Southern Eagle Distributing, one of the oldest continual Anheuser-Busch distributorships in the U.S., has purchased two propane autogas vehicles to reduce both emissions and costs.
The trucks will be used in Charleston, S.C., to deliver over 600 beverage types, including beer, soda, energy drinks, juice and water.
“Southern Eagle Distributing has adopted propane autogas technology to reduce our overall emissions and create a more environmentally friendly and green fleet,” states Jim Henderson, vice president of operations for Southern Eagle Distributing. “We care about and support our local communities and want to impact them positively. A less-polluting fleet benefits everyone.”
The two new Ford F-650 beverage delivery trucks are each equipped with a Ford 6.8L V10 3V engine with a ROUSH CleanTech fuel system. These propane engines are certified to 0.05 grams per brake horsepower-hour for nitrogen oxide. ROUSH says this engine is 75% cleaner than the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard and 99% cleaner than diesel vehicles built before 2007.
A propane station with a 1,000-gallon tank is being installed at the company’s Charleston location to fuel the trucks.
“Fueling on-site is more economical for us than mobile fueling,” notes Henderson. “The refill station was a low-entry cost for us.”
The company says it is saving more than 40% on fuel compared with current diesel prices and expects to reduce maintenance expenses, too.
“By choosing propane autogas, Southern Eagle is reducing harmful emissions for its community and its employees,” comments Todd Mouw, vice president of sales and marketing for ROUSH CleanTech. “This domestically produced energy continues to grow rapidly in the transportation market as thousands of fleets experience the clean and economic benefits.”
Southern Eagle Distributing will test its first two propane delivery trucks this year.
“We are optimistic that the test will be successful,” says Henderson. “Propane autogas is easy to scale. We’ll continue to evaluate our fleet needs into 2019, and I’m hopeful we will be adding more propane units as we replace older units.”
