Announcing New Fleet Management Practices & Advanced Vehicle Pilot

Nancy Sutley: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome.
I'm very glad to be here and very pleased that you could
all join us.
Nancy Sutley, I'm Chair of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality, and it's my great pleasure to be joined
in today's announcement by the Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Energy, Steve Chu, in front of whose building we
are, the Administrator of the United States General Services
Administration, Martha Johnson, and Brian Wynne,
President of the Electric Drive Transportation Association.
President Obama has laid out a plan to win the future and
compete for the jobs in industries of our age by
out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the rest of
the world.
And we know we can't win the future without winning
the race for clean energy.
And by investing in the creativity and imagination
of our people, we can secure our nation's clean energy future.
The President has directed the federal government to lead by
example towards these goals by deploying smart and sustainable
management practices that save the taxpayers money and support
the kind of innovative technologies that will
ensure that the United States continues to lead in the 21st
century world economy.
President Obama's 2009 executive order on federal leadership in
environmental energy and economic performance charged
federal agencies with meeting energy, water, pollution,
and waste reduction targets, including calling on federal
agencies to make significant reductions in their petroleum use.
And we know that one of the best ways to reduce our dependence on
oil is by making our cars and trucks more efficient,
because transportation accounts for more than 70% of America's
oil consumption.
The federal government operates the largest fleet
in the country.
Setting measurable fuel reduction targets and measuring
our progress towards meeting these targets keeps us on track
to save money and to make sure that the federal government is
participating in this new economy but also driving
us towards America's clean energy future.
Fuel efficient cars and trucks also make economic sense,
because transportation is one of the biggest costs for many
businesses and certainly for many families.
Investing in fuel efficient vehicles will cut our dependence
on oil, reduce harmful pollution,
and save us money day to day.
The federal government is leading by example by boosting
clean energy technologies in our federal fleet.
In fact, to date, we've already doubled the number of hybrid
cars and trucks in the federal fleet,
saving an estimated 7.7 million gallons of gasoline through
increased fuel efficiency.
And today the President is directing agencies to go even
further in demonstrating the best in energy efficient and
innovative vehicle technology.
President Obama issued a presidential memorandum
that will further the administration's goals
to cut oil imports and to put more alternative fuel vehicles
on the road.
This memorandum directs new government-wide fleet management
practices to ensure that we are achieving the President's goals
for fuel efficiency and innovative technology.
It directs agencies to develop practices that will move the
federal government to only purchase alternative fuel
passenger vehicles and light duty trucks by 2015.
That is 100% of new vehicle purchases by 2015 must be
alternative fuel passenger vehicles and light duty trucks.
Also to develop and implement methodologies for agencies to
determine their agency's optimal fleet size and provide agencies
with recommendations for alternative fuel vehicle
purchase and fleet optimization and establish a goal for the
size and composition of the federal fleet and a plan to
achieve this target by 2015.
Today we take another major step towards becoming the country
that leads the world in clean energy,
and we'll keep moving forward to realize our potential and secure
a healthy and prosperous future for the United States.
And now it's my pleasure to introduce my friend and my
colleague U.S. General Services Administrator Martha Johnson who
will announce this historic first step in putting the
President's plan into action.
Martha?
(applause)
Martha Johnson: Thank you for that generous introduction.
I'm honored to join Chair Sutley and Secretary Chu
as we celebrate today's purchase of the government's first 116
electric vehicles.
These cars will go to 20 agencies,
including the Department of Energy and the Department of
Defense, both of which are represented here today,
in five cities across the country.
I'm also delighted to be here, because I began my career
working in a diesel engine manufacturing plant,
and I've been part of the automotive industry at times
across my career, and it is a terrific thing to see the
development and evolution of that industry firsthand.
It's exciting to be here to recognize the next chapter in
that industry story.
At GSA our mission is to provide an effective, sustainable,
and transparent government for the American people.
We support agencies so that they can support our great nation.
As part of that mission, we design and maintain federal
buildings across the country and we help manage the acquisition
of goods and services for the federal government,
including the procurement of nearly 400,000 vehicles
used by federal agencies.
This puts us in a unique strategic position to help
the government invest in advanced technology vehicles.
Already, GSA has made serious progress in integrating more
fuel efficient vehicles into the federal fleet.
In the past year alone we have doubled the number of hybrid
vehicles across the government, replacing old cars with new fuel
efficient ones.
These purchases have already led a 25% increase,
led to a 25% increase in the fuel efficiency of the fleet,
saving taxpayers $9 million last year.
The electric vehicle program we launch today is the next big step.
It furthers the administration's goal of putting 1 million
advanced vehicles on the road by 2015,
and it represents a significant targeted investment in the next
generation of automotive technology.
Importantly, GSA is approaching this program in a strategic and
coordinated way, leveraging our expertise across our enterprise
in both real estate and acquisition to deliver the
best value to agencies and to the taxpayer.
On our acquisition side we have issued three contracts for
electric vehicle purchases, and GSA is purchasing 116 vehicles
off those contracts to lease to the 20 agencies
across government.
These first vehicles are expected to save over 29,000
gallons of gas, reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by 260 tons, and save taxpayers over $109,000
every period single period year period.
And since agencies can now use those contracts to purchase more
vehicles, we anticipate even greater savings for federal
agencies and even better value for the American people,
but we aren't stopping there.
To power these new vehicles, GSA is leveraging its role as
leading federal real estate manager and is installing
electric vehicle charging stations at federal buildings
in five cities across the country.
The ripple effect of this is deliberate and coordinated
investment, and it is vast and stretches across
industries and markets.
By laying the foundation for federal EV infrastructure,
GSA is supporting both the electric vehicle industry,
as well as other associated industries,
such as advanced battery research and recycling.
And this, in turn, supports American innovation.
Two months ago I was able to tour a facility in Lancaster,
Ohio where, thanks to the Department of Energy grant,
a company called Toxco is developing one of the
first electric vehicle battery recycling centers
in the country.
This company exemplifies the kind of leading edge thinking
that we are eager to support, and today's investment does
exactly that.
It broadens the electric vehicle market,
which in turn will increase the production of battery
research and production.
More batteries on the road will mean that more batteries will
need to be recycled, and that translates into real business
for firms like Toxco.
Finally, and at an even broader level,
our purchases will help build the technological framework
required to support electric vehicle integration across the
country and throughout the economy.
The federal purchase of these vehicles and the accompanying
plug-in infrastructure is exciting and broadens our
investment in advance technology vehicles.
It is certain to deliver value to federal agencies,
boost a vital new industry, spur competitive innovation,
and bring solid savings to the taxpayer.
In a few minutes, I am going to be handing these keys over
to Secretary Chu for one of the vehicles here.
This is the first of many sets of keys that will be delivered
to the Department of Energy and other agencies that will help
save millions of dollars and set a course for a
sustainable federal fleet.
Thank you very much. Nancy?
(applause)
Nancy Sutley: Thank you, Administrator Johnson, and thank you
for GSA's efforts.
These alternative fuel vehicle purchases will really allow us
to build the next generation of vehicles and ensure that
we're promoting the partnership between business and government
that has always made our economy strong.
It's now my pleasure to introduce our host today,
our great Secretary of Energy, Steve Chu.
Steve Chu: Thank you, Nancy, and thank you, Administrator Johnson for your
leadership and for the partnership in moving
the federal government towards clean energy.
We are in a global race to capture the growing market for
alternative vehicle technologies.
Many other countries around the world recognize that in
the coming years and decades electric vehicles will become
a major part of our transportation infrastructure,
and we want to make sure that the United States is poised to
capture that leadership.
Instead of spending a billion dollars a day to import oil,
we need to invest in American innovation that will help put
the U.S. back in control of our energy future.
And as the largest -- as the nation's largest fleet vehicle
operator, the federal government can have a big impact.
And so we have an important role to play in reducing America's
dependence on foreign oil and moving to a clean energy future
and, as has been noted, we need to lead by example.
So, the steps announced today will help transition our
nation's vehicle fleet towards alternative vehicle
technologies, such as electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids,
and biofuels.
And this builds on an effort already underway to reduce
fuel use in federal fleets.
For instance, as part of a three-year strategy to reduce
petroleum use in the Department of Energy,
we've replaced more than 750 of our vehicles with
hybrids last year.
Already, more than 75% of our headquarters fleet are
alternative fuel vehicles.
And we will be reducing our fleet inventory by 35% over
the next three years.
That's within the Department of Energy.
Under the GSA pilot project, we'll take ownership of 14 new
electric vehicles, we'll expand our charging infrastructure here
at the Department of Energy by installing new electric vehicle
charging stations.
But it's not just the federal government leading the way.
We're joined here by some of our national fleet partners,
UPS, Verizon and AT&T.
These private sector leaders demonstrate that moving to
alternative vehicles makes economic sense.
Together, we can help meet President Obama's bold but
achievable vehicle goals.
We can become the first country to put 1 million electric
vehicles on the road by 2015, and we can reduce America's oil
imports by one-third by 2025.
So we look forward to continuing our work with our federal and
private sector partners to ensure that America is the
leader in development, production,
and use of alternative vehicles for decades to come.
So, thank you. And Nancy?
(applause)
Nancy Sutley: Thank you, Secretary Chu, and thank you for all the efforts
by the Department of Energy.
That clean fleets partnership that you mentioned is another
great program that's helping in our efforts to promote fuel
efficiency standards and build a clean energy economy.
And now I'm happy to introduce one of our private sector
partners and a great leader in this race to clean energy for
the nation, the President of the Electric Drive Transportation
Association, Brian Wynne.
(applause)
Brian Wynne: Thank you, Chair Sutley, Administrator Johnson.
Secretary Chu, it's a pleasure to be back
here at the Department of Energy with you, sir.
Last time it was raining.
I'm glad the weather is a little bit better.
I'm happy to be here at this event demonstrating the exciting
opportunities electric drive vehicles present to fleets and
to the nation.
The Electric Drive Transportation Association
members are building the electric drive vehicles and
infrastructure that will transform the fleet,
and we're proud of the administration's bold vision
for electric drive and the vital work being done across
the government to realize it.
GSA is not only purchasing more than 100 plug-in vehicles,
it is establishing a framework for plug-in vehicles and
infrastructure across the government.
Their efforts are complemented by the Department of Energy,
which is leading the federal research and development effort,
advancing U.S. manufacturing, and deploying electric drive
vehicles through the Clean Cities Program.
Electric drive vehicles, like those behind us,
will help federal fleets reduce their oil consumption,
which will save taxpayer dollars and reduce air emissions.
Electrifying the fleet will also help to accelerate the private
sector market by helping manufacturers reach economies
of scale that will bring the cost down and move more plug-in
vehicles and infrastructure into the market.
The federal commitment to advance vehicle purchases
and to integrating plug-in vehicles and infrastructure
into the federal fleet sends a critical signal to industry.
It will reinforce the private investments that are being made
and grow the advanced technology workforce,
which will help the U.S. lead in the global marketplace for
advanced electric drive vehicles and infrastructure.
The exciting array of vehicles behind us illustrates another
important point about electric drive.
From deliveries large and small to personal transport,
from battery EV's to hybrids to fuel sales,
electric drive options meet the diverse needs of the
federal fleet, as well as consumers and businesses.
And while they are on their appointed rounds,
these vehicles will also be helping to meet our critical
national need for alternatives to oil and establishing our
leadership in the energy technology marketplace.
Thank you very much.
(applause)
Nancy Sutley: Thank you very much, Brian.
And before we go and check out some of the vehicles behind us,
Martha, I think you have something to present.
(applause)
Nancy Sutley: So, with that, we invite our, some of our industry
representatives to come join us as we take a look at some of the
vehicles behind us. Thank you.