Traditional diesel tanks are notably absent from the red Freightliner tractor owned by Ashwaubenon-based Paper Transport Inc.
Rather, the truck features metal-encased tanks behind the cab containing compressed natural gas.
PTI is running seven trucks in their fleet of 300 vehicles that operate on compressed natural gas, a move aimed at offering its customers an option that cuts greenhouse gas emissions and taps into an abundant domestic energy source.
“We wanted to find an environmental solution for transportation for our customers. For manufacturers and our customers, transportation is a large part of their carbon footprint,” said Jeff Shefchik, president of Paper Transport Inc. “We wanted to find a solution that would give us a competitive advantage.”
PTI began looking at CNG about two years ago, when talk of carbon credits and cap-and-trade were hot topics. The company operated a pair of test vehicles early last year.
“At that time there was no one in the country running the trucks the way we wanted to run them over the road,” Shefchik said.
By late summer, PTI added five more CNG trucks to the fleet with the help of grant money from the Wisconsin Clean Transportation Program.
“We have more than 700,000 miles on the trucks, combined, and it’s working on the (route) that we’re doing,” Shefchik said.
PTI, which handles a lot of short-haul, regional freight, is running the natural gas-powered trucks on a route between Green Bay and Chicago.
Shefchik said availability of refueling infrastructure and existing horsepower options for engines limit some of the applications, though he said higher horsepower power plants are in development.
One of the key factors in routing is a CNG refueling facility near Milwaukee. The relatively flat nature of the topography between Green Bay and Chicago makes CNG trucks a viable option.
The nine-liter engines in the trucks were designed for city busses and refuse-collection vehicles. They produce about 300 horsepower compared to the 13-liter, 450-horsepower diesel engines in the company’s other trucks.
Vehicles using compressed natural gas are on the rise in the state, said Lorrie Lisek, executive director of Wisconsin Clean Cities.
“In Milwaukee, they’re putting in some new fueling infrastructure and Transit Express is using CNG, so there are a variety of fleets already on board and using it,” she said.
Wisconsin Clean Cities is a non-profit organization focused on encouraging the use of alternative fuels and vehicles while helping develop refueling infrastructure to support those technologies. The Clean Cities program, a national program, is working to reduce petroleum use in the United States by 2.5 billion gallons per year by 2020.
“There is no one silver bullet. It’s going to take a combination of all of the alternative fuels to make a difference and lessen our dependence on petroleum,” Lisek said.
Shefchik said CNG trucks — which cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent compared to diesel engines — won’t fill all of PTI’s needs, but the technology works for some.
“Segments of the industry. I think that’s how it’s going to evolve over the next few years,” he said about adaptation in the wider trucking market.
“It’s not something where two years from now 80 percent of trucks are going to be using natural gas. It’s going to be a small percentage and there are some new engines coming out that we’re going to be testing this summer.”
At about $2 a gallon, CNG is half the current cost of the diesel. Range on a CNG truck is about 300 miles,while diesel trucks run about 1,200 miles before re-fueling, Shefchik said.
The price for CNG trucks is about $50,000 more per unit than diesel and there are additional maintenance costs, but Shefchik said the program is “as good as we hoped” and will yield a return on investment – especially if oil prices stay high, which PTI anticipates.
The company also is working with American Power Group to test a fuel system that blends diesel with natural gas through the injection of natural gas through the air intake.
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