The use of alternative fuels in trucks of all types is not a new concept, but it remains an evolving issue, as regulations, new technologies, and the availability of necessary infrastructure are all important factors in this developing marketplace.
Wes Agresta
Andrew Burnham
“Natural gas fueling infrastructure deployment was a key part of the DOE’s Clean Cities Recovery Act grants and significant amounts of public infrastructure has been built in the last few years. For fleets, however, public infrastructure may not meet their needs and building private infrastructure may be required.” — Andrew Burnham, Argonne National Laboratory
One place where the use of alternative fuels is being closely examined is the Argonne National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center in Argonne, Ill., managed by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Argonne National Laboratory researchers work alongside experts from industry, academia, and other government laboratories to fulfill the DOE’s overall mission by addressing key national challenges related to clean energy, environment, technology, and national security.
It all depends on the niche
A report authored in February 2015 by Argonne’s Andy Burnham, Marianne Mintz, and Marcy Rood is a good resource on the laboratory’s recent work. Titled “Status and Issues for Natural Gas in the United States: Alternative Fuel and Advance Vehicle Technology Market Trends,” the study provides an overview of the use of alternative fuels in certain types of vehicles, including service trucks, and offers some analysis on future opportunities in key markets.
“Alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies typically work best in different applications. For example, natural gas-based fuels and biodiesel are good options for heavy-duty vehicles, while ethanol, propane, and electricity are good options for light-duty vehicles. Therefore, it depends on the transportation niche on what fuels hold the most promise,” explains Andrew Burnham, a principal environmental scientist at Argonne National Laboratory who develops tools and provides technical analysis for the DOE’s Clean Cities program.
According to Burnham, there are also quite a few alternative fuel options for medium-duty work trucks, including compressed natural gas, a.k.a. CNG, propane, and biodiesel with plug-in electric options. In high fuel use applications, though, he says medium-duty trucks can benefit from low-cost fuels, such as CNG and propane, but indicates there are also potential operational benefits versus the use of diesel, like lower noise and not needing certain after-treatment equipment and/or particulate filters.
“For the annual reporting of the U.S. DOE’s Clean Cities program, CNG has recently accounted for more than half of the petroleum displacement from alternative fuel vehicles, as the program has found success with this fuel in high fuel use, heavy-duty applications,” Burnham says.
Low oil prices reduce appeal
Despite these positive numbers, the authors point to a number of barriers when it comes to further utilization of alternative fuels in all types of vehicles. These include: fueling infrastructure access and costs; the incremental cost of alternative fuel vehicles; and the current low cost of petroleum-based fuels.
“Natural gas fueling infrastructure deployment was a key part of the DOE’s Clean Cities Recovery Act grants and significant amounts of public infrastructure has been built in the last few years. For fleets, however, public infrastructure may not meet their needs and building private infrastructure may be required,” explains Burnham, who says the recent low price of petroleum makes the economics of natural gas service trucks less appealing.
Wes Agresta
Marianne Mintz, Argonne National Laboratory
“Fleets considering conversion of all, or part of their fleets to NGVs [natural gas vehicles] will need to either separate maintenance of those vehicles from that of their gasoline or diesel vehicles, or upgrade their garages to increase ventilation and comply with other codes and standards. For fleets planning to convert over several years, this upfront cost could be a significant barrier.” — Marianne Mintz, Argonne National Laboratory
Nonetheless, opportunities to convert fleets to alternative fuels, like natural gas, are readily available throughout the United States. For example, Burnham points out the demand for renewable natural gas has continued to increase because it is eligible for renewable identification number, or RIN, credits under both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard, and each of the low carbon fuel standards for California and Oregon. However, the authors still say a number of things should be considered before any fleet conversion occurs.
“Fleets considering conversion of all, or part of their fleets to NGVs [natural gas vehicles] will need to either separate maintenance of those vehicles from that of their gasoline or diesel vehicles, or upgrade their garages to increase ventilation and comply with other codes and standards. For fleets planning to convert over several years, this upfront cost could be a significant barrier,” says Marianne Mintz, a deployment and analysis team lead for Argonne National Laboratory’s Energy Systems Division.
Likewise, Burnham points out fuel prices are also a “key tipping point” in the overall equation. For example, in markets where natural gas is an important and readily available fuel, natural gas vehicles account for about 20 percent of fuel use, as well as a significant percentage of new sales in high-fuel, high-mileage truck markets. That’s because these applications can pay back the higher cost of the vehicles with fuel savings more quickly. Given this, he says, a significant portion of today’s natural gas vehicles are found in California, though other states and regions have made progress in building significant natural gas fueling infrastructure.
“NGVs can provide significant environmental benefits, especially when using RNG and NOx [low-nitrogen oxide] engines, and can offer total cost of ownership economic benefits in high fuel use fleets. The continued development of natural gas infrastructure and strategies to bring more online is also important,” Burnham explains.
Find the right duty-cycle
In summary, the authors suggest that finding the right duty-cycle is the key to finding the right applications for natural gas when it comes to utility service vehicles. Class 3 vehicles, like utility service vans, offer a good market for the use of natural gas given the adoption of natural gas vehicles into fleets with similar duty cycles (such as Verizon and AT&T). However, it is a big, diverse market — of roughly 256,000 vehicles that account for 3.2 billion driving miles and 410 million gallons of fuel per year — so they argue that one natural gas solution is unlikely to fit the needs of all service vehicles, fleets, markets, and companies.
Mark Yontz is a freelance writer from Urbandale, Iowa.