 |
||
|
||
| Hybrid vehicles hit city streets
By Terry Oparka TROY — Troy city building inspectors are finding out just how easy it is to be green. The city recently purchased two new Ford Escape Hybrids, which run on batteries, gasoline and synthetic oil. Troy Fleet Maintenance Supervisor Sam Lamerato explained that the hybrid vehicles are ideal for the low speeds the inspectors drive in the subdivisions and parking lots. “I’m impressed with the way it performs,” said Troy Building Inspector Gary Winkelman. He’s been employed with the city for 15 years. “It seems to fit really well with what we do.” The transition from battery to gasoline power is very smooth, and the battery keeps the vehicle cool in the summer heat, he said. “It’s so quiet, you think the engine stalled,” he said. The gas mileage is sweet, too — 36 mph city and 30 mph highway. The Escapes have a 15-gallon gas tank. Winkelman drives about 40 miles per day on the job. The white hybrids are inscribed with “Troy Goes Green” in green lettering. Winkelman said the vehicles attract a fair bit of attention while he’s on the job. Lamerato said that the city won’t be able to purchase any more hybrid vehicles for a while. “Ford notified us that all 2009 allocations have been purchased,” he said. Lamerato and his crew have been green-minded for years. A number of city vehicles have been running on synthetic transmission and rear axle oil for the past 12 years. The cost is $1.50 per quart. “We were one of the first municipalities in the country to do that,” said Lamerato. “We started slow, and we’ve had nothing but positive results. We haven’t had to rebuild any engines as a result of using the synthetic oils.” Samples of the synthetic fluids are sent to labs for testing periodically to ensure safety and peak operation. This has cut down drastically on the number of oil changes needed, which is about every 18,000 miles. He added that city vehicles are inspected every month. For example, fire trucks, which take between 10 and 12 gallons of oil, may run three to four years on the same oil, although crews perform preventative maintenance on the trucks every year, or six months, as needed. Currently, 200 city vehicles run on the synthetic oils. Lamerato said that all city vehicles would run on synthetic oil within the next year. “It all comes back to lessening the use of petroleum oil,” Lamerato said. “We’re trying to reduce the cost of oil we use in the city. We’ve been flooded with requests for information about our use of synthetic oil from other cities.” The city purchased the hybrids through the Macomb County Purchasing Contract for $24,552 for the all-wheel drive vehicle and $23,235 for the front-wheel drive vehicle. |