TDOT Plans for Alternative Fuel Pumps

By the end of the year Tennessee drivers will be able to pull off the Interstate and buy ethanol and biodiesel blends at the pump. 

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is taking bids from companies interested in being part of a statewide network offering alternative fuels.

TDOT environment and planning chief Ed Cole told a senate committee (today/yesterday) that legislation passed last year will subsidize 20 alternative fuel pumps across the state.

Cole says TDOT has 300-thousand dollars from the state and federal government to improve air quality in Tennessee.

“We’re very interested that a diesel truck operator that wanted to use biodiesel could fuel up in Memphis and fuel up in Nashville and could Johnson City, that he could make for example the I-40 corridor using biodiesel, and we want the exact same thing for the E-85 or for the ethanol.”

 

It takes about 15-thousand dollars to convert a gasoline pump system to work with alternative fuels. Cole says right now ethanol and biodiesel blends cost slightly more than regular gasoline or diesel fuel. He hopes TDOT’s initial project will spark private business to take over and drive prices down.