Although less dependence on foreign oil and CARB compliance are great reasons to adopt the use of a CNG truck, let’s face it, what it all really comes down to is reducing your “Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)” of your truck. A direct reflection of this figure can be represented by the number one expense there is as an owner-operator, FUEL COST!!! Being that we spend so much on this very important part of our driving business, reducing you “Cents Per Mile (CPM)” even by a few pennies can have a drastic impact on what ends up back in your pocket at the end of the year.
As many of you are well aware, I have taken on the CNG challenge in hopes that I can prove it will lower your TCO of such a truck, as well as prove it can leave some green left over in your pocket when you are finished with work. I will admit that I did not get nearly enough time to research the vast amount of different info available out there for a new CNG owner and was primarily educated on this transition by"Google" searching and “YouTube” videos. After being in the game for a little bit now, I have learned from my own mistakes on a few things, which I hope can be a lesson to others in the future. Of course finding and mapping out decent fuel stations came first, but then finding the best price was another story. Now that I have done so, you can see in the graph presented here, that I no longer pay some of the higher prices seen in the beginning stages of driving this truck. This has had a profound impact on my CPM and I am working at a steaming pace with the new prices to make up lost ground. This chart has many other figures as well, but what it is primarily intended for is to educate you on where I was at with diesel for my CPM average and where I am now for CPM with CNG. Not knowing the great differences in average CNG price for my area, it was actually costing me the same (if not more), to run the CNG as opposed to diesel with those higher prices of $2.849 per GGE (Gas Gallon Equivalent). Just goes to show what a little research can do! I won’t lie, it is hard being in one of the priciest states for natural gas in the country. One major thing to remember here is that my CPM average has been improving greatly as I get used to the truck, use cheaper stations, and dial in the truck to my local line of hauling. Not to mention that I have barely made a dent in the break-in period for the engine. I have even recently posted to my Facebook page that one of my most recent fill-up’s was able to achieve me a $.0472 CPM average!
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Truck Lifetime Fuel Statistics |
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Fuel Tickets |
Price Per GGE |
Price Per DGE |
(2/19/14 to Present) |
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$233.40 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$194.01 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$109.16 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$252.96 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$164.05 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$252.93 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$274.67 |
2.849 |
3.191 |
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$145.26 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$80.09 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$121.50 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$115.98 |
2.39 |
2.677 |
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$145.80 |
2.17 |
2.430 |
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$144.44 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$188.01 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$69.63 |
2.899 |
3.247 |
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$201.27 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$200.75 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$146.18 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$160.16 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$192.11 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$51.01 |
2.17 |
2.430 |
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$194.42 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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$122.01 |
2.23 |
2.498 |
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Total CNG |
$3,759.80 |
CNG Cost Per Mile: |
$0.59 |
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Miles |
6373 |
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Gallons of Diesel at Old Average (6.2) Needed: |
1028 |
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Average Diesel Cost Over Time Period in California: |
$4.086 |
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(Statistic from www.eia.gov) |
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Cost for This Mileage if Still on Diesel: |
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$4,200.01 |
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Diesel Cost Per Mile |
$0.66 |
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Even though the difference portrayed in this graph does not seem like a lot, it can be an amount that equals up to $4375 for an operation that runs as many miles as I run locally every year. That is not even taking into account the improvements that I have recently seen due to lower priced stations, relocating my fifth wheel and installing Team Run Smart aero mud flaps! Stay tuned for more numbers, as I get more eager to prove a decrease in TCO is possible in the CNG fuel arena and continue to try and lower my CPM average below the $0.55 mark!