any owner operators w/ natural gas powered trucks?

curious if any owner/operators out there are using natural gas powered trucks for transport, I wanted to know what your experience is with them.

I have seen used CNG powered rigs for sale, some only a couple of years old selling for much less then new, was thinking if someone returns to a home base they could refuel for about .75 cents a gallon. Providing they had access to a natural gas supply and a CNG compressor.

One of the biggest expenses is fuel cost and if that could be cut to less then a buck a gallon it would offer substantial savings.

If anyone has the interest in high volume home gas compression let me know I am looking for interested parties for beta testing, I would offer the CNG compressor free of charge. Just looking for high mileage users, preferable in the south west.

 

Cant speak to the maintenance of lng trucks but can speak about lng as a fuel

In order to make LNG it has to be crygenically processed, anytime a fuel has to be processed the cost skycrockets due to all the taxes and govt. oversite labor expensive storage (in dewars)

CNG is different in that it generally doesnt require much processing/refinement. I know a guy running his entire transport company using natural gas from his own private gas well. All of his fuel is free. Its a pretty good deal.

Cng trucks can often be picked up at auction for pennies on the dollar.

Ive seen some with 175 gallon back of cab arrays and 60 gallons on each side.

I still think cng is best used for return to base customers unless you live in high density cng station rich states (like Ca.)

I talked to a Frito-Lays driver whos runs are from ontario to las vegas, he said his ISX12G runs about the same as his older diesel truck except when hes hauling a full truckload of canned beverages, said he runs a little slower up the Cajon pass.

My HD chevy (6.0L CNG engine did the same run hauling about 10k lbs) cruised at 65, even up the pass.

 

with Cummings investing heavily in heavy duty transport the technology is only get better the 6.7, 8.9 and 11.9 cng engines are now near 0 emissions and have reasonable good horsepower and torque 400 hp 1450 tq.

not what a diesel is but compared to what was available 10 years ago its certainly a step in the right direction

The trade-off over performance vs cost of fuel and the cost of the cng option is what owners have to decide. My experience has been positive, the sticker price for my new CNG HD truck was only 2000 dollars more then a comparable diesel, but because my truck had been sitting on the lot for almost 8 months i got about 12,000 dollars off msrp, this made the cost of the truck about the same as a gasoline truck, between both tanks of fuel I can go about 700 miles.

Seats 6 people so can also use it for family outings, a full tank of CNG costs me about 11 bucks. I do my oil changes every 20,000 miles because i do 95% of my driving on CNG, oil comes out super clean.

A 11.9L Cascadia with 140 gallon system can fuel at home for under 100$ per fill-up. A rig with a 280 gallon system can fill up for less then 200$.