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RonF
Top Member
867 Posts |
 Posted - 08/20/2019 : 04:18:11 AM
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We are looking into to propane buses and I'm looking for good data. MPG, cost per mile, maintenance issues, ect.
Please facts and data only.
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Edited by - RonF on 08/20/2019 04:21:32 AM
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RBrian
Senior Member
United States
71 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2019 : 06:12:51 AM
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Here is a PP with some numbers . Our propane supplier adds around .18 per gallon to cover the cost of our fueling infrastructure. The first slide shows fuel cost with and with out that cost. After we purchase 500,000 gallons that cost will go away.The credit price is the .36 credit the IRS has been giving for alt fuels.
The second slide shows our maintenance costs last school year. It includes 95% of any warranty costs. We do most work in house and get reimbursed. Reimbursements are not reflected in the numbers.
The third shows how our fleet age. Green is propane. By the end of this school year we should have 76 LPG buses running.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XapwW_FrswnXFwSPf6WX7J2BHN7CsBFq/view?usp=sharing |
Edited by - RBrian on 08/20/2019 06:15:13 AM |
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RonF
Top Member
867 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2019 : 06:29:33 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by RBrian
Here is a PP with some numbers . Our propane supplier adds around .18 per gallon to cover the cost of our fueling infrastructure. The first slide shows fuel cost with and with out that cost. After we purchase 500,000 gallons that cost will go away.The credit price is the .36 credit the IRS has been giving for alt fuels.
The second slide shows our maintenance costs last school year. It includes 95% of any warranty costs. We do most work in house and get reimbursed. Reimbursements are not reflected in the numbers.
The third shows how our fleet age. Green is propane. By the end of this school year we should have 76 LPG buses running.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XapwW_FrswnXFwSPf6WX7J2BHN7CsBFq/view?usp=sharing
That is and awesome spread sheet. Where are you located? My cost per mile numbers are nearly the same as yours for diesel however that is a mix of IC engines and cummins. My cummins blue birds are the best at .24 per mile. IC's are all running around the .30 to .40 per mile range.
Thank you. |
US Army retired CMBT |
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RBrian
Senior Member
United States
71 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2019 : 08:05:03 AM
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Newport News Va.. Our fleet is a mix also. We're getting 4.1 MPG with propane. Fleet average for diesel is 6.9. This link shows what we were paying for fuel last school year. We have been paying less than a dollar per gallon for propane since the middle of June. Diesel has been in the 1.90 to 2.00 range this summer.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TDtt_DwIRrfoccef1_Ps0vZaOCjzdHow/view?usp=sharing
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2019 : 10:29:00 AM
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| I have been running propane for about 8 years now. I've had great luck with them. We are pretty flat here so I get about 4.3 to 4.5 on the route. My diesels are older (the newest one is a 2007) and they get 7.5 to 8 on the route. I have little trouble with the propane engines. I had some newer IC diesels but they gave us so much trouble that we decided to get rid of them. Right now, we are paying 1.39 because we booked propane a couple months ago when we thought, with all this trouble in the mid-east, we would see a spike in propane before now. I do believe we will see 1.75 or higher propane by December though. Besides heating, the main thing propane is used for is drying grain. Most places got the crop in late this year and that means harvest will be late and a lot of drying will go on. Another thing to think about with propane is they hold like 7 quarts of oil and the filter costs less than 10 bucks. Other costs are the fuel filter, which are changed every 50k vs. 12k for diesel and are only 30 bucks or so. The basic thing I like is that they just run. I don't normally have to worry too much about them. If I do have issues, it's normally an easy fix |
Bryan |
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bwest
Administrator
United States
3820 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2019 : 10:58:00 AM
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| I will add that I have had a couple have issues with the fuel pump and that can be an issue if you can't work on them or have someone close to do it for you. You have to pump fuel out of the tank and then burn off what is left after the pump runs dry. I'm getting rigged up to do that now. I don't think it's going to be a big issue though. |
Bryan |
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wwinters
Senior Member
USA
114 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2019 : 2:57:18 PM
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| We have been running propane for 8 years now 60% of our fleet a solid 5 MPG with all averaged out. No block heater cost, oil change 35.00-40.00 where diesel is 135.00-140.00, no EGR, no Turbo, no DEF, no exhaust catalyst and etc. we are seeing about .23 a mile to run propane and .52 to run diesel and drivers love them.... |
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Propane engines
