Pickens Says Natural Gas Trucks Will Soon Cost the Same as Diesel

GRAPEVINE, Texas — The cost differential between natural gas powered trucks and their diesel versions is fast dissolving and will soon disappear, according to investor T. Boone Pickens.

Pickens, one of the leading advocates of natural gas as an alternative to oil as a fuel, told a luncheon crowd at TMW Systems’ TransForum here this week that the price differences between trucks that burn the two fuels will evaporate completely “in less than 10 years.”

He said a natural gas powered trash truck that cost $50,000 more than its diesel alternative a few years ago, is now only about $10,000 more.

And the natural gas needed to power that truck, Pickens said, “is $1.50 to $2 a gallon cheaper than diesel today.”

Natural gas powered truck prices have been declining as more of them are being produced.

Pickens, chairman of BP Capital Management, has among his investments Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which is in the midst of constructing a national network of filling stations that offer liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas.