fleet AFV Program Report for Fiscal Year 1999

This responds to Executive Order (EO) 13031, Federal Alternative Fueled Vehicle Leadership, dated August 31, 1999, which requires information on DOJ owned and leased vehicles. The majority of DOJ's vehicles are equipped for law enforcement missions and/or are located in other than non-attainment areas. The DOJ acquires vehicles through GSA, either by lease or purchase, and through the Justice Management Division's (JMD) executive lease program. The EO requires government agencies to replace fleet vehicles with AFVs incrementally by FY 2006. A major drawback to acquiring AFVs is the first year incremental cost that is added to the price of the vehicle, which can run as high as $4,500. This cost is recovered by GSA in the first year of the lease or at the time of purchase. The JMD executive lease contract does not add incremental costs to the price of AFVs and has been modified to include AFVs in the lease agreement.

The DOJ is considering several initiatives to ensure compliance in FY 2000 and FY 2001. For instance, JMD currently is working with the Ford Motor Company to acquire two compressed natural gas Crown Victoria sedans and an electric Ranger pickup truck to support the motor pool in Washington, DC.

The FBI purchased ten flexible fueled ethanol vehicles in FY 1997. Due to limited availability of fueling sites, the use of alternative fuel in these vehicles has been limited. In one location, the only available fuel site has been closed, forcing FBI to reassign the vehicles to one of the other locations.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has a total of 31 methanol flex-fuel vehicles, purchased in FY 1997 and FY 1998, that currently are unable to obtain methanol fuel due to no availability and are using regular petroleum.

The BOP is in the process of locating compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles at several of their prisons facilities. CNG refueling pumps and vehicles have been funded and currently are on order.

The United States Marshals Service purchased seven methanol flex-fuel vehicles when the infrastructure was expected to increase. Since this expectation was not met, it will pursue other types of AFVs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration fleet is primarily used for undercover law enforcement and is not conducive to existing alternative fuel vehicle use.

The JMD staff is serving on a governmentwide committee that has chosen six US cities to create pilot programs that will assist in the development of AFV markets by increasing local infrastructures to support AFV use. In addition, GSA is sponsoring a similar program in Washington, DC. These cities will be targeted for vehicle placement, fueling infrastructure, and combining with local government fleets to create an AFV market.