New tool compares costs and benefits of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies

Many fleet managers are looking at alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies to reduce their environmental footprint and save money. The AFLEET Tool, and its newly launched web-based version, AFLEET Online, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, can help fleets optimize their purchasing decisions to do exactly that.

AFLEET — short for Alternative Fuel Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Transportation—is a free, publicly available spreadsheet-based tool that calculates and compares the costs and environmental benefits of a broad range of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies. It also accommodates all vehicle types, from passenger cars and pickup trucks to buses and freight trucks.

"We're helping decision makers understand the environmental and cost impacts of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies for their specific applications. AFLEET and its new online companion version provide a comprehensive and easier way to make those decisions."—Andrew Burnham, Argonne environmental scientist

Launched in 2013, AFLEET is ideally suited for fleet and transportation project managers who need to compare vehicle technologies for petroleum use, emission reductions, air quality benefits and economic payback.

"Every fleet is going to be a little bit different," said Andrew Burnham, an Argonne environmental scientist who designed the tool. ?"We're helping decision makers understand the environmental and cost impacts of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies for their specific applications. AFLEET and its new online companion version provide a comprehensive and easier way to make those decisions." 

The new AFLEET Online is a user-friendly web-based option for calculating emissions of 18fuels/vehicle technologies. It also provides a simple payback calculator that compares the purchase and annual operating costs of a new alternative fuel and advanced vehicle to its conventional counterpart.