The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District and Chevron Corp. took a small but meaningful step toward the wider deployment of alternative fuels with the launch this week of their six-month Cleaner Fuels Test Program. The program will study two alternative fuels - a blend of biodiesel and ultra low-sulfur diesel, and a synthetic diesel fuel made from natural gas - in 22 AC Transit buses.
 
The test will provide the district with the know-how to handle more than one fuel type as it considers expanding its use of alternative fuels, and the knowledge gleaned will be directly relevant to the commercialization of the fuels, said Shariq Yosufzai, president of Chevron Global Marketing.
 
At a launch event Oct. 23, executives and state and local officials lauded the test, which the companies say is the first in which a fuel supplier, an end user and an engine manufacturer joined forces to put alternative fuels through rigorous testing.
 
But AC Transit and Chevron are late to the party. Biodiesel was officially designated an alternative fuel in 1992 and is the fastest-growing diesel alternative, according to the Department of Energy. More than 300 public, utility and government fleets nationwide use biodiesel, which is produced from renewable resources such as soybeans or made from recycled cooking oil.
 
Jamie Levin, AC Transit director of marketing and communications, said that while there are plenty of other fleets using biodiesel, including Muni in San Francisco, "there is no one that's done a study of this nature, not just with biodiesel but with GTL with this kind of rigor"
 
The six-month test will give the transit district and Chevron real-life experience with B20, a biodiesel blend, and a gas-to-liquids diesel fuel, or GTL, in AC Transit buses as they travel their regular routes around the East Bay and into San Francisco.
 
The buses are expected to travel about 400,000 miles and consume 100,000 gallons of fuel. While that is a fraction of the 6 million gallons AC Transit's fleet of 650 buses consumes annually, it will guarantee the minimum distances the buses need to travel to get statistically valid data, Levin said.
 
"If we get really good results, you'll see us move forward to using more biodiesel, if we can be assured of a reliable source on an ongoing basis."
 
The companies will monitor engine performance, tailpipe emissions, fuel economy, vehicle handling characteristics including acceleration and noise, the impact the fuels may have on lubricants and engine components, and driver feedback.
 
The program extends a Chevron-AC Transit partnership studying hydrogen-powered fuel-cell buses. Based on that project, Chevron approached AC Transit with a proposal to test the two fuels.
 
The biodiesel is a blend of 80 percent ultra-low-sulfur diesel and 20 percent soybean-derived biodiesel. The two are blended at AC Transit's Seminary Avenue depot at a new fueling station installed by Chevron. The test buses will travel 6,000 miles on the biodiesel blend, switch to the GTL fuel, and then switch to ultra-low-sulfur diesel, which will act as a "control" or benchmark. Four of the 22 buses will be used as what Levin called roving publicity machines.
 
Chevron will guarantee the quality of the fuel, while Cummins Inc., which makes engines for the district's buses and is also participating in the test, will warrant the AC Transit bus engines.
 
Chevron and Cummins are underwriting most of the costs; Yosufzai declined to comment on Chevron's investment.
East Bay Business Times - by Mavis Scanlon