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Cost Obstacles For Drivers Cause Alternative Fuel Stations To Idle

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 00:00 CDT

By Will Rodgers, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Jun. 16--TAMPA -- The media buzz over alternative fuels has piqued the interest of consumers looking for relief from rising gasoline prices.

But that interest in switching to cheaper and cleaner alternatives has yet to translate into people buying electric and gasoline-ethanol mix cars or converting gasoline engines to run on propane or natural gas, say the owners of alternative fuel stations in Florida.

One problem is that the technology, in some cases, remains too expensive for the average consumer. Another is the question of which comes first: alternative vehicles or the fuel stations to service them?

Despite the general public registering displeasure with high gasoline prices, the owners of alternative fuel stations around Florida say they aren't seeing that many people stopping at their fueling stations. And several electric charging stations can sit idle for days before getting one customer.

For now, the price difference between gasoline and alternative fuels doesn't seem to offer enough incentive for consumers to make the switch.

The average price of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline in the Tampa Bay area was $2.78 cents a gallon on Thursday. By comparison, the national average price for natural gas was $1.99 per gallon equivalent, although some other fuels are only a few cents cheaper than gasoline.

Experts say the price of regular, unleaded gasoline likely will have to rise to $4 a gallon and more before consumers begin using alternative-fueled vehicles in large numbers.

"Until that happens, I don't think you're going to see the average consumer lining up," said J.D. Bain, Florida regional manager for Overland Park, Kan.-based Ferrellgas, which sells propane at two Ferrellgas branded locations in Florida, including one at 9000 66th St. N in Pinellas Park.

"It's much more convenient with a gasoline station on every corner."

Some of the state's alternative fuel sites aren't even open to the public.

That includes federally owned ethanol stations at Hurlburt Field in Fort Walton Beach and the Kennedy Space Center.

Although ethanol is on the way for consumers in Tampa Bay, it will take a while. U.S. EnviroFuels LLC plans to install a filling station for E85 -- a fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline -- next to the ethanol-producing plant at the Port of Tampa. But the plant won't be in operation until late 2007.

Seven electric stations in the state stand ready to power electric vehicles, although the only one in the Bay area is not open to the public.

That electric station is a solar-powered system at the University of South Florida.

There also are 22 compressed natural gas stations and 70 propane, or liquefied petroleum, gas stations in Florida.

"It's there. It works beautifully," said Keith Thomas, manager of Coast Gas in Lakeland, which sells propane. "It's just not something that's caught on with the U.S. public."

Thomas is selling propane at $2.50 a gallon, about 28 cents less than the average cost of regular unleaded gasoline in the Bay area Thursday.

Vaughn Nichols, road electric vehicle manager at Gulf Power Co. in the Panhandle, said he's hearing plenty of interest from people who want electric cars that would power up at the utility's five charging stations.

But car manufacturers have not found a way to make a profit from selling vehicles that run on electricity alone.

Gasoline-electric hybrids, which can use the quick-charging stations owned by Gulf Power, are gaining in acceptance, and the big automotive manufacturers are producing more of them.

But most people aren't using the charging stations because they drive just 40 to 50 miles a day and recharge their vehicles overnight at home, Nichols said. Still, the power company, a subsidiary of Southern Co. in Atlanta, keeps its charging stations open.

"We have fueling stations, but nothing to fuel," Nichols said.

HOW TO MAKE THE SWITCH

--Converting Your Gasoline Engine: To use an alternative fuel, people either have to buy a vehicle made to run on the fuel or convert a gasoline engine to burn the alternative fuel. Proponents say the higher cost of an alternative-fuel vehicle could be recouped by using a less expensive fuel.

To learn more about conversions, the U.S. Department of Energy offers information at www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/afv/conversion.html.

--Finding Alternative Fuel Stations: afdcmap2.nrel.gov/locator/

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Copyright (c) 2006, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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SO,

Source: Tampa Tribune

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