To know a product’s true worth it’s best to ask those who use it. And when it comes to vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, the news – aside from infrastructure problems – generally couldn’t be better, as two of the state’s earliest large private users of CNGs are not only happy with their vehicles but they’re coming back for more.
New England Pest Control in Providence, the first private company in the state to convert to CNG, is scheduled to get its latest shipment of new trucks this week, befitting its status as “the largest private [CNG] fleet in New England,” said General Manager Dave Pontes.
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Also ordering more is the Cumberland Police Department, which in 1998 became the first Rhode Island police department to buy a natural gas cruiser when it signed on for seven Ford Crown Victorias.
They’ve been so happy with them, said Police Chief Anthony J. Silva, that they’re purchasing eight more eight-cylinder CNG vehicles in January.
Both customers say their experiences with CNGs have lived up to industry promises.
New England Pest Control started with a two-vehicle test program in 1992, converting two Toyota trucks to bi-fuel vehicles that switch to regular gasoline if the natural gas tank reaches empty. After four years they did a cost analysis and found the CNG trucks were not only saving them money but were running better.
In 1996 the company bought 10 more trucks to convert to bi-fuel and in 1998 did the same with another eight new trucks. By this point the original two converted Toyota trucks had more than demonstrated impressive reliability and stamina, Pontes said. Their odometer readings reached well over 200,000 miles compared to a typical run of about 125,000 miles.
Typically their trucks average about 30,000 miles a year, but since they’ve been running the CNGs, their vehicle maintenance has decreased. Because it “burns so clean,” they could go up to 10,000 to 15,000 miles between oil changes “if we wanted to,” Pontes said.
The seven new CNG trucks are larger vehicles, and four are dedicated CNGs. They also purchased two CNG Ford Contours, which means that after the latest delivery they will have about 30 alternatively powered vehicles, more than one-third of the company’s total fleet of approximately 80 vehicles.
Because their business requires the use of a large quantity of pesticides, their leadership in instituting alternatively fueled vehicles is their way of showing Rhode Islanders they also care about the environment. “We’re trying to do our part,” Pontes said, and although there are no government mandates right now for private fleets to convert to CNGs “there are a lot of tax incentives.”
Of the approximately $5,000 initial cost it took to convert each of the 10 trucks they bought in 1996 they ended up paying only about $2,100 each, after tax incentives and rebates, Pontes said.
Despite the advantages, it took employees some time to adjust to the concept of natural gas. “There was some apprehension at first; you hear about houses exploding,” Pontes said, but educational videos helped allay safety fears. Now their attitude on CNGs is that they’re “actually safer to drive than regular gasoline cars as far as we’re concerned.”
The Providence Gas Co.’s Allens Avenue CNG station is also conveniently located, about two blocks from New England Pest Control, an unmanned station with key accounts open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “The goal of our company is [to] never use regular gas,” Pontes said, noting that they get “the same gas mileage” with maybe a couple less horsepower. “We’re sold on it.”
Also sold on CNGs is Cumberland Police Chief Silva, whose department has been using seven 1997 dedicated CNG Ford Crown Victorias for about three years now.
“We’ve had very, very good luck with them,” Silva said, achieving lower maintenance costs and higher gas mileage, with each of the original seven CNGs still running fine and all pushing 100,000 miles or more. “The cars run so clean, so efficient,” Silva said.
The seven original cruisers plus the eight additional cars set to arrive in January are all designated as patrol cars. Silva said that even though a gasoline-powered car would probably beat a CNG cruiser in a race, the difference would be negligible. Criticism that CNGs may not be fast enough “depends on how you define fast,” Silva said, and if you ask the police officers who drive them, “they’ll generally tell you they’re plenty fast enough.”
About “the only drawback” Silva sees is that their 1997 CNGs have what is the equivalent of a 10-gallon tank, which means the cars can only run about 10 hours before needing to be refueled. But because Valley Gas Co. operates a “state-of-the-art” alternative fueling station in town there’s never been a problem, Silva said. Their new CNGs will each have a 15-gallon equivalent capacity tank.
“We’ve done very well with them,” Silva said, adding that one of the nicest benefits has been reducing one of the greatest “occupational hazards” suffered by police officers who are often forced to sit in idling cars. With CNG, “you’re not getting those fumes,” Silva said, a benefit that’s not only good for the officers, “but we’ve also helped clean up the environment.”
In purchasing their vehicles, Cumberland Police also received a grant from Clean Cities, a program of local initiatives including one in Rhode Island sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy that seeks to encourage the use of alternative fuel vehicles and the supporting infrastructure. Silva said the benefits available to private companies are “phenomenal,” even though so far they’re not that well publicized. “It’s costing me less, and I’m getting a better vehicle.”
