B6 - Wednesday, October 5, 1983 - North Shore News

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POWERED BY natural gas, the rear mounted fuel tanks hold enough compressed natural gas that BCAA's tow trucks can

work a 10 hour shift without refuelling.

ADDING A NEW DIMENSION

BCAA switch fuel

IN A CEREMONY at BCAA
emergency road service head-
quarters in Burnaby, Chair-
man T. Evans Lougheed of-
-ficially filled the first BCAA
tow truck with B.C.’s fuel of
the future - compressed
natural gas.

Lougheed initiated use of
BCAA’s natural gas com-
pressor, which now supplies
BCAA’s fleet of 52 trucks
with the alternate fuel.

BCAA researched the
possibility of converting its
fleet to compressed natural
gas (CNG) for more than a
year, according to Lougheed,
evaluating information on
costs, performance, benefits
and possible drawbacks.

One of the key factors in
BCAA’s decision

was
economic.

“*“We expect to save
$100,000 a year in fuel
costs,’’ says Bob. Blair,
manager of BCAA fleet
operations. The _ fleet

operates 24 hours a day and
travels more than 1.6 million
kilometers (1 million miles) a
year
Among the other reasons
BCAA cited for conversion:
Natural gas ts safer than

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gasoline. CNG has three ma-
jor safety advantages. First,
it is lighter than air - if it
leaks, it just rises and
dissipates. Second, it is less
vilatile than gasoline. It takes
a higher concentration of
CNG for combustion to oc-
cur, as well as a_ higher
temperature. A lit cigarette
won’t ignite it - the
temperature must be 700° or
better (gasoline ignites at
450°). Third, CNG tanks are
built,-by law, to hold extreme
pressure - they are tested at
4,000 pounds per square inch
(27.5 Mega pascals).

It is kind to engines. Com-
pressed natural gas forms no
sludge, does not rinse oil
from cylinder walls, can save
money in pistons, plugs,
filters, oil and other
maintenance costs. Pipes and

mufflers should last) much
longer.
It is smooth Because it is

already a gas, if doesn’t need
to be vapourized. It gives
faster starts and smoother
idling.

It is clean. CNG is prac
tically pollution- free In fact,
it can reduce exhaust cmis
sions by up to 90%.

It is renewable. Compress-

ed natural gas, primarily
methane, is a_ renewable
source of energy.

There are several

drawbacks, particularly for
individuals. Conversion costs
up to $2,300 per vehicle

(although government grants _

are available to help defray
costs) and there are relatively
few stations where compress-
ed natural gas can be pur-
chased. Ultimately, however,
stations offering CNG should
be at least as widespread as
those offering diesel fuel.

Refueling is not a problem
for BCAA because the
automobile association has
its own compressor, a high
volume output model capable
of refueling a number of
vehicles within a short period
of time, manufactured by Rix
Industries and the first of its
kind in Canada.

Invited to the September
29 ceremony were represen
tatives from the federal, pro
vincial and municipal govern.
ments, B.C. Hydro and a
number of key people in the
relatively new compressed
natural gas industry

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