Say what you want about oil tycoon-cum alt-energy evangelist T. Boone Pickens, the man has some instincts on him. Wal-Mart has been studying ways to reduce its energy usage (for purely altruistic reasons, of course) and Pickens smells blood in the water. Reuters reports that the Texan CNG honcho has convinced Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to consider retrofitting its entire diesel truck fleet with CNG power as an energy-saving, cost-cutting measure. Wal-Mart currently operates some 8,500 diesel trucks in its supply-chain network, and a presentation by Pickens to a Wal-Mart associates meeting has convinced Scott to consider the retrofit. According to a weekly Pickens email, Scott was “impressed by the Pickens Plan.” The email continues, “to have America’s largest retailer looking into shifting their trucking fleet to run on natural gas is a major step towards our country’s energy independence.” And a major step towards making Mr Pickens a boatload of cash. Pickens has invested his oil fortune in wind power and CNG, and a Wal-Mart retrofit could mean a huge contract and increased media exposure for CNG as a transportation alternative. Like Pickens though, every decision at Wal-Mart comes down to dollars and cents. We still don’t know how much a CNG fleet conversion would cost or save Wal-Mart. Until we do, there’s no telling whether Pickens’ CNG revolution will get off the ground.
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There’s specialists around who have been doing such conversions for many years. Basically, it’s a good idea, if the numbers add up. On the other hand Pickens is a neophyte when it comes to engine conversions, so here’s hoping that Wal-Mart gets more than one quotation.
Yeah, let’s exchange one finite resource for another. Brilliant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_gas_proven_reserves
How long before we burn through our supply of domestic natural gas and become dependent on Russia for our energy needs?
At least CNG is about the cleanest burning hydrocarbon in existence.
Don’t worry, it’ll all be OK. Natural gas is all natural and organic and according to some of Washington’s finnest, it’s not even a fossil fuel.
@ Axel:
As opposed to our infinite resources? There is a shitload of natural gas in this country, maybe it isn’t such a bad idea to tap it. I have to look into the downsides before I’m convinced though.
Thing is, all retailers follow Wal-Mart’s lead. So if they figure out how to make this work and are able to save money, you can bet your bottom dollar everyone will follow. Wal-Mart has re-defined the retail landscape and how business is done many times. If this works it’ll just be another successful chapter.
I believe walmart is smart enough not to tie it’s entire truck fleet to one supplier (or a few).
I’m confused though as to how the retrofit would work and would it be economically feasible. AFAIK, gas engines can be easily converted (spark plugs to combust), but oil burners?
Great picture for this article.
Now, every time I hear T. Boone’s name, Im going to imagine the Texas Millionaire Guy.
I find it hilarious that most people think T. Boone is doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He stands to make another gazillion dollars if he can get even a fraction of what he proposes.
I remember watching the first runs of Pickens’ commercials on CNBC. I got a bad feeling then, and I’ve still got a bad feeling now.
Wasn’t T. Boones book called The First Billion is the Hardest? Now he has Nancy Pelosi on board and invested in Natural Gas so that we can(to paraphrase) replace fossil fuels with natural gas. This is the leader of the House, and you wonder why the country is having an economic meltdown?
I met T Boone when he gave a presentation to my business class, freshmen year in university (1984).
I don’t remember the speech that well, but I remember 2 sorority girls behind me say “Grey suit and brown shoes…yuck!”
Moments before he had just been introduced as “Billionaire, Oilman T Boone Pickens…”
It was at the point that I realized I needed to change majors – immediately. Hello Engineering Dept!
There’s a company in Vancouver that has been doing it for years. They convert diesel engines to run on various other fuels:
http://www.westport.com/
UPS tried this. The trucks ended up with no power, lousy reliability, and the drivers hate them. All the drivers were extremely happy when they went back to diesel.
If Wal-Mart does this be sure never to be behind one if their trucks on a slight incline.
(I know, I have a parent who is a UPS driver and I hear about ti all the time)
That sounds great! Now about those CNG refilling stations…. oops.
I live in Vancouver. I have an old V8 GMC big-block converted to Propane (all legal) which is sold in most gas stations around here for cars & trucks to use.
Our businees has some CNG trucks (president drives a Prius and owns 3 hybrids at home).
The old GM V8 is cheaper to drive than my old Civic, but is sucks and blows at the same time as far as performance goes. But who cares. It is a truck, and it costs pennies on the dollar to drive around. Cheap insurance too.
The CNG trucks work perfectly fine, but can’t go very far… which is not a problam since they are all part of a urban fleet anyway.
If Honda sold their Civic CNG here for the public, I would buy one for commuting.
Until then, in the summer, I am riding a Yamaha XT 250 when the sun is out.
Isn’t there some way that Jesse Jackson can get in on this action?
How am I going to afford to heat my home if I now have to compete with transportation for natural gas? How am I going to charge my Volt if the power plant can’t use natural gas, coal, or nuclear energy and the wind isn’t blowing?
On that westport site, it shows the diesel working much the same way as a normal diesel, except it has a special glow plug that runs all the time, and helps the cng lite.
Most of the taxis in Canada run on natural gas so it must be OK.
There was a recent article in NYT where they said that new technologies are able to extract several times the amount of gas possible just a few years ago. With these new techniques the gas should be abundant for at least a few dozen years to come. In fact gas looks like the most realistic short to mid-term replacement for oil.
5,200 Schwan’s Ice Cream delivery trucks run on propane.
http://www.iconnectdots.com/ctd/2008/07/schwans-strateg.html
Walmart’s transportation division has been on a crusade to cut %25 of transportation costs by 2010. They have already raised the avg. MPG of the trucks by 1 MPG which is said to save them between 35-50 million a year. The fleet averages over 900 million miles a year.
As part of the program they have a couple of hybrid diesel trucks on the road and are funding development with some of the major truck manufacturers for more improvements in aerodynamic trailers and new drivelines.
With the existing store network and fuel islands, it would not be a major investment for them to add CNG to the pumps islands and convert the fleet over a couple of years. When you
At least we know the Walmart will make the decision based on ECONOMIC sense, not touchy feely greenwashing.
Edward,
I really think wal-Mart was just foolin with him.
I myself have made hundreds of presentations.
Afterwards, I really felt high ’cause the buyers made me feel like I sold them …only to be confronted with reality later.
Its kind of the easy way to get you out of their office and building.
Just nod and smile….then laugh after the door shuts.
Its kind of the easy way to get you out of their office and building.
Just nod and smile….then laugh after the door shuts.
Yeah, the fact that the story originates with a Pickens “weekly email” kinda says it all…
N85523,
Good one. I see you are a Pelosi fan.
It’s nice to know we have such bright national leaders.
It has been already be done on a smaller scale by a Raley’s/Bel Air in Northern CA. They run Kenworth T800s on LNG.
You can read all about it here:
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/27678.pdf
Given that the new 2007+ emissions diesels consume 10-25% more fuel for the same performance while costing $5-10k more I could see how LNG has some appeal. Diesel is still North of $4/gal in most parts, so the $1.50-2 gallon of diesel equivalent for LNG looks good right now.
PaulB:
With the excpetion of a few demo units of the the Peterbilt Hybrid 386 Wal Marts fleet is all International 9200s and ProStars.
They’re all finite resources. Moving from a single one to many means they’ll all last longer. And if Wal-Mart does do this, it means that CNG will become a viable alternative fuel for automakers.
Up next, a Hybrid CNG. Hopefully running in the WRC.