U.S. GAS FUELED VEHICLE PROGRAM INTENSIFIES

The campaign to fuel U.S. vehicles with natural gas is picking up speed. These developments surfaced last week: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) certified the first alternative fueled engine for use in California, a compressed natural gas (CNG) powered engine that will be used in school buses. CARB said the action paves the way for the first mass production of alternative fueled vehicles in the state, "a step forward from the experimental permits under which other individual buses

April 15, 1991

4 min read

The campaign to fuel U.S. vehicles with natural gas is picking up speed.

These developments surfaced last week:

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) certified the first alternative fueled engine for use in California, a compressed natural gas (CNG) powered engine that will be used in school buses. CARB said the action paves the way for the first mass production of alternative fueled vehicles in the state, "a step forward from the experimental permits under which other individual buses have been built."
Southern Union Co., Austin, joined with Natural Fuels Corp., Denver, in a plan to develop CNG fueling stations and conversion centers in the Southwest. Their market research and business plan will cover Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona, with special focus on Austin, El Paso, and Flagstaff. It is to be complete in July.

There was a flurry of action in U.S. CNG programs last month (OGJ, Mar. 18, p. 133).

CALIFORNIA BUSES

The TecoDrive 7000 compressed natural gas powered engine certified by CARB will fuel 10 new school buses by some Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco Bay Area school districts beginning next September. It is built by Tecogen Inc., Waltham, Mass.

Southern California Gas Co., Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. will supply CNG.

Last September, CARB adopted "ultraclean" standards for California vehicles that are 50-85% less polluting than the strictest standards already adopted by CARB. The board said the new standards will produce about 200,000 new ultraclean cars, or 1 0% of the state's annual new car fleet, in 1994.

CARB data show the CNG powered buses, which seat 66 students each, emit less than one third of the smog forming hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions allowed by the CARB's emission limits.

In addition, it takes three of these buses to match the nitrogen oxide output of one comparable gasoline powered engine.

The buses use a General Motors 427 cu in. V8 engine redesigned by Tecogen to operate solely on CNG. The engine uses many of the same internal components of the gasoline powered version to achieve nearly the same power output, compared with dual fueled CNG conversions that are about 20% less powerful.

The 1 0 Tecogen buses are being built through a $700,000 grant from the California Energy Commission. The grant is part of a $100 million California program established to replace more than 460 school buses built before 1977 with new, cleaner running models.

The first 163 school buses, built at a cost of $20 million, are expected to be available for service by next September. They include 103 diesel powered models and 50 that use methanol in addition to the 10 CNG buses. An additional 300 buses, which may cost as much as $40 million, are expected to be built this year.

The buses will add to a growing fleet of CNG vehicles that number more than 30,000 experimental vehicles nationwide.

California, through CARB, has certified conversion kits for existing gas or diesel powered engines. However, the Tecogen engine is the first production line model to be certified.

CNG EXPERIENCE

Southern Union has operated CNG stations for its own use since 1983 and is the only Texas utility to provide natural gas fueling stations for the public-in Port Arthur and Austin.

Natural Fuels has five retail CNG fueling stations in Colorado and plans to open nine others this year. The company also operates a vehicle conversion and service center that can produce 60-100 conversions/month. Two others are planned to open this year.

Natural Fuels also has undertaken a similar joint effort in Houston with Entex, Houston Pipe Line Co., and Vista Group Inc. to establish a natural gas vehicle market there.

Texas legislation requires use of alternative fuels by certain school district, transit authority, and state agency vehicles by next September.

Southern Union said organizations with fleets typically can recoup their conversion investment within 3 years as a result of fuel cost savings. Most conversions are dual fuel, which enables the driver to choose between CNG gas and gasoline by using a switch on the dashboard.

Southern Union quoted an American Gas Association prediction that the U.S. natural gas vehicle population is in the process of mushrooming from today's 30,000 to about 2 million vehicles in 2000.