GE, Pickens' Clean Energy in natural-gas supply deal for trucks

Yahoo/Reuters ^

[shove_it]

(Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE) reached a deal to sell equipment to Clean Energy Fuels Corp (CLNE), which is building out a series of liquefied natural gas fueling stations for U.S. truckers.

The largest U.S. conglomerate sees liquefied natural gas equipment as becoming a $1 billion market over the next five years, said Mike Hosford, general manager of unconventional resources for GE Oil & Gas.

Clean Energy, which counts T. Boone Pickens as its largest investor, agreed to buy two GE-made MicroLNG plants to provide liquefied natural gas for a network of 70 natural gas fueling stations it is opening at truck stops along U.S. interstate highways this year, the company said in a statement released on Tuesday...

[X-spurt]

About time!
Wondering if they’ll also be available for smaller and personal vehicles?

[cripplecreek]

Pickens still looking for taxpayer funding for his miracle?

[shove_it]

This is an LNG project. According to the Form 8-K:

"...GE agreed to loan to the Borrowers up to an aggregate of $200 million to finance the development, construction and operation of two liquefied natural gas ("LNG") production facilities (individually a "Project" and together the "Projects"), each with an expected production capacity of approximately 250,000 LNG gallons per day. Clean Energy expects to sell the LNG produced by the Projects through America's Natural Gas Highway�, a nationwide network of LNG truck fueling stations, which Clean Energy is building along major transportation corridors in the United States..."

Cars typically run on CNG.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Reduced range is the only downside I see with nat gas as a motor fuel.

[shove_it]

Obviously the project is proceeding via private financing.

[Qwackertoo]

Considering the high cost of diesel fuel, this sounds a lot more promising than anything the President has invested in for green energy. NCG availability at truck stops would be a good start, since many municipal fleets use it, would be great for the trucking industry.

[thackney]

Clean Energy is America's largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation — your connection to natural gas fueling. Trucks powered by cleaner, cheaper, domestic natural gas will soon travel the country on America's Natural Gas Highway™, our network of LNG truck fueling stations on Interstate Highways connecting major metropolitan areas coast-to-coast and border-to-border.

The first phase includes approximately 150 LNG fueling stations with more than 70 anticipated in 33 states by the end of 2012 and the balance in 2013. Many will be co-located at Pilot-Flying J Travel Centers already serving goods movement trucking.

[thackney]

NCG availability at truck stops

They are providing LNG for this initiative. Some (all?) stations will have CNG as well.

[chuckles]

If the engine is LNG only, the engine can be designed to be more efficient. higher compression and turbo chargers make the range more comparable. You couldn't have a flex fuel vehicle though.

Back in the day,( I'm 61) we had Cadillacs and Lincolns that could get 2nd gear rubber and got 23 mpg. The difference was 11:1 compression and they burned ethyl gas. You could get 102-104 octane at many stations. Those were the days.

The same principle works today if we decided to burn alcohol or Nat Gas. If you go to the drag races, you can see alcohol dragsters that work pretty good on straight ethanol. They would burn a piston if you put gas in them. The fuel is less dense, but you are using it more efficiently. A 2.0 liter engine would run like a 3.8 liter gas engine and get better mileage and save weight. Nat gas would be such a loss in density, I'm not sure you could get the same effect, but Nat Gas is a fraction of the cost of gasoline. If NG was the equivalent of $1 a gallon, who cares if it gets 11-15 mpg?

I've often believed we could use ethanol fuel like Brazil, but we can't seem to break the corn cartel. You can use several sources other than corn for fuel, but the corn cartel would shed blood before that ever happened. I'm not a chemist, but I'm willing to bet they can make alcohol out of Nat gas or even coal besides sugar cane.

[shove_it]

Maybe CNG in a box will be installed at those LNG stations?... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2942161/posts

Thanks for posting those maps and station locations again.

Nat Gas is a quick solution to a bunch of our problems.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My mom had a ‘61 Coup de Ville that would get 2nd gear scratch and would out drag a neighbor's ‘62 Vette.

I agree on the compression ratio being useful toward fuel economy. My ‘02 Porsche has 13 to 1 CR, with 320 horsepower, yet gets 26 miles per gallon at 70-75 mph.

I once thought nat gas would be the answer to most short haul trucking needs, ie: inner city deliveries, trash hauling, etc. With all the new crude oil coming on line, gas may have to wait.

[thackney]

It DEFINITELY won’t be a Chesapeake Energy product at a Clean Energy Fueling Terminal.

Clean Energy already has more CNG fueling stations than LNG stations. The ones already in service can be found at:

http://www.cnglngstations.com/

I notice not too many of the LNG stations show up at that link. They were supposed to complete 70 of them by the end of 2012.

http://www.cleanenergyfuels.com/viewstations.html

[thackney]

With all the new crude oil coming on line, gas may have to wait.

We still import more crude oil than we produce ourselves. We have a long way to go to be independent on crude oil and it's refined products.

We are not far from producing more Natural Gas than we use ourselves. That is the market with the most surplus in the foreseeable future.

[DiogenesLamp]

Reduced range is the only downside I see with nat gas as a motor fuel.

The greater than times ten reduction in fuel costs might make up for that.

[nascarnation]

Actually with the advent of direct injection, gas engine compression ratios are way up again. The GM 4 and 6 cylinders with DI are > 11:1 compression.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We’ll see if the states overlook the road tax hike opportunities...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The Arabs, Vens and Mexicans still gotta sell. More US crude will drive the price for all crudes downward (at least it should.)

[thackney]

The greater than times ten reduction in fuel costs might make up for that.

Where do you live that you pay $20~25 a gallon for gasoline or diesel?

http://www.cleanenergyfuels.com/news/2012/11-1-12.html

Currently priced up to $1.50 a gallon lower than gasoline or diesel depending on local markets...

[thackney]

If there is a significant drop in crude oil price, you are going to see a significant drop in crude oil drilling of fields like the Bakken, EagleFord, Utica, Woodford, etc.

We won’t get our large increase in oil production with out stable price in the current price neighborhood.

Natural Gas is already relatively cheap.