A truck powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), operated in Fair Oaks, Indiana by Ruan Transportation Management Systems, has successfully passed the million mile mark. The truck, a 2014 Kenworth T660 class 8 tractor, symbolizes a major milestone in the viability of alternative fuels. You can read the full article on NGT News, but here are the bullets:
- The truck has experienced no major maintenance issues over its operating life
- It pulls 80,000 GVW loads of milk primarily from Fair Oaks to Southern Indiana
- The fuel is primarily renewable natural gas sourced from anaerobically digested cattle manure
- Throughout Ruan’s operations, CNG vehicles have run approximately 50 million miles
- In total, Ruan’s CNG vehicles have saved 7.5 million gallons of diesel and nearly 80,000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of taking nearly 12,000 average cars off the road for a year
- The fleet is projected to travel more than 1.5 million miles per vehicle before retirement
- Regular maintenance is performed by Ruan technicians and trusted vendors
- Ruan is an official partner in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership
As more of these stories emerge, both the industrial and the consumer markets will continue to increase adoption of alternative fuels such as natural gas. It’s a promising step in the right direction, and something the entire industry can be proud of.
At ECO, we encourage this progress and support the continued development of new solutions in the heavy duty alternative fuel space. If you have a project like this in the works, give us a call to see if we can help you develop your technology and bring your product to market quickly and effectively.
