Betting on natural gas vehicles (NGV) has been by United Parcel Service (UPS), which is adding 250 liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 35 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks to its previously announced 700-truck order for delivery by the end of next year.

In April, the global package shipping company said it planned to further transform its nationwide transit fleet by purchasing 700 LNG vehicles and spending $18 million to build four fueling stations in Tennessee and Texas by the end of 2014 (see Daily GPI, April 25). By last Monday the ante was increased to an additional $75 million investment in NGVs.

Kenworth trucks have dominated the current UPS LNG truck fleet, and the long-haul tractor-trailer maker is expected to gain more significant orders from UPS, as will Mack Trucks, which has supplied UPS with 122 Axle Back tractors with Cummins Westport ISX12 G natural gas engines.

UPS COO David Abney told the Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo last month in Washington, DC, that UPS over the past five years has made alternative fuel and technology vehicle commitments for up to $250 million and 2,700 vehicles. UPS alternative fuel vehicles have logged more than 300 million miles since 2000, Abney said.

Abney said that in 2014 every tractor that UPS buys will be an NGV. Advanced CNG long-haul trucks now can deliver 400 hp and the range his company needs, he said.

Meanwhile, public access LNG fueling is being developed in Montreal through a joint effort by Gaz Metro Transport Solutions, which promotes NGVs, and Sonic retail gasoline station operator La Coop Federee. The pair are launching a network of “multi-energy” fueling stations. They will be the first public access LNG stations in eastern Canada, the partners said.

“The partnership is part of the ‘Blue Road’ development of public LNG fueling stations for heavy transportation on the trucking corridor between Quebec’s Riviere-du-Loup and Toronto,” according to a Fleets & Fuels bulletin. The first station is scheduled to be built this fall.

A unit of AGL Resources recently opened the first of five CNG fueling stations under a Atlanta Gas Light utility program in Valdosta, GA, in the southern part of the state (see Daily GPI, May 31, 2012). And Mississippi-based TruStar Energy (formerly Vocational Energy) has introduced a new portable CNG fueling system for a fleet of CNG-fueled cement trucks out of Jackson, MS. The Kenworth trucks are operated by MMC Materials.

The mobile fueling facility comes with eight integrated time-fill hoses, with the capability of being expanded to 20 hoses. The portable unit measures 24 feet long and eight feet wide, needing a 600-square-foot footprint. The fueling units can be rented, financed or purchased, TruStar said.

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