The road to no-compromise renewable energy scaling

On a recent episode of Truck Tech, Alan Adler interviewed Eric Bippus, executive vice president of sales and systems development at Hexagon Agility, to outline key considerations and benefits of implementing renewable natural gas (RNG) into your fleet.

Adler noted Hexagon Agility is the nation’s largest provider of natural gas systems and tanks for heavy-duty trucks with over 100,000 RNG-powered vehicles on the road today equipped with Hexagon Agility’s technology.

Bippus began by showcasing a Kenworth T880 X15N sleeper truck equipped with Hexagon Agility’s fuel systems that runs on RNG. For new fleet adopters looking to switch to RNG, he notes one of the key considerations is understanding the fueling infrastructure and how to spec the natural gas truck compared to a diesel. 

The X15N Kenworth truck showcased at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas earlier this year featured a fuel system capacity of 256 diesel gallon equivalents (DGE). This setup combines a 175 DGE ProCab behind-the-cab system with dual side-mounted 30 DGE ProRail fuel systems, with an option to increase up to 45 DGE. Depending on the payload and terrain, this is estimated to provide a range of over 1,200 miles.

“It gives that new adopting fleet the comfort to say, ‘Am I going to be able to make my route?’” Bippus said, adding, “When you can cover 1,200 miles, you fill a lot of gaps in infrastructure.” For Bippus, that range and ability to work around the growing infrastructure is one of the main selling features when compared to other clean fuel technologies.

He gives the example of electric vehicles, which currently have a place but the fleet user experience shows they get around 250 to 200 miles per day in a heavy-duty truck application. 

For natural gas, innovation and advancements made over the past decade in the renewable natural gas space are closing the price gap with diesel. Bippus adds, “The early days of natural gas back around 2012, 2013 and 2014 was all about the return on investment and the price difference between diesel and natural gas. Today that ROI and price difference is an important piece for fleets which are for-profit businesses and must be able to deploy technology at scale, which also has a payback.”

Fleets looking to transition from diesel are also getting pressure from upcoming Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions regulations putting greater attention on the carbon intensity score associated with fuel sources. Bippus notes that, for RNG sourced from places like the dairy farms, the carbon score could be up to 300% negative.

On the infrastructure front, states like California are taking notice. Bippus estimates that renewable natural gas now makes up 97% of all heavy-duty natural gas fuel used.

During the transition from diesel to natural gas, Bippus projects that it can take three to four years to generate a positive ROI depending on miles driven and the disparity between an RNG and diesel truck. This does not take into account the upcoming EPA phase 3 rules going into effect, which Bippus believes will add a significant amount of cost to a diesel truck when accounting for the added equipment needed to remove more NOx from diesel emissions.

Adler added that from his conversations with industry contacts, the higher equipment costs due to added diesel emissions filtration are predicted to lower the price variance between a diesel and natural gas truck to between $25,000 and $40,000.
To learn more about Hexagon Agility, visit www.hexagonagility.com.