The City of Columbus, Ohio, took delivery of 18 compressed natural gas (CNG) automated side loader refuse trucks. The dedicated CNG vehicles built on a Peterbilt chassis with a Heil body cost $5.2 million, said Kelly Reagan, fleet administrator.

The order brings the city’s CNG vehicle count to 156 dedicated CNG trucks, including 66 refuse trucks. The remainder are tandem- and single-axle dump trucks, plows, street sweepers, vactor flushers, and other heavy-duty vehicles, Reagan said.

The city opened its second public access CNG fueling station in 2014, and it opened its first station in 2012.

The city is in the design process of its third CNG fueling station. Reagan expects the $7.3 million station will be open by the second quarter of 2016. 

The city expects to recoup the cost of its CNG fleet conversion through savings in fuel costs. In 2014, the two city fueling sites provided 433,196 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs), 40% to retail customers. The city is on pace to pump about 550,000 GGEs this year.

By 2020, the City of Columbus expects to have 440 CNG vehicles in its fleet. Almost 40% of the CNG transition has been completed within the heavy-duty fleet.