Commercial Fleets Change into Natural Gas Transports

Article by Jeremy Smith

Natural gas has been used as an alternative fuel for transports since 1860, when the first natural gas vehicle (NGV) was invented. There are now more than 120,000 NGVs on U.S. highways and more than 8.7 million throughout the world. While the number of natural gas filling stations available to the public has risen to 1,100 in the past few years, there is an increased need for more as the popularity of the NGV grows.

Having multiple vehicles in one place is cause for obtaining a restricted pump that only company or government employees may access for work transports. Buying in bulk helps keep costs down and there is little manpower required to maintain a natural gas fuel pump.

For large companies or municipalities, converting fleets of buses and work trucks to natural gas is a money saving move. The cost of the fuel is cheaper and setting up a filling station in the yard where all fleet transports are kept reduces the amount of time and travel spent locating and driving to gas stations during the workday. One thing for management and ownership to consider is that they will not have to worry about employees filling up the gas tanks of their own personal transports on the company card when no one is looking.

Replacing all vehicles in a fleet at once can be an expensive task, but there are advantages as well that may make the project worthwhile. There are tax deductions that businesses may claim if they are using environmentally-friendly materials or equipment. Companies experiencing mergers or expansion that need a number of transports at once anyway can phase them in as a group. This can also be done by attrition. As transports are retired, they should be replaced with NGVs.

Another alternative to fleet conversion is to physically convert the transports. There are oil and gas fuel conversion kits available, and dealers will often give businesses a break on prices if they are buying in bulk.

Converting a regular gas fueled vehicle to an NGV is complicated for someone that is not a certified mechanic in the process. A consumer, for example, would need to take the vehicle to a professional. Depending on the type of vehicle they have, this may or may not be cost efficient. For a business converting its fleet of transports however, this would not be an issue. Training existing fleet mechanics on the conversion process or bringing in a specialist for short- or long-term work would be an economical option.