Kenworth T800 equipped with LNG-fueled Westport engine.

Natural gas is slowly making inroads in trucking as carriers are making NG-powered truck purchases and more LNG and CNG fueling stations are opened, executives reported Aug. 11 at a green trucking event presented by Kenworth.

Fleets such as Heckmann and Ryder each have ordered 200 LNG-powered trucks, and C.R. England will take a small, unspecified number of Kenworth trucks to haul syrup for Coca-Cola, said Andy Douglas, Kenworth national sales manager for specialty markets.

“Our customers are asking for these products,” he said at the Paccar Technical Center north of Seattle.

Kenworth recently hosted a meeting where 80 companies including carriers learned more about the truck maker’s lineup of four NG and hybrid truck models. Douglas said many of those companies are seriously interested in updating part of their fleets with the technology. The trucks incorporate either Paccar MX or Westport Innovations engines that burn liquefied or compressed natural gas.

Helping drive the interest in NG is the price of diesel and growing availability of NG fueling locations. NG costs about half diesel’s current price on an equivalent diesel basis and is projected to stay at that price for the foreseeable future, Douglas said. NG also releases about 25 percent fewer emissions when burned. Its attractiveness is enhanced because it can be used with existing diesel engine technology with a few modifications.

Interest in NG trucks is increasing despite a 30 percent to 40 percent higher cost. Most of the additional cost comes from more expensive fuel tanks that in the case of LNG are a tank within a tank to cool the gas, plus an auxiliary tank for diesel that ignites first before igniting the LNG in the engine.

Most of the existing NG fueling stations are in California, where ports and utilities have led the way in adopting NG technology. Recently, a fueling station was opened in Salt Lake City and another is being installed in Las Vegas as part of a network initially to accommodate UPS, which will operate about 90 Kenworth T800s. Other fueling outlets are opening near Houston and in Connecticut, and Chesapeake Energy Corp. recently announced plans to open public LNG and CNG fuel stations “in high-transportation corridors easily accessible by trucks,” Douglas said.