21 March 2008
FM's Toyota Hybrid Vehicle Saving
The HSC Lots Of Green
They can reserve the vehicle online using Microsoft Outlook similarly as one would reserve a conference room. "It's being used quite a lot", says David Brahm, Assistant Director for Grounds Maintenance and Automotive Services. The vehicle has already racked up almost 20,000 miles from the time it was made available last summer. "With the frequent trips we make in and out of campus for meetings, errands and South Texas sites visits, it just makes economical and environmental sense". Besides, who would want to drive their own car nowadays anyway for official trips when you know you can save yourself and the HSC money (and keep that parking space you got early this morning which, by the way, will cost you a little more to pay for come September).
And getting there on the cheap: the Prius has an astounding 55 miles-per-gallon rating on a mere 12 gallon tank. "It more than doubles the mileage in consuming fossil fuel compared to a full-size Chevrolet 2500 crew cab truck", says Larry Humphreys, FM's Stockroom Supervisor and Fuels System Manager. To put it simply, the 325-mile round-trip drive to the D.D. Hachar building in Laredo on the hybrid would cost a mere $18.44, whereas it would cost an additional $41.21 to make the same trip on the Chevy crew cab, which is the predominant type of vehicle available for remote trips before the hybrid was to put to use.
Everyone who has driven the Prius will say that it performs and handles just like any other car. One of its more frequent users, Richard Perez, Assistant Superintendent of Construction and Maintenance, 
uses the vehicle to make monthly trips to the remote sites at Harlingen, Laredo and Ediburg to oversee various projects that are underway at those sites. While the Prius may not be as powerful as the State-owned Ford F-150s and the Chevy 2500s that he used to drive for his site visits, the Prius does the job well. And in the matter of fuel-efficiency and saving money, it does the job better. «»
