Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
It already is cheaper than diesel. Last time I was at a CNG station it was $1.41 cents for one gallon of diesel equivalent of natural gas.
LNG likely won't be cheaper as its so expensive to cool it to the temperature where it becomes a liquid. Compressing it is very cheap and simple by comparison.
CNG can be provided by the company if they have natural gas service and are willing to buy a CNG system since 1 million BTUs only costs around $3. That's the energy of about 7 gallons of diesel.
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There is much more to cost than just fuel cost. There is the extra cost of the engine, the tanks, training your maintenance workers, stocking extra parts, different oils, etc. Then there is the resale value. Most large fleets only keep their trucks for 3-5 years.
The problem with CNG is range. It works fine for local delivery but the range is a bit short for long-haul. Agility's largest CNG side tank is only 60 DGE. You can add a cabinet tank that holds 175 DGE but that makes for a long truck on a sleeper. Most CNG trucks are daycabs running set routes.