Charting a longer-haul course for natural gas

Diesel fuel isn't going away any time soon, but there are companies out there paving the way for natural gas alternatives. These companies include Chart, which has developed a large tank to suit regional and even long-haul applications for heavy-duty trucks.

We caught a glimpse of the 108-inch tank, which holds enough liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to equal 100 diesel equivalent gallons. It's more than a baby step in this field, as those spec'ing longer-haul trucks have questioned the range of natural gas trucks. The LNG tank answers some of those questions, and is more realistic for longer hauls than compressed natural gas, or CNG, would be.

The new tank from Chart  holds LNG at 100 psi at minus-200 degrees Fahrenheit, for 10 days without any release of gas due to warming or expansion, Chart Product Manager Peter Murray told Land Line during the Mid-America Trucking Show. Previous versions of LNG tanks would begin losing small amounts of gas after seven days.

Even if the truck sits for a few days, an hour's worth of drive time will always return the gas to 100 psi at minus-200 degrees.

"When the engine takes in fuel, it extracts heat and cools it," Murray said.

More and more regional and longer-haul operations, including over-the-road, are waiting on natural gas fueling infrastructure to be in place before they make the leap to new trucks and tanks. The move is not going to be for everyone.

Questions about tank weight and payload remain concerns for owner-operators and trucking companies.

Right now, most LNG fueling stations – including those built with Chart technologies – reside with municipal vehicle fleets, refuse companies and the like. Public fueling is on its way, according to many OEMs and folks at Chart who are in the know.

"You will see Chart equipment at public fueling stations," said Paul Sjogren of the company's Minnesota plant. Chart is based in Cleveland, OH, with manufacturing plants in Minnesota and Georgia employing about 2,000 people. They are currently equipped to manufacture about 100 tanks per day, but the Chart folks say they could easily upgrade their facilities to reach the thousands if and when the demand hits.

Fueling stations currently hold about 6,000 gallons of LNG, but upgrades to 16,000 gallons are on the way so tankers can deliver full loads.

Fueling Chart's new 108-inch, 100 diesel-equivalent-gallon tank takes about five minutes, a much shorter duration than a CNG fill.

Murray says Chart LNG tanks have made it onto many OEMs' trucks including Navistar, Mack, Volvo, Peterbilt, Kenworth and Freightliner models.

Oh, and about the cost? While the company won't give specifics, they hinted at numbers "under $35,000" for the new LNG tank. That may seem expensive, but considering that companies can lock into a fixed price for natural gas for up to 20 years and that natural gas trucks could save 30-50 percent in fueling costs over the life of a truck, the payback could be quick.

"They would see a 12- to 18-month payback," Murray says.

Pros say safety, not profit, should drive new training rule

Experienced trucking professionals took to the podium Friday to reaffirm their commitment to highway safety and to help the FMCSA shape a rule on entry level driver training standards.

What the industry doesn't need, many said, is for inexperienced trainers to be in charge of inexperienced drivers hauling freight right out of trucking school.

"Before somebody can be a trainer, they have to be through all four seasons," said 38-year trucking veteran and OOIDA Life Member Lee Strebel, during a public listening session convened by  a panel of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials, including Administrator Anne Ferro and Deputy Administrator Larry Minor.

The session, held during the Mid-America Trucking Show, was part of FMCSA's outreach on driver training standards as the agency prepares a final rule as mandated in the highway bill MAP-21, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century.

"You have to give that student the big picture," Strebel said.

Jerry Fritts, Greg Petit, Jeana Hysell, Sam Mitchell, Sandi Talbott, D.J. Brown, Dick Pingle, Scott Grenerth and OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer took to the microphone in the afternoon session to talk about the need for trained drivers with experience to replace those leaving the industry.

Administrators acknowledged that many older, experienced drivers are leaving the industry, and that schools have varying level of standards for training new drivers.

Some trainers and carrier representatives at the session said the FMCSA should allow them to keep doing what they're doing – graduating thousands of CDL applicants and getting them to work quickly to fill the so-called "driver shortage." Numerous schools and companies were represented and obviously do not deserve to be lumped together as many had ideas that furthered the discussion about accreditation, cost and turnover.

Truckers, however, cautioned against two- to three-week training courses – some even shorter than that – that promise CDLs and a job. Many talked about colleagues or discussions around the truck stops that have thrown up red flags about training programs and promises of steady work for good pay.

"You can train anyone to go down the road," Spencer said. "You want to train a driver for when things go wrong, because things go wrong every day."

The experienced group offered up various suggestions, varying from three to five years experience behind the wheel before someone can become a trainer to train other drivers. Many said that a trainee needs six months at the wheel with an experienced trainer before being turned loose.

Drivers highlighted the recruitment strategies of carriers, the so-called "driver shortage" and the turnover rate in an effort to shed light on the need for commitment by the federal agency on tighter training standards.

"There is no oversight on the turnover rate," Sandi Talbott said. "As a veteran driver and as a taxpayer, I feel if the FMCSA truly cared about safety they would have a cap on how many students could be recruited by a training carrier per year."

An official representing a group of schools that graduate about 50,000 entry level drivers each year said they supply most of those drivers to a group of large carriers. The carriers with relationships with those schools own a combined 60,000 tractors. The numbers illuminate what truckers know firsthand in terms of driver turnover in the industry.

Fritts cited a recent study that said the LTL sector had only 9 percent turnover, far lower than the 100 percent turnover of some carriers despite the fact that the drivers are essentially doing the same work.

"New drivers are really being exploited by trucking company management," Fritts said.

The panel asked about simulators as a training tool. Brown and Grenerth said that while simulators can teach certain things, there's no substitute for real-world conditions, including weather, traffic, hours of service, separation from family and other stresses.

"Getting a CDL is not being an experienced driver," Grenerth said.

"I don't think anything is going to teach me what that road is going to teach me," said Brown.

The FMCSA intends to publish a rule on entry level driver training standards in the near future, as per the mandate. Administrators said they were grateful for the input from experienced drivers on the issue.