"...Mr. Pickens has his opponents, including FedEx CEO Fred Smith, who favors electrification of the transporation fleet. Mr. Smith argues that hybrids are the way to go, and is putting his money where his mouth is. With 80,000 motorized vehicles, FedEx now boasts the largest fleet of commercial hybrid trucks in North America.

Without naming Mr. Pickens, the company’s director of sustainability, Mitch Jackson, upped the ante on Sunday with a blog item blasting natural gas as transport fuel of the future. After citing a list of reasons against using natural gas instead of diesel, Mr. Jackson concludes that 'substituting one fossil fuel for another may mean we’re shifting our energy supply, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going anywhere.'

Mr. Pickens then let rip with a rebuttal that accuses Mr. Jackson of making a 'flawed argument' by misunderstanding the country’s natural-gas reserves and overstating the value of diesel hybrids.

'Not only does Jackson need to do more homework on the domestic availability and clean air benefits of natural gas,' Mr. Pickens writes in his Daily Pickens blog, 'he needs to realize that deploying vehicles that use slightly less foreign oil - vehicles that have little testing or are not available in the marketplace – will not solve America’s energy crisis.'"

STORY

It will be interesting to see how this effects future purchases by companies utilizing large fleets of trucks. It seems Fed Ex's argument is slightly flawed...the fact is, they are still using foriegn oil, just further delaying the inevitable. I can see how these hybrids could serve as a "bridge" as a transition occurs over the next x number of years. Mitch Jackson, Fed Ex's Guy, states that refitting fueling stations would be too burdensome but that we should instead "electrify a substantial portion of surface transportation using hybrid electrics, electric and plug-in electric vehicles." How is the latter not more difficult to achieve?

Fed Ex's Argument

Boone's Argument

Of course, ultimately, both of these have yet to be proven.

Views: 51

Tags: gas, natural, trucks

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Comment by Sandstone on January 12, 2009 at 9:27
What effect would something like what is described in the following article have on the electric car system? Anyone see 24 on t.v. last night – terrorists hacking the power grid?
NASA: 2012 'space Katrina' may cripple U.S. for months
Professor Daniel Baker is director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado and chaired the panel that prepared the report.
"Whether it is terrestrial catastrophes or extreme space weather incidents," writes Baker in a statement released with the report, "the results can be devastating to modern societies that depend in a myriad of ways on advanced technological systems."
According to the report, the U.S. has grown so dependent on modern technologies without respect of what the sun can and has done, that it's risking major communications, finance, transportation, government and even emergency services meltdowns.
The sun is currently near minimum on its 11-year activity cycle, the report explains, but is expected to produce solar storms that will increase in intensity and frequency as it approaches peak activity levels in 2012.
The NASA report warns that if the sun's activity over the next few years flares to the level of the May 1921 "superstorm" or the so-called Carrington event of 1859, a "perfect storm" that Space.com called "the most powerful onslaught of solar energy in recorded history," the U.S. may not be equipped to handle the damages.
"The impacts of severe space weather events," the report states, "can go beyond disruption of existing technical systems and lead to short-term, as well as to long-term collateral socioeconomic disruptions."
The report listed possible cascading effects of a major solar storm as "disruption of the transportation, communication, banking and finance systems, and government services; the breakdown of the distribution of potable water owing to pump failure, and the loss of perishable foods and medications because of a lack of refrigeration."
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85819
Comment by Love Horizontals on January 12, 2009 at 9:22
Anything that involves diesel is obsolete. If they just have to do a hybrid....go with NG and Elec. They forget the electricity has to be generated from somewhere with something. Even if all electricity were to be generated by NG, it is more efficient to burn it direct than to generate the electricity, transport and use. Also, they forget a lot of electricity is being generated by...coal. "Clean Coal" is a misnomer and only marketing hype to make everyone "feel" better about coal. There is no such thing as "clean coal". Coal definately can be "cleaner" but it will NEVER be as clean as NG.
Comment by Gone Fishin on January 12, 2009 at 7:56
Come on guys don't you see. Take a look at history. The only way to make either of these work is to do both of them. In order for any good idea to be great there needs to be competition. Imagine football with only 1 team. Imagine what would happen in the shale with only one o&g company. No competition breeds laziness and lack of drive to do better. Henry Ford changed the face of the auto industry that was making cars only the rich could afford. Now 100 years later our whole society and success as a country was and is affected by his never ending desire to make it better, faster, more powerful, and to help make the lives of the people better in doing so. In my opinion they should take all these lazy company raping ceo's and their cronies and stick em where the sun dont shine. Too much greed and talk at the top and not enough competition and new ideas put to work.
Like Nike says. Just Do It!!

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