Driving Down Emissions

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New Technology and BC Hydro's Vehicle Fleet

Keeping the lights on across the Province requires a lot of vehicles. And those vehicles use gasoline and diesel – about 8 million litres per year. That's the amount of fuel that our vehicle fleet used in 2009, which created 20,000 tonnes of heat trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

These emissions, along with our emissions from building heating and cooling and paper use, are offset through made-in B.C. GHG offsets purchased from the Pacific Carbon Trust. The purchase of these offsets, which began in 2010, makes BC Hydro a carbon neutral operation along with other public sector organizations across British Columbia.

But before relying on offsets to meet our carbon neutral goal, BC Hydro is first looking at ways to reduce the fuel we use and the GHGs we produce. Fleet Services has been working hard to save fuel costs, reduce impact on the environment and demonstrate leadership in addressing the challenge of climate change. New technologies can play a key role in achieving these goals.

iMiev

In the fall of 2009 two fully electric Mitsubishi iMievs were added to BC Hydro's vehicle fleet. These vehicles represent the first in a new wave of vehicles soon to hit North American markets. The compact sedans are capable of highway speeds and have a range of 120 km, all without tail pipe emissions – because it has no tailpipe!

Allan Stiedle, a BC Hydro employee, has had the opportunity to perform real-world tests with the iMiev by carpooling from Abbotsford to Surrey with three colleagues. Allan reports, "The performance for this kind of vehicle was on par with the majority of compact cars with internal combustion engines for acceleration top speed and handling. Aside from being a right-hand drive, the car feels and drives much like its gas-powered cousins."

The iMiev can be fully charged through a regular 110 V outlet in about eight hours, or using a 220V outlet in four hours. Additionally, the iMiev is capable of receiving a 'quick charge' which will provide approximately an 80 percent charge in 20 minutes. Most of the major automakers have announced plans to have an electric powered sedan model in North American markets by 2012.

Hybrid and Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PHEVs)

BC Hydro introduced hybrid vehicles to its fleet in 2004. These vehicles operate on a combination of gasoline and electric power captured through a regenerative braking process. Since then, technology has advanced to allow these hybrid vehicles to be converted to plug-in electric vehicles which allow the batteries to also be charged from a standard 110-volt wall socket. This increases the driving range the vehicle can achieve in an "electric-only" operating mode, further reducing fuel consumption. These vehicles can achieve fuel economies as low as 2.4 litres/100 km, compared to 4.9 litres/100 km for the standard hybrid. To date, BC Hydro has converted three of our existing hybrid vehicles to plug-in hybrids as part of a demonstration project in partnership with the Province of B.C., the City of Vancouver, Green Fleets BC, and others. BC Hydro will gather information on performance data and energy consumption over the two-year trial to better understand its impact on the grid and efficiency gains of the vehicles.

Plug-in Hybrid Trucks

F550 "trouble trucks" are used to respond to power outages and general maintenance requests. They typically run on diesel fuel, but will soon be piloted in North America as a Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) truck. BC Hydro has partnered with the Electric Power Research Institute to participate in a demonstration project which will bring two PHEV F550 trouble trucks into our fleet by 2012.

The diesel engines on these trucks will be completely shut off when idle and allow the bucket to operate using the electric motor only. These trucks also have the ability to charge their batteries through regenerative braking or by plugging in to an outlet. The program will provide BC Hydro with a valuable opportunity to evaluate information about the operations and fuel savings of these vehicles.

Hybrid Line Truck

In 2008, BC Hydro was proud to introduce one of North America's first hybrid diesel-electric line trucks into our fleet. Beyond being significantly more fuel efficient than diesel-only line trucks, the hybrid line truck can also use biodiesel to further reduce its GHG emissions.

One of the other major benefits of this new truck is that the engine can be turned off when the bucket is being operated since its Power Take-Off (PTO) runs on electric power. The electric PTO reduces fuel consumption and also helps to reduce noise. BC Hydro is looking to add more hybrid line trucks in the coming years as technology improves and as older vehicles reach the end of their service lives.

Together with other greening-the-fleet initiatives including an idle-free campaign, eco-efficient driver training, right-sizing vehicles and increasing our use of biodiesel, these new technologies will help to drive down emissions and reduce BC Hydro's impact on the environment while ensuring that we maintain our reliable supply of electricity.