Posted on 03/24/2013 4:20:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Amid the nation's shale gas boom, natural gas is being considered as an alternative to diesel to fuel heavy trucks.
The "Blueprint for a Clean and Secure Energy Future" unveiled by U.S. President Barack Obama last week calls for "putting in place new incentives" for medium- and heavy-duty trucks that run on natural gas or other alternative fuels and providing a credit for 50 percent of the incremental cost of a dedicated alternative-fuel truck for a 5-year period.
"The natural gas vehicle market is already growing but the vehicle incentives the president calls for would help accelerate that growth and help displace foreign oil use even faster," Richard Kolodziej, president of Natural Gas Vehicles for America, an organization that promotes natural gas and biomethane as transportation fuels, said in a statement.
Frederick W. Smith, chairman and chief executive of FedEx Corp., told The Wall Street Journal he expects 5-30 percent of the nation's long-distance trucking to be fueled by compressed or liquefied natural gas over 10 years.
FedEx is testing four trucks, two each for liquefied and compressed gas. If the trial works well, the company will consider switching more of its 90,000 vehicles to the fuel, Smith said, adding, "We'd be remiss if we didn't."
Meanwhile, hundreds of FedEx's lighter vehicles are electric or hybrids.....
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Nat Gas is the fuel of the future for the USA.
There are several good companies that are going to make this happen in the USA. Nat Gas is much more practical than other “green” fuels. It actually costs less in the US than conventional gas/diesel right now.
If FedEx and other truckers are looking at natural gas for fuel, fine.
Obama Sahib should stay out of it, the jerk. If he gets involved, it will wreck any prospects of a sensible solution.
Whats the energy provided by natural gas in comparison to gasoline?
I’d love to see it used as locomotive fuel.
So its just over half of what diesel provides and slight better for gasoline.
I guess if the cost is less its an option.
Honda Civcs are already available that use NG. Chevy also has an NG-powered van.
BNSF is testing NG locomotives. They need government approval for large NG tanks on trailing cars.
One of the big beverage producers in my town is requiring their servicing truck companies to acquire NG tractors and will be assisting in building an NG refueling site. Range limits are ok for their shipping I guess.
CNG for local delivery or short haul trucking makes sense. Long haul does not. I wonder if they’re capable of making the distinction, or if this will turn into yet another mandate that ends up costing more money?
It has less energy by volume, which makes it problematic for cars. There are CNG converted cars, but the tanks take up all the luggage space in the trunk. There's more places CNG or LNG tanks could be placed in large trucks.
NG is roughly 30 percent cheaper than diesel in equivalent energy.
It's large metropolitan areas that are ideal for CNG delivery trucks. The range isn't so important, and the environmental benefits are more important. Also the fuel cost savings would be substantial.
You can find CNG stations in your area by using this:
Prices vary widely. Here in Indianapolis they appear to range from 99 cents to 2.15 per gasoline gallon equivalent.
I suspect if a company like a rubbish hauler or FedEx installs their own fuel depot, the price is even lower.
So if you decreased consumption of diesel would it increase the gasoline supply?
Of course Obama will find some way to kill anything which reduces costs.
The obvious place to try it is locomotives. They are going to plug in a “gas tanker” between the engine and the freight cars.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324539404578342540494619344.html
Yes. The diesel could be cracked into lighter hydrocarbons. It could also cause diesel prices to drop making diesel cars more attractive.
In Russia, most government and up to a half commercial vehicles are SNG conversions. It cuts fuel costs in half. Conversion shops are everywhere, you can convert any vehicle for about $2,000 there.
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