Electric and hybrid-electric cars enjoyed the limelight last March, when President Obama called for all new federal vehicles to run on alternative fuels by 2015. Eleven months later, it looks like new cars in the federal fleet will still burn fossil fuels in internal combustion engines, though some may run on a higher percentage of ethanol.
And with electric and hybrid-electric cars remaining costly and difficult to obtain, the next alternative fuel in federal tanks may still be made out of old dinosaurs—natural gas.
Obama hasn't given up on electric cars, after converting the American auto industry to their production in the dawning months of his administration. But in his energy address Thursday at the University of Miami, he promoted natural gas and algae as transportation fuels of the future.
In the address, he did not mention electric cars or hybrids.
After the address, he announced new grant programs for research into natural gas and algae as transportation fuel sources.
Obama may have changed his emphasis as a market watcher—with cheap natural gas promising to change America's energy portfolio—or as a car buyer. The General Services Administration, which buys most of the government's 600,000 vehicles—has struggled to adopt electric cars and hybrids, according to a Bloomberg report, and has settled on cars that will be able to burn an 85-percent ethanol blend—E85—as it becomes more available.
The shift won't surprise some industry experts, including the designer of the Prius, who have seen conventional cars evolve at a rate that threatens the viability of alternatives.
The Competition for Tomorrow's Car Is Today's Car
All New Federal Vehicles To Run On Alternative Fuels After 2015
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