The City of Tucson has opened two new compressed natural gas (CNG) stations at the Thomas O. Price Service Center, which now serves the city’s fleet services, the Environmental Services Department and Tucson’s public transit system, Sun Tran.
According to the city, this CNG fueling facility features one fast-fill station and one time-fill station. This facility allows 90 Environmental Services refuse trucks to fill up in overnight parking stalls while simultaneously allowing the fast-fill fuel of up to six additional vehicles.
The city says that there are two fast-fill dispensers, each with two fill nozzles, at Fleet Services’ fuel island that can fuel four vehicles and two fast-fill dispensers for Sun Tran that can fuel two vehicles. The facility houses two natural gas compressors each using a 300 HP electric motor and having an output of 1,200 standard cubic feet of natural gas.
The City of Tucson asserts that the time-fill stations have resulted in significant labor cost savings for its Environmental Services department. Furthermore, the overnight time-fill fueling system allows drivers to spend less time fueling the vehicles.
When fully converted, the city expects Environmental Services to save nearly 600,000 gallons of diesel per year and both customers and operators to experience quieter operation of vehicles.
