WASHINGTON CITY, UTAH – With gas prices rising, Washington City is taking proactive measures to ensure it can reduce its fuel spend. The City has used grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to convert six of its 2008 Ford pickups to run on CNG, with another 2011 Ford pickup on order that will undergo conversion. Beyond vehicle conversions, the City also received grant money to install a CNG fueling facility. Government Fleet spoke with Mike Shaw, public works director for the City about these changes to the fleet.

The DOE grant provided $211,000 for vehicle conversions and $193,765 for the fueling facility. The fueling facility will also be open to the public. Shaw said the grant will cover the first eight vehicle conversions and the additional conversions are on a 50-percent match.

Why natural gas? “Natural gas is clean burning, economical, domestically produced and in abundant supply, and has a superior range over electric,” Shaw said.

He added that the vehicles will save the City thousands of dollars each year. “On average each vehicle uses 1,000 gallons of fuel each year.  With the cost savings on fuel alone, the City will save around $2,330 per vehicle each year.  Running on CNG will also extend the life of the vehicle as well as cut down on maintenance costs. Vehicle services will go from 3,000 miles to 12,000 miles.”

Shaw said City fleet technicians will receive training on maintaining vehicles with these fueling systems and employees driving these trucks will receive training on fueling them properly.

To see more pictures of the CNG fueling station, check out the gallery of images we received from Mike Shaw:

Washington City, Utah, CNG Fueling Station

By Greg Basich