how common are the compress natural gas trucks??

I think this is going to be the future fuel for diesel trucks, but you need fueling stations. I expect it will have to start out with the local trucks first, due to fueling stations, and the confidence builds, then it will expand for long haul trucks.

 

The other day I heard contracts were being drawn up for Flying J and Pilot to install Nat gas tanks nationwide.

 

mmm interresting

 

This raises some questions. First, how competitively priced will CNG be per unit of energy as compared to diesel fuel? Second, what kind of range will CNG provide? How much weight will the beefier CNG tanks add to the curb weight of the truck, and will this limit loading capacity?

A benefit that I can see is that trucks could go 'dual fuel'. Up to 90% of your fuel consumed would be CNG, with the remaining 10% as injected diesel in lieu of installing spark ignition to fire the CNG (compression ignition alone won't work for CNG). You'd need a specialized computer and metering system to work with the turbocharger, but it shouldn't be that difficult.

 

in a accident wouldnt that be more dangerous than diesel?

 

no spills or explosions cng evaporates like freon i know a guy who leases one he says it doesnt pull as good as a diesel engine not many places to fuel also you need to purge the tank before fueling or the fuel guage will read more then there really is but its about a dollar cheaper then diesel

 

I'd say it depends. The tanks are heavier, and less easily punctured. CNG ignites easier than diesel, but it contains less energy by volume. Escaping gas would be less likely to find an ignition source, as NG is lighter than air and won't collect along the ground like LP. A fire wouldn't spread across the ground and burn for hours, it would likely be a single jet of flame that wouldn't last long. Unlike LP (or diesel), the NG is not in liquid form, so there's no danger of a BLEVE.

 

Whatever fuel is going to replace cheap diesel fuel you will not see it over night. The infrastructure took many years to establish so it's not just going to be rolled out. It may come in slowly but only when diesel is not making them money. If Wall Street would have stayed out of the picture maybe we could have had a decentprice on diesel fuel and we would all be making more.

I would guess the CNG would first come out in large tanks to supply the tractor enough so the drivers doesn't need to refuel. But any time you bring in a new fuel a very intensive study must be done to show a profit. After all no one is going to do it because it's nice. Monetary advantages are what drives any business. I really think you'll start to see many types of fuels and designs changes coming slow with the mixture of what is already proven.