Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by dbob on October 22, 2014 at 16:41

I would be nice to know the cost premium - it generally takes a LOT of miles of travel to make up for the cost of a 24 gge equivalent tank.  

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Permalink Reply by bshelby on October 23, 2014 at 9:18

UPS is using NG/propane in their trucks in south Louisiana.

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Permalink Reply by dbob on October 23, 2014 at 13:09

Bshelby - 

propane and NG are not directly interchangable, but the UPS use case is interesting - They, to my understanding, are using a lot of NG fueled local delivery trucks, which drive typically a few hundred miles per day, with modest payload requirements.  The trucks then return to central locations at the end of each day, which eases fueling issues.  For discussion purposes, assume that their system adds about $2000 per truck for the engine and another $1500 for the fuel tank system.  

Now take the 5.3 liter engine noted above - assume $2000 per truck for the engine (its probably slightly higher but think volume pricing like UPS gets), but the fuel tank used is $3500 or there abouts  http://store.cngunited.com/type-4-cng-tank-21-x-60-24-gge/

That truck gets about 23 miles per gallon on Gasoline  - If you assume my math is correct Its about a $5500 premium to be able to burn natural gas.  CNG local to me is selling for about $2.04/gge, or about $1 cheaper than gasoline.  To make back the cost differential, one would need to burn 5500 gge of CNG and no gasoline.    @ 23 miles to the gallon, thats about 126,000 miles.  Of course, if the truck is filled with gasoline on occasion, that mileage require to break even goes up.  And if the price of gasoline stays low for a long time, it may get even less favorable.  

Other usage cases should be considered on their merits, but this one is not one that works for me.    If, for instance, these trucks are going into a fleet with a target life of 250,000 miles, and the fleet manager had the ability to remove the CNG tanks at the end of the useful life of the vehicle and use them in new vehicles, it starts to make sense, particularly if that vehicle is going to rack up those miles in a few years.  

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Permalink Reply by Bobi Carr ("parker") on October 23, 2014 at 15:34

dbob,

  Aren't the trucks supposed to run "cleaner"?  Wouldn't they "supposedly" last longer and have fewer repairs?  I also wonder though if there are other maintenance requirements that would add to cost of owning.

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Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on October 24, 2014 at 13:03

You wouldn't have to spend money replacing fuel pumps if you were running on NG all the time.

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Permalink Reply by Big Daddy, bcnr on October 31, 2014 at 7:49

NG vehicles do run cleaner. Oil change intervals can be stretched a bit farther than gasoline based vehicles. 

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Permalink Reply by Martin on October 25, 2014 at 3:09

I'm waiting for a NG Porsche 911.

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