Trussville Utilities and City of Trussville Begin CNG Vehicle Program
Trussville Utilities has recently purchased its first all natural gas vehicle, 3 Honda Civic GX's, and the City of Trussville has approved the conversion of four new Chevrolet Impala police cars to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV's) have the advantage of running inexpensive domestic natural gas and producing less pollution. The Jefferson County area was recently ranked among the five worst areas in the country for air pollution. This program is an effort to reduce emissions and improve air quality, while taking advantage of low price natural gas.
The stumbling block of NGV's has historically been the lack of infrastructure to fuel the cars. Currently, there are over 1,100 stations nationwide. One of them is located in Birmingham on 8th Avenue North near 31st Street. Such stations are referred to as quick fill stations and it takes about the same time to fuel a NGV as it takes to pump gasoline. Trussville Utilities has currently enlisted Phoenix Energy Corp to build a private CNG refueling station for the utility department and the City of Trussville will build an additional CNG refueling station for the City Police Department.
Both organizations are excited about the longer service life of NGV's due to the lack of carbon buildup in engines. The mayor believes the payback on the city's investment will take about three years and could be quicker if gasoline prices rise to previous levels. CNG currently sells at the 8th Avenue location for $1.36 per gasoline equivalent gallon.