What Are the Environmental Benefits of Propane Autogas?

Propane is clean burning and affordable for your commercial fleet.

Like so many of our customers and partners, we believe that it‘s essential to address the major contributors to climate change. And the largest single emitter of greenhouse gases in the U.S. is the transportation sector. Every year, the Superior Propane team talks to commercial clients in Flagstaff and across northern Arizona about how to affordably lower their emissions. Propane autogas is a great way to shrink your vehicle fleet’s carbon footprint.

According to the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), over 60,000 propane autogas commercial vehicles are currently on the road in our country. Among these vehicles are school buses, service vans, police cruisers, shuttles and delivery trucks. We have found that propane autogas is an appealing, cost-effective alternative to electrifying your vehicles.

Reducing Your Fleet’s Emissions with Autogas

If you’re currently relying on aging diesel or gasoline vehicles, converting to propane provides instant, sustainable emissions reductions. Consider these environmental benefits of autogas:

• The Argonne National Laboratory’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model shows that propane can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 13% compared with gasoline and diesel.
• Propane sourced from natural gas production (roughly 70% of U.S. propane) can reduce petroleum use by 99%.
• Propane’s carbon intensity (CI) is about 14% lower than gasoline and diesel.
• Propane emits virtually no particulate matter, a known carcinogen.
• Propane autogas can considerably lower your fleet’s carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions — a huge benefit for air quality around your vehicles!
• Propane is also non-toxic. Unlike gasoline or diesel, it will not negatively affect soil, water or animal, plant or aquatic life if there is a spill.

Propane Autogas vs. Electric Vehicles

Many advocates of electrifying everything claim that the only solution to decarbonizing vehicle fleets is electric vehicles (EVs). This is a faulty assertion.
Electric vehicles need clean electricity to lower life-cycle emissions, and Arizona’s grid-based electricity is far from clean. The CI of our state’s grid power is almost 70% higher than propane’s. That means that 70% more CO2 is produced to provide the same amount of energy to an EV as to an autogas vehicle!

Now consider the cost differential between converting a fleet to EVs versus autogas. The infrastructure for 10 electric vehicles with five level 3 fast EV chargers can reach $480,000. By contrast, 10 propane autogas vehicles with a single 1,000- to 2,000-gallon tank cost around $60,000.

And the benefits of autogas don’t end there. Electric trucks can travel about 120 miles on a charge, while autogas trucks can go about 350 miles on a full tank. We’ve seen significant cold weather problems with EVs, including dramatically lower battery life and longer charging times. Propane autogas engines have virtually no cold start concerns.

Get On-Site Autogas Fueling with Superior Propane.

If you want the most dependable propane autogas service in northern Arizona, trust the team at Superior Propane. We can set you up with easy-to-use on-site autogas storage and pumps. Our commercial propane team is always at your service to refill your autogas supply and keep your eco-friendly fleet on the road.

Take a moment to drop a line to Superior Propane to get started receiving best-in-class fleet fueling services.