ARLINGTON, Va. — Some of the nation’s leading trucking executives at American Trucking Associations’ Summit on Natural Gas in Trucking said that with natural gas priced as much as $2 per gallon cheaper than diesel fuel, it can’t be ignored as an alternative fuel.
The lower fuel price is giving the U.S. trucking industry its greatest opportunity to run a more cost-effective business, but concerns ranging from infrastructure to maintenance are forcing them to proceed slowly, fleet executives said at a panel discussion Friday.
And U.S. natural gas prices are expected to remain significantly lower than diesel — which has averaged just below $4 per gallon for the past two years — primarily because of the plentiful domestic supply. U.S. domestic supplies can meet demand for a century, according to projections.
With that kind of potential savings, executives of carriers Lynden Inc., Swift Transportation and UPS Inc. have all considered boosting natural gas use for their fleets. They spoke Friday at a summit session, “The Business Case for Natural Gas Use: A Fleet Perspective.”