April 9, 2013
All
statements, findings, and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Global Interdependence Center, Ford Motor Company, or the Center for Automotive Research.
Acknowledgements 6
ABSTRACT 7
INTRODUCTION 9
ALTERNATIVE FUELS 13
Gasoline 14
Diesel 14
Natural Gas 15
Compressed Natural Gas 16
Liquefied Natural Gas 16
Electricity 16
Hydrogen 17
Combustion of Hydrogen 18
Hydrogen Fuel Cells 18
Biofuels 18
Ethanol 19
Biodiesel 19
Drop-in Biofuels 19
Comparison of Fuels 20
CASE STUDIES 22
Biofuels Growth in Brazil 22
The Proalcool 22
Fall of the Ethanol Car and the Rise of Flex-Fuel Vehicles 23
Fuel Blending 24
Infrastructure Financing 24
Vehicles 25
Lessons Learned 25
Diesel Adoption in Europe 26
Renewable Energy Development in Germany 29
Feed-in Tariff 30
Other Financing Options for Renewable Energy 31
EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES 34
Brazil 34
China 35
European Union 36
United States 37
AFV Policies 38
Funding of Infrastructure 39
California 40
AFV Policies 41
FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT 42
Clean Fuels Outlet Regulation 42
Required Infrastructure 43
Comparison of Infrastructure Costs to Other Estimates 46
Infrastructure Estimates by Country 48
Gap between Current Investment and 2030 Investment 52
FINANCING MODELS TO SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT 55
Public Support 56
Direct Government Expenditures 56
Municipal Bonds 57
Subsidies 57
Regulatory Policies 58
Infrastructure Development Banks 59
Public-Private Partnerships 60
Collateralized Loans 61
Cost-Share Grants 62
Private Financing 62
Surcharges and User Fees to Recoup Investment Outlays 63
Green Bonds 63
Funding the Infrastructure of the Future 64
Conclusions 65
REFERENCES 67
APPENBDIX A: ABBREVIATIONS 77
APPENDIX B: COMPARISON OF GHG EMISSIONS FROM AFVS 78
APPENDIX C: CALIFORNIA CLEAN FUELS OUTLET REGULATION 80
Private rates of return from investing in such infrastructure can be low or negative for the private sector, and the required infrastructure spending may be in excess of the private sector’s ability to finance. However, infrastructure for fueling may also have “public good” attributes, thereby providing a role for government funding. This paper describes several different types of alternative fuels and summarizes the existing infrastructure investments to support AFVs in several countries and one U.S. state (Brazil, China, the European Union, the United States, and California). This research offers a long run projection of what the likely future investment requirements would be, in order to support future AFV volumes. The authors have also included an assessment of the gap between what infrastructure investment is needed for successful growth of AFV sales and what has been built out so far, with particular attention to selected countries.
Several examples of public financing programs and public-private partnerships to encourage sales of AFVs, construction of refueling infrastructure, and adoption of other environmental technologies are detailed. This paper will describe the costs and benefits of various funding models (e.g. tax incentives, government loan programs, convertible bonds, and joint ventures) which have been or could be put in place to support AFV infrastructure investment spending.