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Permalink Reply by Tootie Fruitie on August 7, 2014 at 14:22

It seems to me that the natural gas vehicles will not take root because they have figured out how to make gasoline from natural gas at half the price. What would be the point?? Just thinking... who knows!!

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Permalink Reply by jffree1 on August 8, 2014 at 2:04

Here are some locations. I couldn't find anything specific to Flying J truck stops with CNG/LNG but there should be some out there.

Love's Loves CNG: Eight Stops in Texas

• Fort Worth – I-35 W, Exit 40;
• Dallas – I-35/I-20, Exit 466;
• Rockwall – I-30, Exit 283;
• Willis – I-45, Exit 95;
• Houston – 610 Loop, Exit 24A;
• Katy – I-10, Exit 737;
• San Antonio – I-35, Exit 144; and
• Seguin – I-10, Exit 604

Travel Centers of America/Petro Truck Stops:

• Petro Ontario, CA
• TA Harrisburg, PA (I-81, Exit 77)
• TA Baytown, TX (I-10, Exit 789)
• TA Dallas South, TX (I-20, Exit 472)
• TA San Antonio, TX (I-10, Exit 583)

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Permalink Reply by Krkyoldhag on August 10, 2014 at 3:35

I on board...do you want pictures  from I phone?

Will be travelling to Dallas and to Alex this week so will be on lookout for fueling stations.

Just read that Marshall Tx buying LNG city vehicles..

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Permalink Reply by dbob on August 10, 2014 at 7:39

Pictures would be good, but from what I've seen, there might not be much to photo.  I think some of the stations have cumualtive total meters on their pumps - I might swing by the one in Longview and in Carthage to get a baseline on a  few pumps.

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Permalink Reply by dbob on August 13, 2014 at 12:59

data point

back and forth between Longview and Carthage

Longview - Eastman Road 1 truck (F350 class) refueling with CNG, 2 vehicles fueling with diesel (1 F350,, 1, semi truk)

Carthage at 59S - 1 F350 truck fueling CNG, 6 Diesel trucks, all Semis

8/12/2014

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on August 22, 2014 at 2:53

Natural Gas as a Vehicle Fuel Blows Past Expectations in Texas

By Nicholas Sakelaris

With new stations being built and more fleets converting, sales of natural gas as a vehicle fuel more than doubled expectations in Texas, Railroad Commissioner David Porter said.

“Natural gas vehicles are becoming mainstream faster than expected,” Porter said. “And there’s plenty of room for growth. These excellent sales figures represent only a fraction of potential sales, as more and more fleet operators take advantage of the cost savings, lower emissions and energy security benefits of Texas natural gas.”

The state collected more than $2.1 million in taxes on compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas in the 2014 fiscal year, which ended July 31. That’s 220 percent higher than the $992,000 forecast.

The tax is 15 cents per gallon so the tax revenue represents more than 14.5 million gallon equivalents of natural gas being sold for vehicle fuel. The gallon equivalent is the amount of natural gas needed to get the same energy content as a gallon of gasoline.

Texas is the third-biggest consumer of natural gas as a vehicle fuel behind California and New York, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In May, Texas consumed 205 million cubic feet of natural gas as a vehicle fuel. New York consumed 360 million and California used more than 1.3 billion cubic feet.

For 2013, Texas consumed 2.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

New CNG and LNG stations are opening all over North Texas to make it more convenient for fleets and private vehicles.

Much of the natural gas consumed by these vehicles comes from right here in the Barnett Shale.

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Permalink Reply by tc on August 26, 2014 at 5:34

Slow Going for Natural-Gas Powered Trucks

By Bob Tita

WSJ 8/25/14

In the midst of the strongest market for commercial trucks in eight years, North American sales of natural-gas-powered haulers are just crawling along.

Higher purchase prices compared with diesel trucks, improved diesel fuel economy and continued scarcity of fueling stations are damping natural-gas-powered truck demand. About 10,480 of the heavy-duty trucks are expected to be sold this year, up 20% from the 8,730 sold last year, according to Power Systems Research. However, some forecasters had expected sales to about double to 16,000 vehicles this year amid the trucking industry's enthusiasm for natural gas a year ago.

What happened? A big roadblock remains the premium for a heavy-duty gas truck—$50,000 more than the about $150,000 for a new diesel-powered truck. In theory, the payback for that higher price is recovered from fuel savings of between $1.60 and $1.70 for the gas equivalent of a gallon of diesel. Paybacks can average four years considering the average truck travels 125,000 miles a year.

But truckers say the fuel savings isn't all it seems. Mileage from a natural-gas-powered truck is about 20% less per energy equivalent than a diesel truck, meaning a gas truck consumes the same amount of fuel for 200 miles as a diesel truck uses for 240 miles. Moreover, fuel costs—as well as any natural-gas fuel savings—are typically passed on to a trucking company's customers.

"If you're paying $1 per gallon less for fuel, they'd want that money for themselves, but you need that to pay off the equipment," said Mike Card, president of Combined Transport Inc., which operates a fleet of 500 diesel trucks specializing in hauling heavy or wide cargoes, such as wind energy towers.

At current fuel prices, it takes about four years to recover their investment. "That's tough for a lot of fleets. They want their investment returns a lot faster," said Mike DelBovo, transportation president of Saddle Creek Logistics Services in Lakeland, Fla., which has 175 gas-powered trucks in a fleet of 550.

Large fleet operators typically replace their vehicles every three to four years, leaving little time for them to benefit from the lower fuel costs of natural-gas-powered trucks.

Another factor limiting natural-gas-powered sales is the arrival on the market of new, more efficient diesel engines. The first phase of a federally mandated 6% improvement in fuel economy by 2017 took effect this year, pushing heavy-duty truck mileage closer to 7 miles per gallon from about 6.5 mpg.

Indiana-based Cummins Inc CMI in Your Value Your Change Short position delayed indefinitely a 15-liter natural-gas engine for high horsepower long-distance trucks carrying heavy loads. And a joint venture with Vancouver's Westport Innovations Inc. WPT.T in Your Value Your Change Short position also ceased production of a 15-liter natural gas engine last fall. That venture still makes smaller-size natural-gas engines used in cement trucks, garbage trucks and delivery vehicles that spend just a day on the road.

All this comes as the market for new commercial trucks is booming.

A stronger economy has pushed up freight volumes, and fleet replacements are expected to push production of heavy-duty trucks in North America this year up 21% from 2013 to 297,400 vehicles, the highest volume since 2006, said Columbus, Ind., market forecaster ACT Research LLC.

For-hire trucking companies such as Con-way Inc. CNW in Your Value Your Change Short position and Schneider National Inc. say they continue to test small numbers of natural-gas trucks. But the limited number of natural-gas refueling stations limits the switch to gas. Just slightly more than half of the 1,500 natural-gas fueling stations in the U.S. are public-access sites, and not all of these can accommodate large trucks.

Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst for ACT Research, which had forecast as much as a doubling of demand, said a key constraint has been "the need to build out the [gas fueling] infrastructure."

Of course, those trucking companies committed to using alternative fuels or that handle deliveries for customers looking for a greener profile are moving ahead on natural-gas vehicle acquisitions.

"There's not a huge savings today with natural gas," said Jeff Shefchik, president of Paper Transport Inc., 430-truck regional fleet Green Bay, Wis., with about 100 natural-gas trucks. "But we're content to invest in it because it's going to grow over time."

United Parcel Service Inc. UPS in Your Value Your Change Short position this year has ordered about 300 gas-powered heavy-duty trucks and bought 700 gas tractors last year. The trucks operate mostly in corridors in the West and South that have plenty of natural-gas stations, some of which UPS helped to finance. By the end of the year, about 2% of UPS's 100,000 vehicles world-wide will be powered by natural gas.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., WMT in Your Value Your Change Short position Office Depot Inc. ODP in Your Value Your Change Short position and Lowe's  LOW in Your Value Your Change Short position Cos. and consumer products manufacturer Procter & Gamble Co. PG in Your Value Your Change Short position are among the companies requesting their trucking suppliers use natural-gas vehicles to comply with corporate policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and pollution caused by burning diesel fuel.

Saddle Creek, which offers trucking to those retailers, is racking up 1.5 million miles a month on its 175-vehicle natural-gas fleet and plans to buy 25 additional Freightliner gas trucks by the end of the year.

Still, those purchases are dwarfed by the sheer number of new diesel-powered trucks being sold. North American sales of diesel-powered trucks are forecast to rise 17% to 281,620 this year.

Two years ago, forecasters expected as much as 20% of the heavy-duty trucks sold annually in North America by the end of the decade would be natural-gas powered.

"We're still growing [natural-gas-powered trucks], but all the hype is gone," said Robert Carrick, sales manager for natural gas for Freightliner, a unit of Germany's Daimler AG "Long-haul, over-the-road trucking is not going to adopt natural gas for a long time."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/natural-gas-trucks-struggle-to-gain-...

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Permalink Reply by Greedy Landowner on August 26, 2014 at 7:19

Currently, there is a 50% tax credit for installing a new cng conversion and also a 50 cent per gge tax credit for cng stations, not the end user. These credits are theoretically a good idea, but the practical issue is that those cost savings don't seem to trickle down to the end user. There is also a 16 cent per gge tax that end users must pay to the state of Louisiana which isn't collected at the pump.

One thousand dollars cubic feet of natural gas equates to about 8 gge. To fill up with 16 gge (including the state tax) costs $31.36 for a volume of gas worth $7.72 based on the current price of natural gas. You also have to credit the fueling station 8.00 for the tax credit. Sure there are costs associated with transporting, preparing and compressing the gas.... But a 400% mark up seems absurd, at least to me. Ten thousand for a conversion is also equally absurd.

I personally cannot see cng having a legitimate chance at developing further until the government steps aside by ending these tax credits and allows the free market to force the cng conversion and fueling station industry to evolve. There are very distinct costs savings involved with using cng, but you have to get the savings into the pockets of the end user before you can really expect them to move away from a reliable but more expensive means of fueling their vehicles.

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