Soldiers may soon get greener rides on-base, after the U.S. Army announced the acquisition of 4,000 neighborhood electric vehicles.
The plug-and-chug vehicles come in both sedan and light truck models, and can charge their batteries at any three-pronged household outlet. Estimates put the savings over a six-year service lifetime at 11 million gallons of fuel, not to mention 115,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
"We estimate the cost of charging an electric vehicle in a given year at $400, which is a substantial savings from the fuel that would be purchased for a petroleum vehicle," said Paul Bollinger, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Energy & Partnerships, during a Department of Defense bloggers roundtable on Monday.
Total savings on the vehicles: $45.8 million over six years.
This doesn't represent the first time that the Army has sunk substantial investment into energy-efficient vehicles – it has snapped up 40,000 alternative fuel vehicles to date. But a lack of alternative fueling stations led to the decision to skip over hybrids and go directly to electric.
The Army does not stand alone in deciding to jump to electric vehicles – Popular Science talked with U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk about his efforts with Tesla Motors to develop a viable electric car.
Six of the electric vehicles have arrived at Fort Myer, VA, to be followed by 800 more this year. More will continue to pour into Army bases over the next two years, courtesy of Chrysler subsidiary GEM and possibly some other car manufacturers.
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