The division of The Kroger Co. announced yesterday the arrival of the first 11 heavy-duty vehicles that run on liquefied natural gas. A total of 40 LNG trucks will be received over the next several months.
The new LNG trucks will replace 40 diesel trucks currently in use, and will deliver product to Fred Meyer stores as far south as Corvallis, Ore., and as far north as Longview, Wash. “Fred Meyer is pleased to be the first in Kroger’s process of transitioning the Kroger fleet to alternative fuels,” said Lynn Gust, president of Fred Meyer Stores. “Converting to LNG trucks allows us to reinvest savings into lower prices while also providing a great benefit to the environment.”
The trucks will average approximately 175 miles per day, six days a week, 52 weeks a year. They are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 755 metric tons per year, which equates to removing approximately 159 passenger cars from the road annually. The trucks are manufactured at Freightliner’s North Carolina plant.
The fleet will be fueled at a new, private LNG fueling station at Fred Meyer’s Clackamas Distribution Center, which has been designed and engineered by Clean Energy Fuels Corp. This company will also supply the liquefied natural gas for the site, and once all 40 trucks are active, it will supply the approximately one million gallons a year needed to service them.
Kroger has invested $6.5 million in the project and has received a $490,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration via ODOT for the LNG infrastructure. Kroger has applied for $360,000 in grant funding from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to retire nine diesel trucks and completely replace them with LNG trucks.
Source: Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
