8L spark ignition V8 now available - Freightliner S2G

06Fargo wrote:
What is the price per gallon of propane Autogas road fuel where you travel?

This vehicle might be an interesting base to start a "Super C", "truck conversion" or "toter" build on...

Propane aka LPG aka Autogas

vs the fuel cost per mile/depreciation of a gasohol truck

vs the risk of failure of complicated and expensive diesel emission systems

GM V8 8 litre of torques through an Allison trans with shifter on the column

Air ride/air brakes available for lots of stoppage...


Powertrain Integration 8L V8

Freightliner S2G Truck 8L V8

Last time I refilled a 30 lb propane cylinder a year ago it cost me $2.85 per gallon.. That price would not include road taxes..

Not sure of current prices but I suspect it HASN'T gone down as much as gasoline has..

Currently my gas prices are $2.13-$2.15 per gallon including ALL ROAD TAXES. Currently PA has nearly $.80 per gallon in road taxes..

So if I was able to buy gasoline without road taxes it would be $1.33-$1.35 per gallon..

That makes propane TWICE the price of a gallon of gasoline AND you take a hit in the ENERGY (BTUs) contained in Propane when comparing it to gasoline (that means you WILL use MORE propane per mile to do the same work as a gallon of gasoline).

Additionally finding places to refill a propane powered vehicle while on the road is problematic at best (there are less propane stations than gas stations and many propane suppliers have short hrs often closing business by 4PM daily or so and not open on Sat or Sun )..

That design is really destined for short haul businesses which have their own refill station or a deal with a local propane supplier(s)in a small defined area. In a nutshell a business that is willing to create their own fueling infrastructure.

It is no different than cities switching to CNG buses, fleet vehicles and such.

Not really something the average Joe Driver is wanting or will want but it does have some niche market potential.

This truck is fuelled by propane not CNG - compressed natural gas

Will be interesting to see how this thread goes. A few years ago I posted about a John Deere CNG engine with spark plugs designed for the medium duty truck market and got flamed for four pages about how real trucks don't have spark plugs. ;)

FCA has switched all of the over the road tractors to CNG and will be switching the entire fleet over the next two years.
LINK


Don

around here: diesel 2.19/gallon, regular 2.13/gallon propane 2.75+ road tax (would be over $3.00/gallon total) given that propane has around 80KBTU/gallon, vs 100KBTU/gallon for gas and 110KBTU/gallon for diesel, it doesn't make sense to me.

There was a time when propane was enough less expensive than gas/diesel that it made sense to run a propane conversion on gas engines. know folks that did.

But right now in our neck of the woods don't think it would make sense.

As for diesel failures due to emissions. on my last truck in 145K miles issues =0, zero,nada, zip, none. All that was done was scheduled maintenance. Never has even been back to the dealer for any repairs.

Neighbor 450K, same thing. wouldn't call that a "problem"