The City of Houston will begin purchasing light-duty trucks with a gaseous prep package in 2015 and begin converting them to run on propane autogas, following a recent purchase of their first three propane autogas light-duty pickup trucks and 26 trucks with the gaseous prep package, said Jedediah Greenfield, public information officer for the city’s Fleet Management Department.

“Next year, when we put in our order of light-duty pickup trucks, we’ll request that they have the gaseous prep,” Greenfield said. “We’ll have a pool to choose from, so that we’re able to start knocking these off quickly by identifying grant funding or our own funds and have vehicles ready to be converted — versus waiting for the next purchase cycle in order to purchase them.”

The city purchases about 150 pickup trucks each year.

The three propane-autogas vehicles were converted with city funds, and the fleet department hopes to use grant funding for future conversions. The gaseous prep packages cost an additional $350 per vehicle, while a conversion costs between $8,000 and $10,000. The cost of propane autogas is about $1 per gallon less than gasoline.

The city is also evaluating conversions to compressed natural gas (CNG) in the future, Greenfield said.

By Thi Dao

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