The Army's New Electric Cars

Starting in mid-December this year new electric cars purchased by the Army will start arriving at U.S. bases for on-site use, the Military Times reports.  Joined by the Air Force and Navy, the Army is planning to receive 800 of these vehicles by next year with an ultimate goal of 10,000 overall.  Paul Bollinger, deputy assistant Army secretary for energy and partnerships, told the paper:

The Army is moving quickly; the purchase plans were unveiled in October as part of the service’s ambitious new energy strategy, which also calls for the construction of solar and geothermal facilities.

Bollinger, citing General Services Administration figures, said each electric car would use an average of about $400 in electricity per year, compared with the roughly $2,400 in fuel needed to run a gas-powered car. Moreover, the 4,000 electric cars will save 11.5 million gallons of fuel per year, he said.

And on whether Bollinger expects the purchase of so many electric cars by all three military branches will affect the industry, he remarked:

“We are not going to buy enough to be a market maker, but we can be a market initiator,” Bollinger said. “If we buy 10,000 of these vehicles, piggyback that with perhaps 10,000 by the Air Force and 10,000 for the Navy, that is 30,000 vehicles. Automobile manufacturers can then decide if there is a market for these. We have at least created the market to get something started.”

Bollinger is part of the recently created Army Energy and Partnership Office which, in part, looks to make military energy self-sufficient while also cutting down on the overall consumption of energy.  According to a recent article published by the Army's own news service, Bollinger layed out the tactical need for removing the military's dependence on the civilian power-grid:

"If we were attacked, or there was a terrible act of nature -- and our Soldiers were called out into the community to either defend or protect -- they need their installation operating," Bollinger said. "You also have critical infrastructure there, hospitals, communications, you may have munitions, and you may need electricity to pump fuel."

Energy security means that an Army installation can still provide power to its most critical operations, even if the civilian power grid is completely down. For the Army to accomplish that, it first needs to know the total energy consumption of each installation as a baseline, Bollinger said. It must determine the most important parts of the mission that need to be powered. Those two pieces of information, coupled with an effort to reduce energy usage through improved efficiency, is how he said the Army plans to gain energy security on its installations.

The article added:

Reducing energy usage and increasing energy efficiency on Army posts are not enough to provide energy security, however. Army bases must also be able to generate their own power for their most critical missions, if called on to do so.

Developing facilities that can power the needs of the Army and at the same time draw on renewable resources is something the Army isn't going to tackle alone.

"This is a partnership with the private sector," Bollinger said. "We are inviting them to come in and assist us in reaching our goal of energy security. The Army is taking a leadership role and is committed to making our installations energy secure and reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- we call that smart energy."

For more on military environmental initiatives, read this post from early October, where we took a look at environmental concerns in Iraq and Afghanistan.