Alternative energy fuel station

An alternative energy fuel station should open this September east of Pennsylvania Avenue and south of Layton Avenue at a former Shell gas station in Cudahy, if all goes according to the owners’ plans.

The first-of-its-kind site in the Milwaukee area will incorporate a 2-kilowatt solar array that will provide electricity back to the grid through We Energies’ buyback program, said Peter Grimes, the managing member of AUR Energy Partners, the four-member LLC which purchased the 1.4-acre parcel at 5080 S. Pennsylvania Ave. last year. At press time, Grimes was waiting on We Energies approval.

The station will offer fueling ports-regular outlets-for plug-in electric vehicles and biofuel pumps in addition to conventional gasoline pumps.

Chris Alessi’s Cudahy-based Milwaukee EV (also K-Man Auto & Scooters) electric vehicle dealership will have a presence on site, Grimes said, showcasing its electric cars and scooters.

AUR Energy Partners has also been working with the Milwaukee Biodiesel Cooperative for the last six months to provide a home for the group’s fuel, Grimes said.

The co-op stopped its fueling operation out of the Bay View retailer Future Green last year because its tank required an expensive city certification. The new Cudahy station will include a 5,000-gallon above-ground tank and biofuel pump for the co-op’s fuel, Grimes said.

Because of its cost, Grimes said he will buy this tank and likely lease it back to the co-op. “I don’t mind stepping up to the plate for these guys,” he said.

Fueling the Future

“The objective is to offer as many alternative fuels to gasoline as we can,” said Grimes.

Grimes said the station may forgo offering E85 ethanol, however, due in part to uncertainty with ethanol providers and also the sense that ethanol is not the fuel of the future.

Grimes plans to expand the station as new alternative fuel technology is developed. He mentioned hydrogen fuel as a possibility, but wants to react to the market and doesn’t plan to offer such fuels until vehicles that use them exist locally.

He also said a nearby station already sells natural gas in conjunction with a We Energies program and so his station will not sell natural gas. He will offer diesel.

With the forthcoming release of Chevrolet’s Volt electric vehicle, optimistically in 2010, Grimes anticipates more demand for plug-in electric vehicle fuel sources.

“This station is going to be the first of maybe four to six throughout Milwaukee,” he said.

He added that he could sell electric plug-in and biofuel units as a kit to conventional gas station owners to assemble on their property.

In the future, he said he’d like to install a larger 20-kilowatt solar array that might be sufficient to power all the electric plug-in ports at the Cudahy station.

How much drivers would be charged for electricity is still being determined. It takes existing electric vehicles two hours or more to fully charge, Grimes said, but newer plug-ins are reducing that wait. Also, Grimes said vehicles don’t need a full charge to travel a 30- to 40-mile commute.

An on-site coffee vendor is anticipated, Grimes said, perhaps a drive-thru kiosk. He wants the small convenience store on site to be a “healthy convenient store” that might offer sandwiches but with no junk food, cigarettes, or lottery tickets. In August he was talking with Outpost Natural Foods and Alterra Coffee about the possibilities.

By bypassing long-term agreements with gasoline providers who set prices for branded retailers, Grimes said his independent station can purchase the cheapest gas available. Thus, he plans to offer the lowest-cost fuel in the metro area. He said his station will provide gasoline at three to five cents less than BP stations.

He expected to fill the three 10,000-gallon in-ground gas and diesel tanks, receive final DNR and weights & measures approvals, and reestablish credit card pump payment systems in late August.

“It’s just the right thing to do from an environmental perspective,” Grimes said.

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