Up until now, many fleets in the four western states have wanted to try liquefied natural gas-fueled trucks in their operations. But committing to a purchase or full-service lease agreement without knowing whether they would work in their operations seemed too much of a risk.

Now they can since PacLease has something coming right out of the Blu.

Fleets operating along the I-84 and I-15 corridors from Las Vegas, through Utah, Idaho, and eastern Oregon can rent Kenworth trucks fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) through a new rental program available from PacLease, its local franchise – Kenworth Sales Company, and Blu LNG. PacLease and Salt Lake City-based Kenworth Sales Company are teaming up with Blu LNG to provide the LNG-fueled trucks and the LNG fuel to power them. 

The rental program will offer trucks in four different configurations to meet the needs of most fleets while matching the LNG fueling infrastructure that Blu is currently installing. The trucks are scheduled to roll off the assembly line shortly and will be available in local-delivery, regional-haul, long-haul and heavy-haul configurations. The trucks will be available at select Kenworth Sales Company-PacLease locations throughout the four western states near to where Blu has recently completed construction of LNG fueling stations. The three Idaho locations are in Boise, Idaho Falls and Jerome. In Utah, there are three in Salt Lake City, and one in Salina and one in Washington. There are also locations in Las Vegas, Nev., and Pendleton, Ore. 

“We’re excited to be offering private fleets and truck operators a chance to try an LNG-powered truck in areas where such opportunities have never really existed before,” said Olen Hunter, director of sales for PacLease. “For companies involved in regional food and beverage distribution, oil and gas exploration, hauling raw products for the agricultural industry, or finished products for food processors, this will be an opportunity to test natural gas-powered trucks in their specific operations and duty cycles.

“This also offers fleets the opportunity to make sure the fueling infrastructure has been established to meet their needs and routes,” Hunter added. “Additionally, they can determine if the price difference between LNG and diesel fuels offers them enough savings to consider more wide-spread adoption of natural gas-powered trucks into their fleet operations.”

More locations will be available as new Blu LNG stations come online and rental truck equipment capacity is added nationally.

“We’re excited about the synergies created through this joint marketing agreement among Blu, Paclease and Kenworth Sales Company,” said Drew Laing, director of marketing for Blu. “The agreement will provide customers a great opportunity to evaluate the performance and fuel savings of natural gas by using demo trucks within their own unique operations. We are confident this program will provide the transportation industry the assistance needed to effectively adopt this cleaner, domestically produced, and lower-cost fuel.”

LNG fuel has the potential to significantly reduce fuel costs, Laing said. Recently the average price of a diesel gallon-equivalent of LNG has been running about a $1 below the average price of a gallon of diesel fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and Clean Energy Fuels.

All four configurations will feature the Kenworth T800 equipped with one 120-gallon LNG fuel tank, a 15-liter Westport high-pressure direct injection (HPDI) engine and manual transmission in various specifications. The local-delivery configuration will feature a day cab, single drive axle and a weight rating of 65,000-lb. GVW. The regional-haul configuration will feature a day cab, tandem drive axle and a weight rating of 80,000-lb. GVW. The line-haul configuration will feature a 38-inch sleeper, tandem or tridem drive axles and a weight rating of 80,000-lb. GVW. The heavy-haul configuration will feature day cab or 38-inch sleeper, heavy-duty tridem drive axles and maximum weight ratings that meet local state weight laws. PacLease can also provide long-haul units with dual LNG tanks for fleets with longer operating ranges.

“The heavy-haul configuration will be particularly well spec’d to handle the punishing environments typical with oil and gas exploration work,” Hunter added. “This rental program has the potential to really open up the market for buying and leasing natural gas-powered trucks. It gives companies an opportunity to use a lower cost and cleaner locally produced natural gas while reducing our dependency on foreign oil.” 

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