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Fleet Owners Go Natural
Natural gas
becomes an
increasingly practical
vehicle fuel option
for Connecticut
companies
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Business New Haven
3/23/1998
By: Susan Banfield
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Anyone who has had to renew a vehicle emissions sticker recently knows the government is taking steps to reduce the harm done to our atmosphere by gasoline emissions.
Recent Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regulations coupled with Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives crafted to conserve U.S. oil stocks have placed even greater pressure on the owners of fleets of vehicles, both public and private.
The DEP's Clean Air Act, passed in 1990, requires that certain types of fleets operating in “non-attainment areas” (which includes southern Connecticut) must keep emissions levels on a percentage of all new vehicles purchased below a given level. These low levels may be attained either through the use of alternative-fuel vehicles or vehicles with clean-running gasoline or diesel engines.
The DOE's Energy Policy Act mandates that a percentage of all new vehicles purchased after 1996 by state
and federal fleets run on alternative fuel. There is also a provision in EPACT which allows for municipal fleets and certain categories of private fleets to be included in the regulation beginning in 1999. The percentage of new vehicle purchases affected by the two laws escalates until it levels off after the year 2000. By that time 75 percent of new state fleet vehicles must run on alternative fuel.
The response to these laws has assumed several forms. One response few people are aware of is the growing use of natural gas as an automotive fuel in fleets. There are conversion kits sold that can convert a regular gasoline-powered vehicle to natural gas.
Increasingly, however, companies are electing to buy vehicles purpose-built to operate on natural gas. The Ford Motor Co. produces a full line of NGVs, as they are called, including vans and light trucks as well as
cars. General Motors makes natural gas pick-up trucks. Honda also makes NGVs, and Chrysler is looking
to soon.
Companies and organizations are responding to the surge in availability. The U.S. Postal Service fleet housed at New Haven's Frontage Road station includes 62 natural-gas trucks. The UPS fleet out of Watertown has 136. Both the Yale University Police and the New Haven Department of Police Service have made commitments to buy NGVs this year. There is even a public natural-gas fueling station being built right in downtown New Haven.
There are three types of natural gas vehicles. So-called dedicated NGVs run on natural gas only. Bi-fuel vehicles can run on either natural gas or unleaded gasoline, and switch off seamlessly between the two. Dual-fuel vehicles operate on natural gas and diesel fuel at the same time. Dedicated natural gas engines are used primarily for heavy-duty vehicles. Most NGVs used in fleets are bi-fuel.
To be power a vehicle, natural gas must be compressed. It is stored in the vehicles in cylinders about 15 inches thick and around five feet long. The tubes can be housed in various places, such as in the trunk, under the carriage, or in the back of a pick-up. The gas is then run through the internal combustion engine just like gasoline.
There are several distinct advantages to using natural gas. First, it is cleaner. NGVs reduce emissions of all sorts by dramatic amounts.
Particulate emissions are eliminated almost entirely. Carbon monoxide is reduced by 90 percent. Reactive hydrocarbons, one of the three things needed to make ozone, are reduced 80 to 85 percent. Nitrous oxide emissions are curtailed by 30 percent.
And because an engine using natural gas runs so clean, maintenance is needed much less frequently. Says Phelix Pekoske, manager of vehicle maintenance at the Frontage Road USPS facility: “We find there's less maintenance. They run much cleaner, so we don't have to tune them up as often.”
Natural gas is also cheaper than gasoline, selling for about 89 to 99 cents per gallon-equivalent. Finally, it is a more plentiful resource than oil. Although at one point years ago experts believed our natural gas supplies were being exhausted, it is now estimated that the U.S. has a 50-year supply in the lower 48 states alone, based on current rates of consumption.
The performance of a natural gas vehicle is indistinguishable from that of one run on conventional gasoline. A driver would be unable to tell the difference.
Still, there are some significant problems with the use of natural gas as an automotive fuel.
First is the expense. The initial cost for NGVs is between $2,500 and $5,000 per vehicle higher, and fleet managers who want to install their own fueling stations face another formidable initial cost.
Secondly - and this is the reason most often cited by fleets for not switching to natural gas - the range of an NGV is much less than that of a conventional car or truck. There is room to store only about 15 gallon-equivalents on most vehicles, so this means NGVs need to stop to refuel more frequently.
Fueling stations dispensing natural gas are still few and far between, and usually require exiting the highway to find. There are less than a dozen natural gas fueling stations in Connecticut, and none of these is on a major highway.
“The biggest problem is that the infrastructure isn't built yet,” says Chris O'Connell, automotive manager for UPS in Connecticut.
Then there is the question of safety. Although buses are exempt from the DOE requirements to use alternative vehicle fuels, Steve Warren, maintenance manager for Connecticut Transit, says he wouldn't use natural gas buses anyway. He says he is concerned about the safety of his garage, concerned about having to install explosion-proof equipment and lighting.
While many people are instinctively apprehensive about using compressed gas in their car, the gas companies maintain that in fact natural gas is an extremely safe fuel, safer even than gasoline. In the event of a crash, explains Tom Morano, market development specialist for Yankee Gas, “It doesn't spill; it is simply dissipated because it is lighter than air.” And once in the air, chances of the gas igniting are slim, as there is only a narrow range of gas-to-air ratios which will produce ignition. Whereas a car using gasoline is often totally consumed in the event of a car fire, a car run on natural gas in most cases would not be.
Although the problems with using natural gas vehicles may seem significant, companies are slowly starting to make the switch. They are an especially attractive alternative for fleets which make relatively short, circular runs - such as the post office or UPS. “I've had no problem,” says Lou DeCrescenzo, who manages the East Haven post office. “You get five and a half to six hours running time on a tank full of natural gas.” This is sufficient for a full day's route, he notes.
Two local businessmen are confident enough of the future of NGVs that they are installing one of the state's first public natural gas fueling stations right in downtown New Haven. Larry M. Stewart and Ken Miller, who together formed the Alternative Energy Group, are building a station at the Shell station on Willow Street. It is slated to open some time in July.
The two men did make certain, before proceeding, that they had commitments from at least a couple of institutions that they would begin using NGVs (the Yale and New Haven police forces). “It's not, 'If we build it they will come,'” notes Stewart. “You have to get the cars first.”
Still, their venture makes a highly positive statement of optimism about the future of NGVs.
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