The government fleet in Dane County, Wis., has debuted compressed natural gas' (CNG) latest application for the county, with the deployment of a heavy-duty truck for plowing snow.
Dane County already has 30 natural gas vehicles in its fleet, and this snow plow is the first of eight such trucks scheduled to come online this year. Officials say these dedicated-CNG vehicles represent the state's first rollout of natural gas power for snow removal.
‘The county's fleet of snow plows has gotten a real workout this winter, and this new CNG technology holds great promise for reducing fuel and maintenance costs,’ says county executive Joe Parisi.
The CNG that Dane County uses to refuel its NGVs is sourced from its own landfill in Rodefeld, where methane biogas is converted to usable natural gas fuel. All in, that renewable CNG costs the county about $1.25/GGE. Each snow plow consumes approximately 2,500 gallons of diesel fuel annually, equating to a fuel-cost savings of about $6,000 per CNG plow per year based on the current price of diesel.
In addition to the eight heavy-duty plow trucks, Dane County will be acquiring five additional NGVs this year. All 13 NGVs will cost the county about $2.3 million.
