Grocery industry giant SUPERVALU INC. has initiated an alternative fuel vehicle program with the deployment of 35 compressed natural gas (CNG) units from Volvo Trucks.
This CNG fleet will operate out of SUPERVALU's Mechanicsville, Va., distribution center, which serves approximately 500 grocery stores in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. Volvo Trucks designed these Class 8 vehicles specifically to meet SUPERVALU's needs, and the trucks were built at Volvo's Dublin, Va., plant.
Trillium CNG built and will operate a fast-fill CNG station at the Mechanicsville location in order to support the trucks' fueling needs. Trillium CNG is also building a nearby CNG station in Chesterfield County.
Overall, SUPERVALU operates 20 distribution centers across the U.S. and has more than 400 trucks in its fleet. The Mechanicsville distribution center, which has a total of 105 tractors in its fleet, has set a goal of converting approximately 65% of its total fleet to natural gas by 2015.
