Vehicle and Infrastructure Cash-Flow Evaluation Model (VICE)

The Vehicle and Infrastructure Cash-Flow Evaluation Model (VICE) assists fleets and businesses in evaluating the profitability of potential CNG projects. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) built the CNG Vehicle and Infrastructure Cash-Flow Evaluation (VICE) model. The VICE model demonstrates the relationship between project profitability and fleet operating parameters. Costs of installing natural gas infrastructure varies based on size, capacity, and the type of natural gas (LNG, CNG, or both) it dispenses. It also varies in the way the natural gas is dispensed (fast-fill, time-fill). The VICE model evaluates the return on investment and payback period for natural gas vehicles and fueling infrastructure. The business case targets municipal governments, which operate fleets suited well for CNG vehicles because they drive circular routes that enable refueling at the same station. These fleets are transit buses, school buses, and refuse trucks. Municipal governments are also targeted because their primary goal is to improve their residents' quality of life. This goal allows the government to utilize all the advantages of CNG, including long-term cost-effectiveness, more-consistent operational costs, increased energy security, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced local air pollution, and reduced noise pollution. VICE has been developed in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the Alternative Fuel Data Center.