A California carrier that hauls flour and malt barley is adding almost a dozen new natural-gas-powered trucks to its fleet.
Food Express Inc. and Southern California Gas Co. recently announced the addition of 11 new ultra-low emission natural gas trucks to the trucking company’s fleet. The company, with the assistance of SoCalGas, applied for and received $1.1 million in grant funding for the new trucks. The company has an additional 35 trucks on order.
Some of Food Express’s new natural-gas-powered trucksFunding was part of a program administered by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Program. The carrier expects to add nine more natural gas trucks in the future. Replacing 55 diesel trucks with new ultra-low emission natural gas trucks is the equivalent of taking more than 3,100 passenger cars off the road, according to a statement from the two companies.
“As the owner of a local business that’s been in my family for four generations, it is important that our company be part of the clean air solution,” said Kevin Keeney, vice president of Arcadia, Calif.-based Food Express, Inc. “We’ve heard from many customers over the last few years about ways we can make our operation more environmentally-friendly. Our fleet travels about 7.5 million miles in California each year and the technological advancements of these new heavy-duty engines made our decision to switch to natural gas trucks an easy choice.”
FXI, which is based in Arcadia, California, transports flour and malt barley throughout the state for use in products such as bread, ramen noodles, tortillas and craft beer.
