Fleets & Fuels ShowTimes Green Truck Summit March 7 issue

America’s only factory-built compressed natural gas bi-fuel pickup truck was unveiled here yesterday byChrysler’s Ram Trucks.

CNG vehicles from Ford and GM are delivered fromthe factory to converters – albeit with full OEM sanc-tion and warranties – but the Ram CNG will be builton the production line by the manufacturer, said Fred Diaz,president and CEO of Ram Truck Brand and Chryslerde Mexico. “This is not a conversion,” he stressed.

This brings two benefits – a three-year/30,000 mileChrysler warranty for the whole vehicle and fuel sys-tems, and a savings on price of at least $6,000 that com-petitors incur for CNG conversions.

The Ram 2500 HD CNG, available from July as aCrew Cab 4x4 model with 169-inch wheelbase, is pricedat $47,500, including a $995 destination charge. A com-parable conventional Ram is priced around $39,745.

With a $3 difference between CNG and gasoline, aRam owner will recoup the extra cost of the CNGvehicle in close to two years, Diaz said. The truck uses

gasoline only on start up, and if CNG is not available.The Ram CNG was engineered in collaboration with

Chrysler’s major investor Fiat, which has an 80% mar-ket share in Europe’s clean vehicle market with morethan half a million trucks and cars on the roads.

Appealing to American patriotism, Diaz said the RamCNG runs on domestic gas instead of imported oil “andis factory-built in North America for North America.”

Diaz said the Ram CNG should prove popular withcommercial and fleet operators, government agen-cies, and small businesses and contractors.

Ram Truck is experiencing a boom in pop-ularity, he noted, with 22 consecutivemonths of higher sales and a 21% increase in 2011.

Chrysler Ram is at Booth1003 and a new CNG Ramis in the Green Truckride-and-drive.

—See Pages 8-9

Chrysler Claims a First with CNG Ram Truck

Via Leads with Verizon‘This is a historic moment for America,’said Via Motors CEO Kraig Higginson,who claimed commitments here yesterdayfor 20,000 of his new GM-based, extended-range electric vans with fleets includingVerizon, with deliveries of 2,700 this year.

—Page 5

The 2012 Ride-and-DriveVehicles ranging from battery electrics todiesels to deliver your pizza or trim yourtree are here to take for a spin. —Pages 8-9

CNG Fords via UpfittersFirms including BAF, Landi Renzo USA,Venchurs, and Westport Innovations canmodify your Ford for CNG. —Pages 10-11

FCCC for Factory PropaneFreightliner Custom Chassis Corp roarsback into propane-autogas with a factory-built S2G with 8.0-liter GM engine. Onetarget market: propane dealers. —Page 12

More News ContentPublished Onlinewww.showtimesdaily.com

WORK TRUCK SHOW & GREEN TRUCK SUMMIT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012

CNG, propane, truck elec-

trification from Calstart-

NTEA Green Truck

Summit here.

—Page 6

Green Truck–Work Truck 2012

Chrysler literally took the wraps offits long-awaited re-entry into naturalgas vehicles in the U.S. here yester-day, showing a CNG-gasoline bi-fuelRam pickup truck that’s 100%factory built.

Full OEM assembly line manufac-turing will reduce costs by some$6,000 compared with the competi-tion, said Ram president Fred Diaz.

‘This is not a conversion,’ he said.

More from the Green Truck Summit

GTS12 d2p1 rpOK:Layout 1 3/6/12 5:50 PM Page 1

http://issuu.com/action/page?page=5







For nearly 100 years, Eaton® has found new ways to help fleets run

cleaner, greener, and more responsibly. By making the transition

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Leave a greener footprint.

AireDock (3885)

Allison Transmission Inc (4275)

Altec Industries (2215,5269)

ANGI Energy Systems (5574)

AT&T (5868)

BAE Systems (5359)

Bauer Compressors Inc (715)

Bergstrom Inc (5277)

Bosch Rexroth Corp (4181)

BrandFX Body Co (3519)

Brenntag (5473)

C.E. Niehoff & Co (826)

CALSTART (5261)

Chevrolet & GMC

Commercial Truck (1829)

US DOE Clean Cities (3605)

CPI Divisions (5971)

Cummins Crosspoint LLC (5173)

Cummins Inc (2101)

Daimler Vans USA LLC (3565)

D-Brake LLC (2118)

Donlen (5647)

Dow Kokam (5347)

DRM Diversafab (5377)

Efficient Transportation

Solutions (5362)

Electric Vehicles

International (5099)

Espar Heater Systems (5268)

Fiber-Tech Industries Inc (5255)

FleetOwner Magazine (3050)

Flitz International Ltd (5358)

FORCE America Inc (2045)

Ford Commercial Truck (3439)

Freightliner Custom

Chassis Corp (4169)

Freightliner Trucks (3859)

Frygy Cube International (808)

General Services Administration

Automotive (5077)

Go Power! by Carmanah

Technologies Corp (5177)

Greater Indiana Clean Cities (3607)

Green Alternative Systems (5958)

GreenRoad Technologies (5749)

Hamsar Diversco Inc (5364)

Henderson Products Inc (4045)

Hino Trucks (4139)

IMPCO Automotive (5465)

International Truck (4359)

Isuzu Commercial Truck

of America Inc (4747)

Jasper Engines &

Transmissions (623)

Kenworth Truck Co (3039)

Knapheide Manufacturing Co (3739)

Leggett & Platt Commercial

Vehicle Products (1817,3249)

Lightning Hybrids Inc (5468)

Lincoln Composites Inc (5767)

Littelfuse/Cole Hersee (733)

Mansfield Oil Co (5572)

Maxwell Technologies (633)

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck

of America Inc (1809)

Morgan Olson (3218)

Motiv Power Systems (5666)

NAFA Fleet Mgmt Assoc (724)

NAFTC (5476)

New Eagle (5375)

Next Hydraulics S.R.L. (5065)

NGVAmerica (5376)

Nissan North America (1437)

National Truck Equipment

Association (3401)

Odyne (5360)

Peterbilt Motors Company (2125)

Propane Education &

Research Council (5191)

Protean Electric Inc (5371)

RAD Woodwork Co Inc (5869)

RAM Trucks (1003)

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Siemens Industry Inc (618)

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Sortimo NA (5087)

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VIA Motors INC (5459)

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North America Inc (5687)

Westport LD (5491)

Wilcox Bodies Ltd (2035)

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A Field of GreenThere are green truck

options across the entirety

of Work Truck Show 2012.

Enjoy, and Learn!

Clean Cities is hosting a postersession this afternoon to highlightsuccessful coalition projects.

“The goal of this poster ses-sion is to show fleet managersreal-world examples of success-ful petroleum-reduction proj-ects, inspire them to exploreoptions with their local coordi-nator, and know that Clean Citiesis here to help,” said SandraLoi of the U.S. Department ofEnergy’s National RenewableEnergy Laboratory.

The posters will be on displayfrom noon until 5 p.m. in MeetingRooms 103-104 on Level 1 of the con-vention center (near the GreenTruck Summit area). Clean Citiescoordinators will be on hand from3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

March 7, 2012 Convention & Tradeshow News • www.ShowTimesDaily.com • Twitter @ShowTimesAFV

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online at ShowTimesDaily.com

The movement to highly efficientand cleaner trucks has certainlycontinued to grow and is playing asignificant role in shaping the future of the work truck industry.The NTEA and its Green TruckAssociation (GTA) affiliate divisionhave established a leadership posi-tion in helping companies find so-lutions and bring the newest greentechnology to the market. TheNTEA’s Green Truck Summit andWork Truck Show continue toshowcase the industry’s most in-novative and newest product de-velopments at the forefront of theindustry’s green movement.

This year, the Green Truck Summit was again pro-duced jointly with CALSTART, and brought togethertechnical experts, government officials, industry lead-ers and early-adopter fleet managers to share their ideasalong with real-world deployment experiences. Sinceits introduction six years ago, this event has grown inpresence and has truly become the premier conferencefor gaining valuable information on fuel efficiency, im-plementing green fleet programs, and advances in en-gine and fuel technology.

In addition to the Green Truck Summit, TheWork Truck Show offers other events and activitiesfocused on green solutions and advanced technol-ogy, including:

Educational sessions geared toward fleets and others interestedin procuring more fuel-efficientvehicles.

The CALSTART Clean Tech-nologies and Fuels Pavilion, a ded-icated area on the show floor thatfeatures technologies and fuelsavailable now for clean commercialvehicles.

The Green Truck Ride-and-Drive, where attendees can test-drive or ride in work trucks equippedwith the latest hybrid technologyand alternative fuel applications.

The Work Truck Show andGreen Truck Summit are just two

examples of how the NTEA and GTA lead the indus-try in navigating the ever-evolving green market.Specifically, the Green Truck Association continues tobe dedicated to advancing alternative fuels and the in-novative technologies that make work trucks more ef-ficient and environmentally friendly.

Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts onhow the NTEA and GTA can best support your or-ganization. Stop by our Booth 3401 to meet the staff,get answers to your questions and explore the manyservices and resources we offer.

Sincerely,Steve Carey

NTEA Executive Director

Work Trucks Continue Go Green

Steve Careyof NTEA

Clean Cities Poster Session TodayPublisherKirk Fetzer

415-385-0987; [email protected]

EditorRich Piellisch

415-305-9050; [email protected]

ReporterJohn Morris

PhotographerMel Lindstrom

Production DesignerMaureen Spuhler

News Coverage by Fleets & Fuels

www.fleetsandfuels.com

Printed by:Print Communications / DCG

ShowTimes is published live at The Work Truck Show 2012

by Convention & Tradeshow News.Advertising Department: (415) 979-1414

Editorial Department: (415) 896-5988www.CTNPublishing.com

© Copyright 2012 by Convention & Tradeshow News.All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not

be reproduced in any form without permission.Reprints available upon request.

More from Calstart,This Year and Next

Green Truck Summit co-hostCalstart is busily organizingHTUF 2012, the Hybrid, Electric& Advanced Truck Users Forum,to be held September 18-20 at the Charlotte ConventionCenter in Charlotte, N.C.

HTUF 2012 is co-hosted bythe U.S. Army, specifically theArmy’s National AutomotiveCenter and TARDEC, the Tankand Automotive Research, Development and EngineeringCenter (www.htuf.org).

Calstart will also, as it hasthis year, co-host the GreenTruck Summit in league withNTEA, the National Truck Equip-ment Association – here in Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center.

The Green Truck Summit, 49thAnnual NTEA Convention, andWork Truck Show 2013 will beheld March 5-8, 2013. TheGreen Truck Summit dates areMarch 5-6 – Tuesday-Wednesday.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu visited Kellie Walsh and Cris Dorman ofthe Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition (Booth 3605) here Monday.


http://www.twitter.com/ShowDailyAFV

“This is a historic moment for America,” saidVia Motors CEO Kraig Higginson as heannounced here yesterday that fleets across thecountry have committed to take delivery of

20,000 of his new electric vansnext year.

Via is working with Verizonto develop and demonstrateplug-in cargo vans that will savefleets millions of dollars amonth in fuel costs. They willhave an all-electric range of up to 40 miles, withextended range from what will initially be thestandard internal combustion engine used as anonboard generator. They can be charged from atypical 110v household outlet for as little as $1 aday in some states, and have already demon-strated economy equivalent to 100 mpg.

The first of Via’s General Motors-based vanswill be delivered in August, with output peggedat 2,700 this year, Higginson said. Verizon willinitially take two for evaluation next month, andanother 50 fleets cross the country will test themlate this summer.

At a list price of $79,000, Higginson said thaton a lease basis the three-quarter ton van wouldcost the same or less than a conventional van onlease-plus-fuel, meaning that the electric vancould be cash-positive from its first month infleet service.

“We hope to create a game-changing oppor-tunity for Verizon and other industries…with-out having to wait years for large-scale electriccharging infrastructure,” said James Gowen, Verizon’s chief sustainability officer.

The van is equipped with 110v and 240v out-lets, allowing it to power jobsites or provide elec-tricity in an emergency. “We can even plug it intoour networks to keep them running during out-ages,” said Gowen.

Via Motors has developed its proprietary eRevdrive system (its 402 hp electric motor weighsjust 100 lb) on a GM pickup truck, and tested itwith Pacific Gas & Electric beforeapplying it to the van. Plans call forusing fleet demand to drive theproduction price low enough tomake the technology affordable forthe public.

online at www.ShowTimesDaily.com

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F R E I G H T L I N E R I S A P R O U D S P O N S O R O F T H E 2012 G R E E N T R U C K S U M M I T

Find a truck for your business at FreightlinerTrucks.comCompetitive financing available through Daimler Truck Financial. For the Freightliner Trucks Dealer nearest you, call 1-800-FTL-HELP. www.freightlinertrucks.com. FTL/MC-A-1169. Specifications are subject to change without notice.

Freightliner Trucks is registered to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004. Copyright © 2012. Daimler Trucks North America LLC. All rights reserved. Freightliner Trucks is a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company.

StoryLinkscan to sharestory online

Via & Verizon’s Electric Vision

Propane: Fuel This WayPropane Education & Research Council’sAlan McEwan shows how to do it right atPERC’s Booth 5191.

Via’s Kraig Higginson with Verizon’s James Gowen

GTS12 d2p5 OKrp :Layout 1 3/6/12 6:44 PM Page 1

http://www.freightlinertrucks.com

Electric vehicles, hybrids, and the costand weight of compressed natural gasfuel cylinders are three areas targetedfor breakthrough technologies by thegovernment, U.S. Energy SecretarySteven Chu said at the Green TruckSummit.

Improvements to the internal com-bustion engine are also on the agenda,in a broad-based quest to improve fuelefficiencies by up to 30%.

DoE has allocated $30 million toresearch innovative CNG tanks, Chusaid here Monday. “If we can solvethis, then CNG will become an al-ternative,” for the automobile in-dustry, he said – with benefits for theclean truck industry too.

Calstart president and CEO JohnBoesel noted that Chesapeake Energy

and 3M said last month that they willteam to develop next generationCNG tanks that are up to 20% lighterwith 20% more capacity, at a lowercost than today’s vessels.

For electric vehicles, there must bebetter batteries, Chu said, noting thatlast week a Silicon Valley start-up un-veiled a lithium ion cell with a world-beating power density of 400 watthours per kilogram, that could bringdown the price to $125 per kilowatthour. DoE had invested $4 million inthat project.

(Testing of “next generation”lithium ion technology by Envia Sys-tems was performed by the Electro-chemical Power Systems Departmentat the Naval Surface Warfare Centerin Crane, Ind., Envia said last week,under the sponsorship of ARPA-E.ARPA-E is DoE’s Advanced ResearchProjects Agency – Energy. It is of-fering to fund new natural gas re-search work under an initiativedubbed MOVE, for Methane Op-portunities for Vehicular Energy).

Today’s best lithium-ion batteriescost more than $300 per kilowatt-hour. “Our goal is for $125 per kilo-watt-hour by the end of the decade”Chu said.

DoE is aiming for electric vehi-cles to achieve cost of use and own-ership of just 22 centsper mile by 2020, com-parable with a conven-tional vehicle in 2010.


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Steven Chu

It’s not the lack of fueling stations that’s holding backthe use of compressed natural gas vehicles – it’s thelack of CNG vehicles themselves.

That’s the opinion of Mel Kurtz, president of waste-to-fuel company Quasar Energy. “The problem is get-ting enough vehicles to support the fueling stations,”he said at the Green Truck Summit.

“You can put up fueling stations in 90 days. It’s thelack of availability of CNG vehicles.”

Kurtz should know – Cleveland-based Quasar isconverting its fleet to biomethane-based CNG, and itis building a chain of public fueling stations across

Ohio. “Quasar will continue installing fueling stationsat its anaerobic digestion facilities,” he said.

Quasar said last month that it’s broken ground atZanesville on the demonstration scale “integratedanaerobic digestion system” (iADs) in collaborationwith Ohio State. Technology developed at OSU byDr. Yebo Li “couples Quasar’s liquidanaerobic digestion technology withsolid-state anaerobic digestion to increaseenergy outputs, expand the feedstockbase, and broaden the market applicationfor the system.”


G R E E N T R U C K S U M M I T

Technology Accelerates for Affordable Clean Vehicles

Call it autogas, says Darren Engle,of Oregon’s Blue Star Gas. “Therest of the world does.”

And the rest of the worlduses it, too. More than 17 millionvehicles worldwide run onpropane, but only 200,000 in theU.S., Engle said at the GreenTruck Summit.

Historically cheap gasoline hasgiven little incentive for NorthAmerica to use propane, but that’s

about to change. As gas prices ap-proach $5 a gallon, propane is a60% cheaper source of fuel, hesaid. It is readily available (theU.S. last year exported more thanit used), and there are now morethan 250 EPA-approved vehicleconversion kits on the market.

And look out later this year forthe introduction of a propane-diesel hybrid that will use 30%less diesel, he said.

Quasar Laments the Lack of Vehicles

Will development of electric vehicles increase America’sdependence on other coun-tries? That question was thrownat John Boesel, president andCEO of Calstart, at the GreenTruck Summit.

China dominates the worldmarket for rare earth metals needed for electric motors, and theU.S. imports its lithium from Chile and Argentina, and lithium-ionbatteries from countries around the world.

No, he replied. Molycorp has reopened a rare earth metals minein Mountain Pass, Calif., that will meet America’s needs, and Cali-fornia-based Simbol Materials has shown it can extract enoughlithium to meet U.S. demand for the rest of the decade from thewastewater of its geothermal plants. And now Nissan will producelithium-ion batteries for its Leaf electric car at a newplant in Smyrna, Tennessee.

“We’re just at the beginning of the electric vehicleindustry,” Boesel said.

U.S. Charged UpOver ElectricVehicles

Propane Is Popular Worldwide

Remy is promoting its HVH ‘hair-pin’ motors at Booth 5475. Remywill supply Via Motors’ new plug-inhybrid electric truck (Booth 5459).

Quasar markets its CNG as qng.


BAE SYSTEMS LETTER ADVERT TEMPLATE

This template issued29 September 2011

This template can be used to produce any letter or similar size advert.

Creating your document Pull down the page you require, and then delete this instruction page. The file can either be saved for print, or as a PDF.

Design and layout Use the three types of page as a starting point. The size and position of the logo must not be altered but the titling and supporting text can be placed anywhere on the grid, depending on your content. The global website should be bottom left if pos-sible, but can move if required.

Amending the template The template size, margins (0.4") and bleeds (0.1389") can be amended if required, but take care to retain the overall positions and feel of the embedded elements.

Important Before using the template, please take time to understand the BAE Systems Brand Standards where you will find many examples to help you. The Brand Standards are available from www.baesystems.com/ourbrand

PROPULSION SYSTEMS

®

HybriDrive® Parallel is BAE Systems latest hybrid

electric propulsion system, specifically designed

to cope with the rugged demands of heavy-duty

transport in the Refuse, Pick-Up & Delivery and

Construction vocations. This Heavy-Duty Hybrid™

delivers higher power and torque with superior

drivability, while offering significant fuel economy

improvement — 30% on average and brake savings

across a range of duty cycles. Ask us to calculate

your fuel savings at www.hybridrive.com

http://www.hybridrive.com

BAE Systems (Booth 5359)Kenworth T800 Class 8 chassis-cab truck with HybriDrive Parallel hybrid electric drive and dumptruck body.

Cummins Crosspoint (Booth 5173) 12-passenger GM diesel cutaway bus with a Variable Torque Motors parallel electric drivetrain.

Electric Vehicles International (Booth 5099) Freightliner M2-based EVI-MD battery electric truckwith flatbed.

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp (Booth 4169) FCCC MT45-EV pure battery electric walk-in van

with Enova drivetrain and aerodynamic body byMorgon Olson representiong the firms’ new Greenfor Free program.

Freightliner Trucks (Booth 3859) CNG-fueled M2 112 CNG with an Altec LRV treetrimmer lift, utilizing a Cummins-Westport enginewith a factory-installed high-volume (back-of-cab-mounted) fuel storage unit by Agility Fuel Systems.

Isuzu Commercial Truck (Booth 4747) A 2012 Isuzu Reach diesel with Utilimaster bodyaffording a 35% improvement in fuel economy over previous walk-in vans.

Impco Automotive (Booth 5465) CNG-gasoline bi-fuel Chevy Silverado 2500HDpickup.

International Truck (Booth 4359)

CNG-fueled DuraStar with Phoenix 7.6L engine byEmission Solutions, Inc.

Kenworth (Booth 3039) Kenworth T370 with Eaton parallel electric hybrid transmission powered by a Paccar PX-6diesel engine with Paccar’s advanced powertraincontrols.

Knapheide (Booth 3739) CNG Ford F-450 with BAF fuel system andKnapheide 9-foot DRW service body.

Leggett & Platt (Booths 1817 & 3249) CNG Ford E-250 with Landi-Renzo CNG fuelsystem and upfitted with a full Masterack interiorpackage.

Lightning Hybrids (Booth 5468) Parallel hydraulic hybrid conversion of a GMChevrolet 3500 cutaway.


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The WTS 2012 Green Truck Ride-and-Drive

John Hroncich, Chris Colston and Lou Butash of BAE Systems with HybriDriveParallel hybrid electric-powered Kenworth dump truck

Spencer Nicol with hybrid electric cabover by Hino Trucks

Joe Morris with Kenworth T370 with Eatonparallel hybrid electric drive.

Hino Trucks (Booth 4139) is hosting the Green Truck Ride-and-Drive fromnoon to 4:30pm again today.

No registration is necessary, but some vehicles require a commercialdriver’s license.

Hino itself has brought its Class 5 diesel-fueled hybrid electric caboverwith proprietary drive, coupled with next-generation 4-cylinder J05 Series engine. Cab and 33-inch frame rails have been specifically designed for the U.S. market.

GTS12 d2p8-9 OK JM corrected :- 3/6/12 7:29 PM Page 1

Motiv Power Systems (Booth 5666) 10-passenger battery shuttle bus using anopen architecture design.

Peterbilt (Booth 2125) CNG-fueled Peterbilt 382 Class 8 truck with a municipal dump body. Agility tank assembly.

PERC (Booth 5191) 2008 Ford F-150 pickup with Roush Clean-Tech dedicated propane fuel system.

Ram Trucks (Chrysler) (Booth 1003) New-technology Ram Truck – CNG! (seepage 1).

Reading Truck Body (Booths 3527 & 5380)Ford E-350 cutaway with Roush Clean-Tech propane fuel system.

Roush CleanTech (Booth 5098) Ford E-450 cutaway van upfitted with a boxbody and Roush liquid propane injectionfuel system.

Smith Electric Vehicles (Booth 4187)

Smith Newton all-electric cargo van rated

16,000-lb GVW said to achieve single-charge range of 100 miles with a topspeed of 50 mph.

VIA Motors (Booth 5459) An extended range electric van with eREV powertrain affording 40 miles of all-electric travel.

Stationary Demonstration Area Vehicles

Altec Industries (Booths 2215 & 5269) Battery powered Jobsite Energy Man-agement System (JEMS) aerial lift thatcan significantly reduce, or eveneliminate, idle time at the job site.

Johnson Refrigerated (Booth 3977) ElectriMax all-electric refrigeration.

Twitter @ShowTimesAFV • www.ShowTimesDaily.com • Convention & Tradeshow News March 7, 2012

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Brian Sutherland with CNG Freightliner M2 with Altec tree-trimmer

Mike Stark, Andres Moscoso and Lewis Mazariegos of FreightlinerCustom Chassis Corp with battery electric walk-in van

ve

Steve Weiner with CNG-fueled Peterbilt 382

Jude Hueber of Lightning Hybrids, which offers hydraulic hybrids.

Amy Looper of NextTruckdrops the beanbag from

Altec’s HyPower battery lift.

GTS12 d2p8-9 OK JM corrected :- 3/6/12 7:29 PM Page 2


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Impco Automotive (Booth 5465) saidlast week that it’s secured Qualified Vehicle Modifier status with Ford, allowing it to offer full OEM warrantieson upfits of Ford vehicles with the Fordgaseous prep engine package.

Last month, Impco gave wordthat it’s converted 1,200 GeneralMotors Chevrolet Express vans tocompressed natural gas for AT&T.

Impco has a 75,000-square-foot, al-ternative fuel installation center inUnion City, east northeast of hereon the Ohio line. The firm handlesboth CNG and propane installations.

“Achieving QVM status repre-sents another significant milestoneas we continue to solidify our lead-ership position within the automo-tive alternative fuel market,” ImpcoAutomotive sales and marketing

director Rob Lykins said of the Fordapproval.

“We continue to expand our of-fering of systems that allow popularlight-duty Ford commercial truckplatforms to operate on clean burn-ing, plentiful, domestic CNG,” saidJay Sandler, who heads OEM andfleet sales.

The AT&T deal is the largest-everorder of CNG vehicles from Gen-eral Motors. Impco installed the ded-icated-CNG systems in Union City,and the vans were upfitted as worktrucks by St. Louis-headquarteredCommercial Van Interiors (CVI).

The vans have 6.0-liter GMVortec V-8 engines with hardenedexhaust valves, and intake and exhaust valve seats. The CNG optionis available on Chevrolet Express

2500 and 3500 Cargo vans. Each vanis covered by GM’s three-year,36,000-mile new vehicle limited war-ranty and five-year, 100,000-milelimited powertrain warranty, andmeets all U.S. EPA and CaliforniaAir Resources Board emission certi-fication requirements.

The 1,200 vans will allow the bigtelcom to avoid the purchase of amillion gallons of gasoline per year,said AT&T fleet operations VPJerome Webber.

AT&T recently trumpeted theplacement of its 5,000th alternativefuel vehicle on its march to 15,000through 2018. Most – thus far – havebeen Ford E-250 vansupfitted by BAF.

Ford is located atBooth 3439.

Westport Innovations is well knownin natural gas vehicles for its15-liter over-the-road engines andsmaller, dedicated-natural gas en-gines via the (just extended) Cum-mins Westport joint venture.

Now Westport (Booth 5491) is targeting smaller vehicles, with a

goal of nationwidesales, including Cali-fornia, of its newWiNG power system

on natural gas-gasoline bi-fuel FordF-250 and F-350 Super Duty truckswith 6.2-liter gaseous-prep engines.

The firm describes WiNG as “an advanced, integrated, bi-fuelsystem for passenger and com-mercial vehicles targeting fleet cus-tomers… [which] can also run onordinary gasoline and offer unpar-alleled drivability.”

“We’re seeing strong customerinterest across the spectrum from

fleets of all shapes and sizes for afactory-validated product, as moreand more owners understand theeconomic and operational benefitsof a cleaner fuel that’s sourced righthere in North America,” WestportLD president Ian Scott said whenthe system was announced.

“The WiNG system is specificallydesigned to deliver best-in-class per-formance, reliability and efficiency,”said John Lapetz, managing direc-

tor for North American vehicle pro-grams. “Our customers will benefitfrom the best natural gas technol-ogy in the industry along with theconfidence and quality of the Fordname and the strength of theirdealer network,” Lapetz says inthe Westport WiNG announcement.

WiNG systems have been engi-neered at a new Westport techni-cal facility in Plymouth, Mich., and“will be installed and the trucks willbe ready to roll when they reach au-thorized Ford dealers.”

Darren Weatherly (left) and RobertWilliams install CNG fuel tanks at theImpco Automotive plant in Union City,Ind. Impco gave word last week thatit’s fully approved as a QVM – qualifiedvehicle modifier – for Ford vehicles.

Compressed natural gas fuel systems by LandiRenzo USA (Baytech) may be seen on at leastfour different natural gas vehicles here. And, therecently formed U.S. arm of Italy’s world leaderin light duty gaseous fuel vehicles last monthreported the first California certification of FordE-Series vans with the 5.4-liter engine for 2012for dedicated-CNG operation.

The vehicles on show here with Landi Renzocompressed natural gas fuel systems include FordE-250 cargo vans with Leggett & Platt interiorson display by Leggett & Platt at Booth 1817 andFord at Booth 3439, and a Freightliner CustomerChassis Corp MT-55 at FCCC Booth 4169.

Landi reported here that its customer Leggett& Platt Commercial Vehicle Products has beenofficially deemed a Ford Gaseous Fuel QVM

Qualified Participant, meaning it can ship LandiRenzo-converted E-Series vans from its Fordship-through facility in Elyria, Ohio.

“We intend to continue to open the marketfor CNG vehicles here in the U.S. utilizing ourglobal CNG component manufacturing andengineering resources,” said Landi Renzo USApresident Andrea Landi.

“This allows us to drive down the high cost ofconversions due to our economies of scale andquality manufacturing processes,” Landi said.“We will have other Ford CNGplatforms available in the near future.” These will include F-250and F-350 trucks with 6.2-liter engines, and F-450, F-550, and F-650 trucks with 6.8-liter engines.

Landi Renzo with Leggett and More

Westport Promotes WiNG for Lighter Vehicles

Gianluca Maso, Ryan Waltz andJohn Sledge of Landi Renzo USA


N A T U R A L G A S V E H I C L E S

Impco Automobile Adds Ford to GM Stable

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BAF Technologies provided the compressed nat-ural gas fuel systems evident on Ford trucks beingshown by Knapheide, Altec, and Sortimo hereat Work Truck Show 2012.

BAF, since 2009 a unit of Boone Pickens’sClean Energy Fuels, is celebrating its 20th year– and is expanding in Dallas to meet burgeoningdemand for natural gas vehicles.

“Since 1992, we’ve done about 15,000 vehi-

cles,” says Bill Calvert, co-founder and senior VP of BAF.Besides the Dallas expansion,BAF is working with Ford tomake sure that the customershops installing its systems –like Pearson Ford here in In-dianapolis and Green Alterna-tive Systems of Elkhart, Ind.and Chino, Calif. – get fullFord QVM – Qualified Vehi-cle Modifier – recognition.

BAF is moving from anagglomeration of four buildings developed overthe years in Dallas to a new, 90,000-square-foot,fully engineered production facility there. Theold complex will be shut down when leases expireat the end of this first quarter – by which timemore than 600 Ford Transit Connects will havebeen converted for AT&T (using Type III CNGfuel cylinders from Italy’s Faber), for a total ofabout 4,000 vehicles for the customer.

The Transit Connect represents a new typefor AT&T, as most of the big telcom’s NGVs areBAF-upfitted Ford E-250 vans.

Norcross, Ga.-based Sortimo has a BAF-mod-ified CNG Transit Connect on display at Booth5087. The compact vans are being completed forAT&T by Quincy, Ill.-based Knapheide using aSortimo work truck design. BAF is offering theTransit Connect with dedicated-CNG or, fourEPA states, bi-fuel.

Knapheide itself is showing a BAF dedicated-CNG F-250 at Booth 3739 and has brought aCNG F-450 with 9-foot DRW service body forthe ride-and-drive. Altec (Booths 2215 & 5269) isshowing a BAF-converted F-450/550 – with bat-tery-powered JEMS (Jobsite Energy Manage-ment System) aerial lift in the ride-and-drivestationary display area.

Green Alternative Systems of Elkhart andChino, Calif. offers CNG equipment from avariety of suppliers and also performs propaneconversions. GAS is at Booth 5958.

Last year BAF added bi-fuel Ford E-250/ and-350 vans and F-250 and -350 pick-ups to its list of certified offerings.

“Bi-fuels will be attractive tocustomers in virtually any seg-ment,” said BAF operations VPPaul Shaffer.

BAF for Work Truck CNG



Visit us at Booth # 618 to find out more.

Partnering for successSiemens ELFA Traction Hybrid Drive systems enable mass transit vehicles to save over 30% in fuel consumption and CO

2 emissions.

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N A T U R A L G A S V E H I C L E S

From left, the BAF braintrust: Robert Sessa ,Brad Waggoner, BrentPope, Barry Carr, andco-founder Bill Calvert

Venchurs Promotes CNGto Fleets

Venchurs Vehicle Systems burst on the natu-ral gas vehicles scene this past autumn, atwhich time it had already achieved QualifiedVehicle Modifier with Ford. As a Ford QVM, itoffers conversions of Ford F-250 and F-350 witha 6.2-liter engine. Venchurs has a bi-fuel CNGsearch and rescue Ford F-250 concept truckproposed for pilot program demonstrations bynational park rangers at Booth 5783-5975.

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Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation in-troduced its S2G chassis, which it says “providesthe industry with the only factory-installedliquid propane gas (LPG) engine available to themedium-duty truck market.”

Initial target? Propane dealers, who get thefuel cheap.

Tank suppliers to upfit the chassis? “I have apocketful of people who are waiting in line,” sayscommercial chassis product manager Gordie

Taylor, flourishing a fistful of business cards.Those upfitters, he says, “have standing orderswaiting for the truck. Those guys want it now.”

“The S2G was developed in response to sig-nificant industry interest for an LPG solutionwithout retrofitting or aftermarket additions,”said FCCC president Bob Harbin. “In offeringthe only original equipment manufacturer LPGsolution for medium-duty applications, webelieve the S2G will meet our customers’ needs.The S2G also perfectly fits into FCCC’s heritageas a custom chassis manufacturer with a suc-cessful history in alternative fuel powertrains.”

FCCC offered propane trucks with the BLPGPlus 5.9-liter engine from Cummins Westport,but the engine was discontinued, “The ISL wasmuch too big,” Taylor says of the current ISL G,an 8.9-liter engine now favored by CNG truckmakers.

The new truck was developed with the sup-port of PERC, the Propane Education &Research Council (Booth 5191). FCCC partneredwith Powertrain Integration and CleanFuel USA

for the liquid propane injection mod for an 8.0-liter engine from General Motors.

CleanFuel USA president Tucker Perkins toldEnergy Secretary Steven Chu here Monday thatthe new chassis is suitable for school buses andother delivery vehicles too.

The S2G thus embodies more than a decadeof gaseous fuel vehicle experience (including com-pressed natural gas) but is also “a new productdeveloped in part through directcustomer input.” A limited pre-production run of S2G chassis isexpected in the fourth quarter of2012, with full production slatedfor the first quarter of 2013.

Isuzu NPR Eco-Max trucks are helping one of the nation’s largest foodpurveyors achieve its goals of reduced fuel consumption and a smallercarbon footprint, says Isuzu Commercial Truck (Booth 4747). And they aredoing it with diesel. Deli Express/E.A. Sween of Eden Prairie, Minn., hasseveral Isuzu NPR Eco-Max trucks with more Isuzu vehicles on the way,the manufacturer says.

“These vehicles are demonstrating nearly 50% better fuel economy thanthe rest of our fleet, and are emitting about 700 lb less carbon dioxide everymonth,” Deli Express fleets operation chief Gregg Hodgdon says in anIsuzu release.

“These results are proof that it is possible to improve a fleet’s carbonfootprint through weight reduction and efficient technologies while stillutilizing a traditional fuel source,” Hodgdon said.

“We realized that it was indeed possible to make a positive,sustainable change with traditional fuels,” he added. The12,000-lb NPR Eco-Max features Isuzu’s 4JJ1-TC 3.0-literfour-cylinder turbo diesel engine.

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Deli Does It with Diesel, Says Isuzu

“It’s essentially a truce in the decades-long war between CARB and industry,” a longtime clean diesel communications specialist in Califor-nia told Fleets & Fuels last week, trumpeting a February 28 Diesel Tech-nology Forum event in Sacramento where officials of the California AirResources Board and the diesel industry lauded the fuel.

The shift in regulatory emphasis from criteria pollutants like particu-lates, NOx and sulfur dioxide to greenhouse gases bodes well for diesel:carbon dioxide emissions drop with fuel consumption, and efficiency hasalways been a key diesel selling point.

“We’ve had tremendous success thanks to the willingness and ability ofthe industry to get creative when faced with the challenge of reducingemissions and nitrogen oxide and fine particulates,” CARB chair MaryNichols said in a video presentation opening the agency-DTF press brief-ing this past Tuesday. “Today’s diesel engines emit about 90% less of these

pollutants than they didwhen we first startedthis effort,” Nicholssaid. “And while we stillhave work to do – espe-cially in turning overthe fleet of older vehi-cles that are out there.”

Diesel AdvocatesEmphasize Efficiency


This Isuzu NPR Eco-Max operated by Minnesota’s Deli Express runs on diesel,but burns far less of it due to its 3.0-liter, four-cylinder 4JJ1-TC turbo diesel engine, and lightweight body structure.


BIL

L M

AH

ON Heavy duty Chrysler Ram

pickup with 6.7-literCummins engine at theSacramento clean dieselevent on February 28.

FCCC’s Bob Harbin and Gordie Taylor.

FCCC’s S2G Propane for Medium Duty

FCCC FiverWith the new S2G, Freightliner CustomerChassis Corp can boast a presence in all fivecommercial alternative fuel marketsegments. There is a compressed naturalgas-fueled walk-in van at Booth 4169, and apure battery electric MT E-Cell walk-in van inthe Green Truck ride-and-drive.

FCCC also offers a hybrid electric andhydraulic hybrid vehicles.

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13


The wide range of hybrid technologies offeredby Eaton is being displayed by the company’sRoadranger unit at Booth 3511.

Eaton has supplied the lion’s share of thedrive systems for the hybrid trucks in usetoday, primarily parallel system with Hitachibatteries for manufacturers including Freight-liner, Kenworth and Navistar International.

Some 5,500 hybrid trucks and buses withEaton drives are in service worldwide, thecompany says. including 3,500 – almost all ofthem trucks – in the U.S.

Eaton also offers a hydraulic hybrid – withpower for regenerative braking stored in a hydraulic accumulator rather than a battery or ul-tracapacitor, dubbed HLA. The HydraulicLaunch Assist technology has found use mostly inrefuse trucks with intense stop-and-go cycles, andeven in a handful of compressed nat-ural gas-fueled refuse trucks orderedby CleanScapes in Seattle.

The natural gas hydraulic hybridsare being supplied through Okla-homa City-based Crane Carrier.

The electric vehicle industryhas received a shot in the armwith a fleet order for vans byFedEx Express.

Smith Electric Vehicles willprovide an undisclosed numberof walk-in step vans to the car-rier on its all-electric Newtonchassis, launching a new modelof electric van in the U.S. Thereare about 900 all-electric vehi-cles in service across the coun-try, according to data presentedhere at the Green Truck Sum-mit, including Smith Newton-based fleets of nearly 200 atFrito-Lay and 60 at Staples.

The Newton van for FedExis tailored to its route require-ments, but retains 90% partscommonality with the currentproduction Newton chassis.This helps keep productioncosts down, said Smith ElectricCEO Bryan Hansel. The van’s

body is produced by Indiana-based Utilimaster.

The plug-in van will have arange of up to 100 miles on a single charge. It incorporatesSmith’s proprietary SmithDrive, Smith Power, andSmith Link technologies forpower train performance, bat-tery management efficiencyand remote system monitor-ing. Batteries are supplied byA123 Systems.

Hansel said the Newtonchassis has a list price of $65,000stripped or $75,000 with cabover, and battery packs arepriced separately. The Newtonstep van, he says, will open upa new market, with demandcentering on states that offer in-centives, such as California,New York and Maryland.

FedEx has been delightedwith trials of the Newton stepvan, Hansel said, and its deployment of the vehicles

will be in sufficient size toallow FedEx to gather statis-tical data on all-electric vehi-cles for the first time.

The FedEx Newton on showhere at Booth 4187 is a develop-ment vehicle, but production isalready underway.“Most people arestill prototyping,”Hansel said.

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Twitter @ShowTimesAFV • www.ShowTimesDaily.com • Convention & Tradeshow News • March 7, 2012

FedEx Orders Smith All-Electric Vans

Eaton for Diverse Hybrids


Smith CEOBryan Hansel

Seattle’s CleanScapes is adding CNG-fueled hydraulic hybrids with Eaton’s HLA drive to its CNG fleet.Slow-fill system by Clean Energy Fuels.

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Stockton, Calif.-based Electric Vehicles Interna-tional weighs into the Work Truck Show on theheels of winning federal GSA approval to supplyfour models of medium-duty all-electric trucksand vans to the U.S. government and military.

EVI also has a major battery electric walk-invan program with UPS, for 100 vehicles basedon a Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp plat-form, and expects to deliver the production pro-totype with aerodynamic Morgon Olson bodylater this month. Production deliveries are tocommence in late May, and all 100 vehicles willbe delivered by the end of the summer. The bat-tery vans will be deployed by UPS in Califor-nia and will constitute the largest all-electricfleet of delivery vehicles in the state.

EVI has expanded its facility in Stockton bynearly half, to 107,000 square feet, with two newassembly lines, for the UPS job.

An earlier demo vehicle for UPS is on show

in Booth 5099. Increasingly sophisticated ver-sions of range-extended hybrids, based on bothFord and Freightliner platforms, are in devel-opment at EVI too.

The GSA approval, secured under solicita-tion QMAA-F6-110004-N, gives EVI “themost comprehensive GSA-approved portfolioof all-electric, medium-duty vehicles.”

“It’s another big win for EVI as we look to growour customer base,” said sales and marketing VPFrank Jenkins. “We are excited to partner withfederal agencies and military forces as they lookto transform their fleets to clean, energy-efficient,long-life battery electric vehicles that are builtto stand up to the rigors of military use.”

EVI uses motors from Colorado’s UQMTechnologies and lithium iron magnesiumphosphate batteries from its close affiliate Va-lence Technology, of Austin, Texas.

EVI is testing its range-extended hybrid de-

sign on an F-450 flatbed and will extend the en-gineering work to an F-550 with a utility bodyand, under a recent California Energy Com-mission contract, to an F-550 based shuttle bus.Plans are also in the works for Freightliner M2-and FCCC walk in van-based series hybrids withfar smaller engines for greater overall efficiency,Jenkins says.

He is also busy bringing EVI’snew office in Farmington Hills,Mich., up to speed. The Detroit-area location eventually could takeon light vehicle servicing work too.


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Indiana’s Variable Torque Motors is target-ing trucks with its hybrid electric driveshaftretrofits, which until today have been soldmostly for buses.

The Fort Wayne-based firm and its Indianapolis dealer, Cummins Crosspoint(Booth 5173), claim the Maxwell (633) ultraca-pacitor-based system will yield a payback in as little as three years to opera-tors of vehicles logging 40,000-miles-per-year with high stop-and-go cycles.

“We’re affordable and we’re retrofittable,” says VTM’s Larry Zepp. Be-cause the motor is installed along the OEM driveshaft, the system is “to-tally hands-off,” he says.

“We’re a driveline accessory,” he says – albeit one that yields fuel savingsof 25% to 30% on Class 3 to Class 7 vehicles.

VTM uses high-torque motors built according to a VTM design by Nidec(formerly Emerson), with ultracapacitors from San Diego’s MaxwellTechnologies for electricity storage for the regenerative braking that makesthe hybrid system work. Ultracaps, VTM says, allow its installation to be500 lb lighter than it competition.

“Our technology features a brushless permanent magnet motor that’scapable of maintaining torque over a wide range of speed,” the companyexplains. “It delivers torque to the driveshaft for both acceleration anddeceleration to provide regenerative braking…

“Patented features of this brushless permanent magnet motor provide anunusually wide operating range of speed and torque – from 0 to 35 milesper hour. It is essentially a continuously variable transmission with a patentedshifting mechanism.

“As vehicle speed increases,” VTM explains, “the motor con-troller slides the rotor out of the stator to weaken the field soit supplies less torque and the engine takes more of the load.”


EVI Shows Battery Truck Potential

VTM’s Larry Zepp

Variable TorqueTargets Trucks

Mansfield Oil for Renewables and CNGMansfield Oil is promoting a broadening range of renewable fuels atBooth 5572. And the Georgia-based company, already a broker forbiodiesel, last year acquired compressed natural gas fueling stationspecialist Gas Equipment Systems, Inc., and established MansfieldGas Equipment Systems. The unit is a major distributor of BRC Fuel-Maker vehicle refueling appliances (VRAs).

More recently, Mansfield teamed with Dynamic Fuels, a 50-50venture of Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corp, “to efficiently distributesynthetic renewable diesel to the commercial fleet vehicle market.”

Dynamic’s plant in Geismar, La. has a design capacity of 75 milliongallons of renewable diesel, naphtha and LPG (liquefied petroleumgas, or propane) per year, of which the primary product is ASTM D975renewable diesel. Dynamic’s renewable diesel is a pure hydrocarbon,Mansfield says, and is thus a is “a ‘drop in’ fuel that can replace 100%of petroleum diesel in a diesel engine without engine modification.”

Subsequent to the Dynamic deal, Mansfield and the Noble Groupformed Noble Mansfield Renewable Energy, to be headquartered inBloomington, Minn., to focus on ethanol.

Most recently, Mansfield Gas Equipment Systems notified users ofFuelMaker VRAs of improved service and support, including thereplacement of compressors and other components with newer andbetter ones when units are sent in for routine service, faster turn times,and extended warranties. Compressor warranties are being doubledfrom 1,000 hours or one year to 2,000 hours and two years (and arebeing extended to electronics and other non-compressor components),and the 4,000-hour VRA lifetime limit is being eliminated.

“Run time is now infinite,” states a late-February notice to customers.Italy-based BRC FuelMaker is pledging faster shipping, too.

BRC FuelMaker is a corporate affiliate of Indiana’sImpco Automotive (Booth 5465), which does propane andCNG upfits primarily of GM vehicles but has just earnedFord Qualified Vehicle Modifier status as well.

EVI’s Frank Jenkins

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Fleets & Fuels ShowTimes Green Truck Summit March 7 issue