U.S.-based Agility Fuel Systems, a designer and producer of natural gas fuel storage and delivery systems for heavy duty trucks and buses, announced that UPS has ordered 445 of its new 160 DGE Behind-the-Cab CNG fuel systems for delivery in 2015. UPS has led the industry in the adoption of natural gas in heavy duty on-road trucking and with this new order, will be operating almost 1,600 heavy duty trucks equipped with CNG or LNG fuel systems supplied by Agility. These trucks, once fully deployed, are projected to run more than 230 million miles annually and are expected to achieve up-time results that are comparable to diesel trucks.
Agility’s 160 DGE design weighs 500 lbs. less than the previous model. The improvements to the system come from the Agility Hexagon joint venture’s first new product: a new higher capacity and lighter cylinder design. The latest system continues to deliver the most efficient package of any CNG system in the industry and utilizes four of the newly designed carbon fiber cylinders, for a total weight of only 2050 pounds, and requiring only 31 1/4” of valuable frame rail space. Depending on the application, the system can deliver a driving range of almost 1,000 kilometres before refueling. In addition to its already outstanding capacity as a stand-alone system, it can be packaged with side-mounted systems to provide an operating range in excess of 1,700 kilometres.
In February, Agility Fuel Systems and Clean Energy Fuels, a leading provider of natural gas fuel for the transportation industry in North America, announced a joint CNG fuel system sales program to reduce the incremental cost of heavy-duty natural gas trucks. Under the program, Agility and Clean Energy will work with trucking customers and offer CNG fuel systems installed at a substantially reduced cost when there is a natural gas fueling agreement.
Agility Fuel Systems is a privately owned company that is not affiliated with Agility Logistics.