More signs that things are changing in ways we couldn’t have imagined:
First, officials from the police department in tiny Aspen, Colorado recently announced that they plan to convert the department’s entire fleet of vehicles to Toyota hybrid vehicles.
Second, officials at Advantage Rent A Car recently announced that over the next 24 months, they plan to convert the company’s entire fleet of rental units to hybrid vehicles.
The first piece of business comes to us courtesy of the Aspen Times, which reports in its www.fivestartoyota.com that part of the department’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, 10 hybrid police vehicles will prowl Aspen by the end of this year.
This comes after the department conducted testing with a 2008 Highlander hybrid.
Six of those vehicles will be used for patrol, four will be used by detectives and administrators, a department spokes person said.
Chief Richard Pryor said that the switch will reduce the department’s carbon emissions by about 20 tons a year and will save at least 2,000 gallons of fuel a year. At $4 per gallon, folks, that’s $8,000 worth of fuel, bought by taxpayer money, the Aspen cops won’t be burning.
Over at Advantage Rent A Car, meanwhile, a story at SustainableBusiness.com reports that the advantage the Advantage folks plan to give their customers is one that involves hybrid vehicles from a number of manufacturers, including, of course, Toyota. Advantage has 100 U.S. locations and 36 affiliates; so presumably, this will amount to a serious number of hybrid vehicles.
So from where we sit, at least, it looks as though this automotive technology that was at first greeted with just a bit of skepticism when we introduced it 10 years ago now is planted firmly in the mainstream. Police officers driving hybrids, and rental companies renting them? Can’t get much more mainstream than that.
No comments:
Post a Comment