Governors Meet with Big Three on NGVs

On Monday, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin met with Chrysler, GM, and Ford executives in Detroit to talk about expanding the use of CNG vehicles by state and local governments. Governor Fallin said she was encouraged by the reception they received by all three, and said that the automakers told her and Governor Hickenlooper that, if they can be guaranteed enough units of sales, they can justify the expense of converting production lines and models to CNG. To that end, she said that she hopes soon to have a process in place that would allow states and local governments to pool orders for CNG vehicles and, in so doing, create enough demand to spur domestic production of CNG-powered cars and light trucks. Oklahoma, Colorado, and eleven other states are promising to order several thousand of the vehicles. Fallin said the group will issue requests for bids to the Big Three next week and will hope to open them in October. “All 50 states could take advantage of it,” Fallin said. “We’d also like to include cities and counties—even the tribes have shown some interest.”