Commercial Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs)

Public attention focused on natural gas vehicles in the U.S. has ebbed and flowed over the years. However, even though automakers have stepped back from offering light-duty natural gas vehicle choices – with the exception of Honda and its high-profile Civic GX – there remains a growing natural gas vehicle fleet on American roads. Rather than light-duty vehicles, though, these have mostly been medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles.

Natural gas transit buses provide one example. According to NGVAmerica, there are about 10,000 natural gas transit buses operating with approximately 125 transit agencies, representing roughly 12 percent of all transit buses in service. This trend continues, with 20 to 25 percent of all transit buses on order configured to run on natural gas.

Besides large natural gas fleets in cities like Phoenix/Tempe (Arizona), Dallas and El Paso (Texas), and Santa Monica (California), smaller cities also have transit buses running on this fuel. For example, the City of Santa Clarita (California) operates a fleet of 14 New Flyer C40LF transit buses fitted with Cummins C Gas Plus engines, as well as two Honda Civic GX natural gas staff vehicles. It has been using CNG since the summer of 2005. All vehicles are OEM, not retrofits. In order to support these buses, the city has built a CNG refueling facility, as well as a public fueling station located just outside the facility’s perimeter used by natural gas waste haulers and the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Union of Concerned Scientist estimates that about three million children ride in 75,000 pre-1990 school buses that emit as much as six times more pollution as post-2004 buses, and as much as sixty times more pollution as buses that meet 2007 standards. Unfortunately, diesel buses last a very long time and most school districts don’t have the budgets to replace them unless absolutely necessary, especially with clean natural gas ones that can cost substantially more than their diesel counterparts. Also hindering the move to natural gas is that this often requires additional investment in special refueling and maintenance facilities.

Even so, about 130 school districts in 17 states operate alternative fuel buses. Some of the largest fleets include Evansville-Vanderburgh (Indiana) School Corp., Merion (Pennsylvania) School District, Tulsa (Oklahoma) Public School District, and Northside (Texas) Independent School District. Besides substantially reduced exposure to harmful emissions, they have also experienced reduced fuel and maintenance costs as well as increased reliability and durability for their fleets.

COMMERCIAL TRUCKS
Refuse trucks are another large user of natural gas. Waste Management, Inc., the leading provider of waste and environmental services in North America, has converted nearly 500 of its vehicles from diesel to natural gas. This makes it one of the nation’s largest fleets of heavy-duty trucks powered exclusively by this alternative fuel. Many smaller refuse companies are using natural gas for its greatly reduced emissions in residential areas. While this does bring documented benefits, Burrtec Waste & Recycling Services in Palm Desert (California) does note a higher degree of maintenance and troubleshooting problems when temperatures hit 110- 120 degrees F. Another issue that Burrtec reports is a shortage of well-trained technicians to work on the trucks. Burrtec has been using CNG and LNG for about 11 years in 58 units.

Over-the-road trucking, which is responsible for a large portion of the fuel consumed in the U.S., is another market ripe for use of natural gas. Here, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is preferred over compressed natural gas (CNG). The reason? LNG, stored as a liquid at -260 degrees F., is a very dense fuel providing a substantial amount of energy in a small space. This makes it an excellent fuel for trucks traveling long distances between refueling stops. The biggest obstacle is a lack of these refueling opportunities. LNG works great on fixed routes without the need for multiple refueling stops. Since 2002, UPS has been using LNG tractor-trailers on its 545-mile route between Ontario, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Vons and Stater Bros. market chains in California also operate LNG-powered trucks.

LNG truck technology and use will be getting a big boost from the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, which aims to reduce pollution at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. For instance, the LNG Truck Program will replace old heavy-duty diesel trucks with LNG trucks. The Ports will also construct a centralized LNG fueling and maintenance facility.

PERSONAL USE NGVs
Getting fleets and individual drivers to switch to natural gas usually requires some incentives like rebates or tax breaks. Vacaville, California presents a great example of how this is done. The city has been a leader in promoting the use of alternative fuel vehicles for many years, and has been called “Voltageville” because of its distinction of having the greatest number of electric vehicles per capita in the U.S. Now, the city is offering incentives for natural gas vehicles and striving to repeat its previous successes with these alternative fuel vehicles. With 44 Honda GX natural gas sedans now operating in the city, it is almost halfway to its objective of 100 NGVs.

A city program provides $6,800 toward the purchase price of a new Honda Civic GX and $2,000 on the purchase and installation of a Phill home refueling appliance. To qualify, drivers must live or work full-time in the northeastern portion of California’s Solano County. There are also federal tax credits available for $4,000 and $1,000, respectively, to bring the cost down even further.

As many fleets and individuals show us, there is a willingness to move toward cleaner-burning and domestically-sourced natural gas as one part of an overall solution to lessening petroleum dependency. Plus, there is interest on the part of local, state, and federal government in encouraging such use and many examples of private industry ready and waiting to support this move. What’s needed is a coordinated effort by all parties and an expanding lineup of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty natural gas vehicles to make it happen. With the trending in world events and petroleum prices these days, now seems as good a time as any.