Hybrid truck heads to county
April 5, 2005
By Kim Paskorz
Butler Eagle Staff Writer
With no apparent relief to rising gasoline prices in sight, folks
have started buying electric-gasoline hybrid vehicles as soon as
they pull onto Butler County car lots.
But for Sheryl Kelly, Monday's news that she'll soon be buying a
hybrid truck for Butler County's Recycling and Waste Management
Department was a dream come true, a long time in coming.
Kelly has been applying for grant money to make the purchase for
years.
The recycling and waste management department needs a truck to haul
materials, travel to events and work on projects, Kelly said.
The hybrid approval was environmental icing.
Hybrid vehicles are touted to get gas mileage twice as good as
regular vehicles and discharge a fraction of harmful emissions.
The truck the county will buy, costing about $27,000, is included in
this year's $55,600 grant funding from the Department of
Environmental Protection.
Kelly announced the grant receipt Monday, and said she would ask the
county commissioners to approve the grant Wednesday.
If all goes smoothly, the truck will be available by fall.
Kelly said when she started applying for grant money to buy a hybrid
truck, little was known about them and few were available.
Now, she said many companies make hybrid vehicles, which use both
gasoline engines and electric motors, sometimes together and
sometimes individually.
Kelly said she anticipates the hybrid truck will use about half as
much gasoline as a regular truck.
"The gas mileage is what has been attracting customers," said
Jessica Plecher, a Toyota saleswoman at the Diehl dealership in
Butler.
Toyota's Prius, a 4-door sedan, gets 60 miles per gallon in the city
and 58 miles per gallon on the highway, Plecher said. Comparatively,
similar all-gas sedans get about 30 to 38 miles per gallon.
"But they are also nice cars," Plecher said, noting that the
dealership sold all five Prius cars it received last month. It's yet
to get a Highlander, Toyota's new hybrid SUV.
"We cannot keep these cars in stock," said sales manager Brendan
Znosko. "People are coming from all over for them."
Country Motors in Butler is having a similar experience with its
hybrid Honda Civics, Accords and Insights.
"Theses cars do not stay on the lot," said Howard Neff, general
manager at Country Motors. "Imagine your annual fuel costs? It's
amazing."
Neff said an additional attraction to residential consumers is a tax
rebate of nearly $2,000 for buying one of the hybrid cars.
Kelly said she would most likely buy whichever hybrid truck is
available through the state's discount purchasing plan.
A DEP spokesman said he is aware of only one other county that
received money for a hybrid truck.
Once here, the county's truck will be used for work, Kelly said.
But, due to its environmentally friendly nature, it also will be put
on display at community events to promote fuel alternatives, Kelly
said.
The remainder of this year's county recycling grant money will be
used for a public information campaign and to buy two or three
telephone book recycling bins.
The county requested more than $130,000 in grant money this year,
but grant funding was tight everywhere this year, Kelly said. "I'm
just excited we got the truck." |
