Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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40 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2014 EQUIPMENT: NATURAL GAS GLIDER KIT It was underneath the hood and cab where the real differences this tractor offered could be found. Pulling the hood forward didn't reveal the new selective cata- lytic reduction-equipped DD12 one would expect to see. Instead, I was greeted with a concrete-gray 1996-vintage Series 60 Detroit Diesel engine, complete with vibrant blood-red lettering scripted across the engine block. Glider kits take advantage of a quirky loophole in truck manufacturing laws that allow fleets to purchase a truck with a new cab and chassis, fitted with a recycled or re- furbished drivetrain. The additional twist – thrown into the mix by APG, Wheel Time and their partners – is that their rebuilt powertrains receive the further addition of a natural gas fuel and tank system. The system manages the flow of the two fuels to the engine, using diesel both as the ignition source in the combustion chamber and as a power boost in situations demanding higher torque from the engine. So when the truck is just getting rolling or climbing a steep mountain grade, the system supplies larger amounts of diesel to the engine – up to 50 percent of the fuel supplied, depend- ing on road and terrain conditions – and then dials that ratio back as engine load demands decrease. So on my flat run heading west, the engine was using a minimum of diesel – only a little shot to initiate combustion – while the cheaper natural gas kept the wheels turning. Later in the moun- tains, the system delivered a significantly higher percent- age of diesel to the combustion mix to make sure I had plenty of power to deal with the terrain. On the road, the truck handles and drives exactly as one expects: it is, after all, a new truck. The only in- dications that something unusual is happening are an electronic fuel system monitor on the dash, which shows the driver the diesel-to-natural gas fuel ratio, and the noise level in the cab. Although the truck is new, it has a 20-year-old engine under the hood that – despite the technological upgrades it has received in its current incarnation – is louder than new ones that come out of factories today, so some more pronounced drivetrain noise is to be expected. Most importantly is the performance of the fuel system in actual driving conditions, which was why my Salt Lake hosts were so eager for me to drive the truck in the nearby mountains. The dual-fuel system delivered in spades; the glider kit pulled as well as any truck on the highway. The truck was loaded with about 44,000 pounds in the box and had no problem dealing with any grades – up to 6 in percent in some areas. This is clearly a system that works on the driver's behalf to get the job done. DO THE NUMBERS ADD UP? I was impressed enough with the dual-fuel glider con- cept to ask a couple of APG customers to talk about their experiences at the CCJ Fall Symposium in December in Scottsdale, Ariz. Brian Orr – president of Stewart Logistics, a FedEx Ground contractor out of Atlanta – said he was attracted to natural gas a couple of years ago due to its low price and his belief that he could use it to add $1 per gallon burned by his fleet to his bottom line. Looking at acquisition costs, Orr calculated he could buy a new diesel tractor for his runs for about $128,000. A simi- larly spec'd new natural gas tractor would cost between $180,000 and $200,000. But a retrofitted glider kit could be had for $110,000. Based on those calculations, Orr opted to try a glider kit built by Fitzgerald and took ownership of his first vehicle in October 2013. Today, Orr is running two Series 60-powered dual- fuel glider kits five days per week on a dedicated route between Atlanta and Meridian, Miss. The trucks burn the diesel gallon equivalent of 71 gallons a day. Orr typically buys the fuel for about 96 cents a gallon cheaper than diesel. The result, he said, has been a 65 percent displacement of diesel fuel burned for a cost savings of $68.16 a day per truck. "This works out to $340.80 in fuel cost savings a week, or a total of $17,721.60 in yearly fuel cost savings, per truck," Orr said. Mike Pope – president and chief executive officer of Racine, Wis.-based Pope Transport – was pleasantly The Series 60 Detroit Diesel engine was refurbished and retrofitted with a bi-fuel natural gas kit from APG and Wheel Time before being dropped in a Freightliner Columbia glider.