THOMASVILLE, GA – The City of Thomasville’s city council recently approved construction of a compressed natural gas (CNG) time-fill fueling station. The City said this new station is part of its plan to convert its fleet vehicles to run on CNG, where appropriate. The planned station will be able to accommodate six vehicles at one time, but future plans include scaling the station’s capacity up, allowing it to fuel 12 vehicles.

The City approved the purchase of four CNG-fueled refuse trucks earlier this year, and it plans to convert all 12 of its refuse trucks to CNG during the next three years. The City said this will save $200,000 annually in fuel costs. Other benefits include reduced emissions and dependence on foreign oil, according to City Manager/Utilities Superintendent Steve Sykes.

“With diesel costs on the rise, the savings that we will see from switching to a CNG-fueled garbage fleet make the decision to pursue this initiative an easy one,” said Thomasville’s Mayor Max Beverly. “We expect that the savings from this project will fully pay for itself within five years.”

Related to the new station, the city council also approved extending a CNG line. This line will be the main link to the station and will allow the City to better serve its commercial natural gas customers.