Zero-Emission Vehicles
Environmental & Health Information
Battery electric, hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell, and renewable diesel-powered vehicles reduce dependence on imported oil and produce less pollution than gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles.
Info on this product category: Vehicles
Why Go Green
Air conditioners (such as ones in vehicles) can have refrigerants with polluting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). HFCs are super-greenhouse gases (GHGs), some of which have global warming potentials (GWPs) thousands of times higher than carbon dioxide (which is also a refrigerant). HFCs are produced and emitted in high volumes. Project Drawdown listed refrigerants in the top 10 list of climate solutions. Most polluting GHG emissions happened during maintenance and end-of-life of fridges and air conditioning.
Tips
Prevent a lot of refrigerants from emitting pollution by safely recycling air conditioners in vehicles with Recology or US EPA’s Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) partners. RAD partners go beyond federal requirements.
Criteria for Vehicles
Required products (zero-emission vehicles):
A light-duty passenger vehicle requested for purchase or lease must be a zero-emission vehicle, which includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. A light-duty truck or general passenger van requested for purchase must be a zero-emission vehicle.
Suggested products (vehicles with climate-friendlier refrigerants):
See the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) and the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD) contract language for climate-friendlier products: bit.ly/2Wtp0Hb. In that link's Table of Contents, click Specifications.
Last updated
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Healthy Air and Clean Transportation Ordinance ,
March 1, 2007
Guide for City Staff
Citywide Contract
SF APPROVED is published by San Francisco Environment Department.
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Product Reviews
Hybrid vehicles are fuel efficient
Hybrid vehicles are the natural interim step to electric-drive zero emission vehicles. The SFMTA plans to replace all conventional transit buses with electric-drive hybrid and zero emission buses. The Agency is also testing hybrid paratransit van technologies, and nearly all 1,500 City taxis are hybrid or CNG powered. And it's fun to see how much energy is recaptured on the way back down the hill. We see as much as 30% energy re-capture in transit bus hybrids going downhill.
Alternative Vehicles at RPD
SFRPD utilizes various types of alternative vehicles in our fleet. Of the 24 trucks and sedan to be purchased during FY11-12, 17 will be alternative vehicles. We utilizes hybrid sedans, CNG for pick-ups and Park Patrol Cruisers, and will be purchasing our first plug-in eletric sedans this FY. In most cases the alternative vehicles are the perfect fit for our needs. Heavy equipment is really the only category where the technology does not quite mesh with our operations.
Alternative Fuel Vehicles (natural gas, electric, bio-diesel
Planning gave up the car that uses gas. We have only natural gas and hybrid cars and they work well.