Natural Gas Vehicle Houston

Heavy Duty Vehicles

Public and private fleets have more and more choices for heavy duty vehicles. Heavy duty vehicles can be dedicated OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) natural gas, dual fueled (natural gas-diesel blends) or natural gas repowers. With the same power as gasoline or diesel fuel, natural gas can be used in transit buses, semi trucks, school buses, waste disposal trucks and delivery vehicles.

Depending on the fleet's application and route, fleets can chose either Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vehicles. CNG is stored as a high pressure gas while LNG, a more expensive option, is a kryogenic liquid. Because it is a liquid, the energy density of LNG is greater than CNG, so more fuel can be stored onboard the vehicle. This makes LNG well-suited for Class 7 and 8 trucks requiring a greater range.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer

Currently, Cummins produces two dedicated heavy duty natural gas engines (8.9 Liter and 11.9 Liter). These engines are found in refuse trucks to long haul freight carriers. These engines are available in all major trucks platforms. Cummins is in development of the 6.7 Liter geared for the Type C front engine school bus and medium duty vocational trucks.

Dual Fuel Engines:

Dual Fuel Systems blends natural gas into your existing diesel engine through the turbocharger. The systems result in a lower cost of diesel and a reduction in emissions. You can run 50% or more Natural Gas while retaining the ability to operate on 100% diesel when you need it.

Repowered Engines:

For fleets who want to make a switch to natural gas, but they can't swallow the initial investment, repowers are a great way to go. For certain International Navistar DT-466 and Mack E7 engines, fleets can replace their dirty diesel engine with an approved EPA certified NGV Natori or Omnitek systems. These natural gas repowers provide fleets an economical way to become green.

Light & Medium Duty

When it comes to light and medium duty natural gas vehicles, fleets have many options. First, fleets can choose from Original Equipment Manufacturer vehicles straight from the Factory, or they can choose to convert their new or existing gasoline vehicles with an EPA approved conversion kit. Incremental costs for light duty natural gas vehicles can range from $8,500 to $11,000 depending on the tank configuration and size. Depending on the fleet's application, these vehicles can be dedicated (running only on natural gas) or bi-fuel (running on both gasoline and natural gas).

For a list of available natural gas vehicles, please clickwww.houstonngvalliance.org.

About the Author: Houston Ngv Alliance is an author of the article; For more information about Natural Gas Vehicles visit the website http://www.houstonngvalliance.org/.