Its happening.
Truck manufacturers are offering NG versions of 18 wheelers, and trucking companies are converting their US fleet to run on NG.
US truckers are switching from diesel to NG
the shale-gas boom is rippling through transportation. Never before has the price gap between natural gas and diesel been so large, suddenly making natural-gas-powered trucks an alluring option for company fleets, rather than an impractical idea pushed mainly by natural-gas boosters like T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman. Railroad operators also are being affected as coal shipments decline.
Many fleet operators, particularly long-haul truckers, remain concerned about a scarcity of refueling stations. Other challenges include the bulky tanks for compressed gas and the hazards of handling liquefied gas. In the past, the volatility of natural-gas prices also hampered wider use.
But today, truck manufacturers are embracing natural gas for everything from bi-fuel pickup trucks like the Chevy Silverado HD to eighteen-wheelers that can burn natural gas either compressed, called CNG, or super-chilled, called LNG. Navistar International Corp., NAV +0.25% Cummins Inc. CMI -1.31% and General Motors Co. GM +1.81% all are courting the market with new natural-gas powered trucks or engines....... in a couple of years, one in three Navistar trucks sold will burn natural gas. "This is not a subsidy-driven market," Mr. Tech says. "It's developing on its own because the economics are compelling."
Companies like United Parcel Service Inc. UPS -0.32% and AT&T Inc. T +0.15% are buying the vehicles. AT&T recently ordered 1,200 Chevrolet Express cargo vans equipped to run on compressed natural gas, which GM said was its largest CNG vehicle order ever.
Ryder Systems began renting out natural gas trucks in California last yea. The response has been so strong Ryder is expanding the program to Michigan and Arizona. And it is introducing them in truck clusters it operates for big box retailers like Staples Inc. SPLS -0.59% and manufacturers including carpet-maker Mohawk Industries Inc. MHK -0.54%
Its a revolution-----the switch from Oil to NG is happening now.
Mercedes Benz NG 18-wheeler.