LP Gas, October 2011
PROPANE AUTOGAS Continued from page 22 The advantages we have on range upfront costs and the ongoing maintenance in the vehicle make propane autogas a clear winner Added incentives To help convert their vehicles to propane Yellow Cab of Columbus and Ace Taxi received grant funds from statewide non profit organization Clean Fuels Ohio which was awarded 11 million from the U S Department of Energys DOE Clean Cities program DOE distributed about 300 million in Recovery Act funds to 25 partners nationwide to increase the use of alternative fuel vehicles including those running on propane compressed natural gas electricity and hybrid electricity The program which began in 2009 and runs through May 2014 will convert 2850 vehicles to propane and install 358 propane fueling stations see Datapoints on page 19 A lot of taxicab fleets have been running autogas for years but the renaissance began in the last couple of years with the introduction of tax credits and DOE and stimulus funding started to drive that marketplace Feehan says Once some of those cabs and police departments switched to autogas their peers started to see the advantages of running autogas in their fleets That success lends itself to continued success Its been around for a long time but it received a boost in 2009 and now its taking off Through the Ohio Advanced Transportation Partnership Yellow Cab of Columbus received 145000 for 25 Ford Crown Victorias 2006 08 model years while Ace Taxi is utilizing 133400 for 23 Crown Victorias 2008 And because they are part of the Alliance AutoGas network the cab companies didnt incur any upfront costs on their fueling infrastructure Those costs are being met through a propane supply contract with Blossman Gas Getting into new technology certainly has its challenges but as far as finances these cab companies had it easy because they didnt have to put up the money for their infrastructure and were able to pay the full conversion cost on the cabs says Cynthia Maves director of grant administration for Clean Fuels Ohio However one Cleveland taxicab company chose not to make the same commitment as its in state neighbors Yellow Cab of Cleveland was initially part of the Clean Fuels Ohio program but it elected not to convert a portion of its 140 vehicle fleet to propane I like to get at least three prices on everything They said Heres the price but how do you know its a good price Indirectly Im paying for it says Brian 24 LPGas October 2011 www LPGasmagazine com
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