Alternative Motor Fuels Act

The Alternative Motor Fuel Act of 1988 was the first major federal law in the United States to address alternative transportation fuel use. It was followed by the Clean Air Amendments Act of 1990 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which greatly expanded alternative fuel use mandates and fuel quality specifications. Over the past decade, transportation fuel and vehicle providers have struggled to comply with a bewildering array of federal government requirements. Despite some considerable successes and the presence of over 400,000 alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) on U.S. roads, their population remains at less than one half of one percent of the total motor vehicle fleet. Thus, the country remains nearly as far today from diversifying its transportation fuel and vehicle mix as it was 15 years ago. 

Figure 12-1 lists the critical federal laws enacted in the past 15 years to promote alternative fuel use to displace oil and reduce transportation air pollution in the United States. A bipartisan interest in alternative fuels in Washington, DC, led first to the Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 (AMFA). 

The twin principles of fuel neutrality and diversity have been enshrined in key federal policies of the past two decades, including the Alternative Motor Fuels Act (AMFA) of 1988 and the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) of 1992. While there are some notable exceptions to this basic respect of market decision making, the effects of non-neutral, strategically oriented policies also remain largely negligible, at least in the context of recent history. 

The U.S. experience since the 1988 AFMA and the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments has shown how hard the transition to new motor fuels can be. It has also shown that established, conventional technologies and industries can and will respond to the challenge of a substitute vehicle or fuel. The pressure for clean, alternative fuels was answered by the development of reformulated gasoline. Some of the newly formulated conventional fuels embodied alternative fuel components and blends, providing a path for a measure of renewable and alternative fuel use in existing vehicles without the need for wholly new fuel distribution infrastructures or markedly new vehicle designs. 

LEV II program (LEV = low-emission vehicles). The Tier II phase-in began in January 2004. By 2009, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), minivans, and pickup trucks have to meet the same emission standards as automobiles. For the first time, vehicles and fuels are treated as a single system. Tier II allows vehicle manufacturers to certify a mix of vehicles ( fleet ) if average NOx emissions for the fleet are less than 0.07 grams/mile (Bin 5). Tier II bins differ mainly in allowed NOx emissions. To obtain alternative motor vehicle credits, such as those described in the Energy Policy Act of 2004, ° hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles must meet or exceed Tier II, Bin 5 emission standards. 

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