If you own your own business — and this applies to owner-operators as well as fleets — it’s probably safe to assume you’re concerned about the costs of operating your business.
With all the stories in the news about the “fuel of the future,” who could be blamed for wondering about alternatives to the tried-and-true diesel engine for future equipment purchases?
The biggest issue with non-traditional powered vehicles in the trucking industry is availability.
Natural gas, hydrogen and electricity all have advantages over diesel fuel, but none are as readily available and accessible as diesel.
If your business is irregular-route trucking that keeps you on the road for a week or more at a time, taking you to different destinations, diesel fuel is still your only viable option.
But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for other types of engines and fuel sources.
Changes are being made in certain areas of transportation.
Consider passenger vehicles.
Households that depend on one vehicle sometimes face the same issue as long-haul truckers when it comes to the availability of fuel. One-car families that use their vehicles for vacations or other long trips as well as for local travel are likely better served with gasoline or diesel power. But those households are in the minority.
According to a March 2024 article in Forbes Advisor, “Car Ownership Statistics 2024,” 59.1% of American households owned two or more vehicles in 2022.
For these millions of households, it makes perfect sense to use one vehicle for long-distance trips and another for commuting to and from work or school, local shopping and so forth. Vehicles fueled by electricity, natural gas or other fuels could work well — and save the owner some cash in the long run.
The same changes are occurring in trucking.
Local trucking businesses, such as those that haul trash, beverages or passengers (such as buses, trolley or tram systems) have been experimenting with other forms of power for years, with varying degrees of success. Many metro areas use natural gas to power bus transportation, benefitting from the lower cost and reduced emission levels provided by the fuel. Electric vehicles are also becoming more common.
If your trucking business is local or regional in nature — and especially if your vehicle returns to the same location each evening — an alternative fuel could give you a competitive advantage … but only if the details are in your favor.
For example, you might need to have an electric charging station or a natural gas fueling station installed where you park your vehicle. The cost of installation, the difficulty of getting supplied by the local power company and the cost of the specific alternative fuel are factors to consider.
Charging is a major factor for electric vehicles.
Many homes already have the electrical service necessary to charge an electric car.
However, charging heavy trucks generally requires more power than is available at a typical home. Businesses may need to upgrade their electrical service, and local grids may not be able to handle the increase without long delays (if at all).
Battery electric trucks require chargers that can handle 250-750 Kilowatt-hours (kWh). That’s five to 10 times the electricity required to charge a car.
Additionally, truck charging stations are usually designed to charge multiple vehicles at once. Often, installing chargers of that capacity requires additional cables, transformers and other hardware from the local electric company. Even then, the grid in that area may not be capable of handling the extra capacity.
The cost of electricity is another issue.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), costs per kWh of electricity in 2023 ranged from just over eight cents in North Dakota to just under 25 cents in California. In other words, the cost of electricity in California was more than three times the cost in North Dakota. (The national average cost was 12.68 cents.) Obviously, the cost of electricity in your area can make a huge difference in charging costs, whether you’re looking at powering a passenger vehicle or a Class 8 truck.
Natural gas prices vary by state as well.
The standard unit used to measure the energy capacity of natural gas is the “therm.” One therm is equal to about 100,000 British thermal units (BTUs), or about 29.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity. It’s the energy of about 100 cubic feet of natural gas at standard temperature and pressure.
As with electricity, natural gas prices are high in California and in the Northeast U.S. where they run almost double the cost in the Midwest. As with electric charging stations, it’s important to check with the local service provider to find out costs for both the product and for installation of charging infrastructure.
Natural gas fuels do offer other benefits.
One benefit of using natural gas to fuel your vehicles is that there is an infrastructure on the road, even if it’s still pretty small.
With its 2016 purchase of Trillium CNG, Love’s Travel Centers secured a supplier for natural gas refueling as well as new fueling stations. The chain now offers 65 fueling locations for natural gas. The truck stop stations are mostly in Texas and Oklahoma, but Trillium locations can be found from Florida to California.
British Petroleum (BP) last year announced that it had purchased the TravelCenters of America (TA) chain. BP plans to use TA locations to expand and develop new fuel offerings, including electric charging stations and natural gas.
Hydrogen is considered an up-and-coming fuel … but unless you live near a facility that makes it available, it’s probably not your fuel of choice.
It’s worth noting that the fuels mentioned above are often used to produce other fuels. For example, hydrogen is often manufactured from natural gas — using electricity. Natural gas is burned in some power plants that generate electricity. In areas where the cost of natural gas is high, the price for electricity or hydrogen produced from it is likely to be high as well.
So, what’s the answer?
That depends on your specific situation and needs. Before you make the decision to move to an alternate fuel, it’s important to find out who will perform maintenance on your vehicle and where maintenance services can be obtained.
Some tasks, such as oil changes, won’t change much, but a breakdown without a technician that knows the system could be a major problem.
Vehicles using natural gas as fuel and electric vehicles have been around long enough that both are available on the used truck market.
If your trucking business can work with limited fueling/charging capabilities, there might be an opportunity to reduce operational expenses and increase profitability by investing in an alternative-fuel vehicle.
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
