The exhibit hall and attendee list at this year’s Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, held May 15-17 at the convention center in Long Beach, Calif., was double what it was last year. Fleets of all types are acquiring more electric vehicles than had been expected this early in the process – corporate, utility, rental, government, trucking – fleets are playing an important role. It was also interesting to see the significant role they played at this year’s ACT Expo, such as Electric Vehicles International (EVI) providing commercial electric delivery vehicles to Frito-Lay and UPS. The dominant industry presence at the conference was once again held by natural gas vehicles, which is seeing lots of growth in vehicle offerings and infrastructure development. Major trucking companies and heavy duty truck makers were highly visible and present at the conference with natural gas versions. The low price of natural gas is helping boost sales of these vehicles as fleets see that the higher cost of NGVs compared to gasoline and diesel engine trucks are more cost effective long term – especially as the price of gasoline and diesel continues to slowly rise.
