The U.S. Air Force has rolled out eight new Ram 2500 bi-fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) pickup trucks from Chrysler Group at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
Earl Wade, deputy director of the 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron, says he and his team are bullish on making future purchases of bi-fuel CNG trucks as a part of regular fleet replacement plans. Cost-wise, CNG models are currently competitive with traditional gasoline-fueled trucks.
‘Now we can get a CNG-powered vehicle for almost the same price,’ Wade says.
The trucks are equipped with 8.5 GGE of on-board CNG storage and an eight-gallon gasoline tank. The CNG systems are installed by the OEM.
In terms of refueling, Tinker operates CNG infrastructure near its motor pool headquarters, and Oklahoma City itself has more than 20 public-access CNG stations.
