The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is offering grant funding to repower or replace heavy-duty diesel or gasoline vehicles with natural gas engines or new vehicles.
The $15.4 million Texas Natural Gas Vehicle Grant Program will award applicants who operate their repowered or new vehicle in one or more of the Clean Transportation Zone counties in Texas.
To qualify for the program, a vehicle, engine or conversion system must operate solely on natural gas, including compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (propane), or it must operate on a combination of diesel fuel and natural gas (dual-fuel) and be capable of at least 60% displacement of diesel fuel use in dual-fuel operation.
Celebrating the inclusion of propane, Jackie Mason, education and marketing director for the Propane Council of Texas, comments, “The Propane Council of Texas is excited to educate fleets on this new opportunity to add clean-burning propane vehicles on Texas roads.”
Applications are being accepted from April 3-May 31 or until all grant funding is awarded. Applicants may be eligible for the maximum grant amount or 90% of the eligible costs – whichever is lower. Grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, says the TCEQ.
Exceptions to some of the program requirements may be granted to applicants replacing or repowering vehicles or engines destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, the commission notes. The list of eligible natural gas vehicles, engines and conversion systems is available here.
The grants are designed to help reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from mobile sources, support programs that encourage the use of alternative fuels, and help keep the air in Texas clean, according to the commission.
