ShowTimes Magazine September 2005 at APTA Expo 2005

Welcome to Expo 2005 September 26, 2005

Where They Are Booth numbers for the natural gas supply and natural gas equipment companies here Page 3 at APTA Expo 2005.

Clean Energy Deals Natural gas fueling leader Clean Energy Fuels comes to APTA with new plans for long-term gas supply contracts—featuring Page 4 guaranteed multi-year pricing.

One of DART’s 183 liquefied natural gas-fueled buses and a truckload of fuel from agency’s new supplier, Clean Energy

What’s the Local Dallas Area Rapid Transit Doing?

Lincoln’s Again Lincoln CNG tankmaker is free of its GD fetters and with European capital behind it stands ready to be more responsive to the needs of Page 6 bus builders—and operators.

Let Trillium USA Do It CNG specialist makes the case that transit agencies are better off seeking expert help Page 9 to handle their fueling needs.

A New Deere Engine John Deere is launching a 9.0-liter natural gas-fueled engine to help it build on the fast start in transit buses it’s made with its 8.1liter 6081.

Page 13

DART’s next bus buy may or may not be natural gas, but the agency will almost certainly go for gas again when emissions regulations tighten. Long-term contracts may make the clean fuel more attractive too.

Page 12

Buy Fuel? Want to Pay Less?

A combination of factors—and new government incentives—may well make natural gas the best bet for transit agencies seeking the most cost-effective clean air alternative for the post-Katrina era.

Chief among the many contributory reasons is the fact that diesel engines are getting more expensive as new emissions controls are added, and that diesel fuel is getting more expensive as the price of oil inexorably rises and sulfur is removed.

Manufacturers of natural gas engines are offering products that can meet NOx requirements for 2010 in 2007.

The stoichiometric natural gas engines are expected to be nearly as efficient as diesels fitted with the controls to meet those tighter rules.

• Cummins Westport, Inc. is unveiling the 8.9 liter, stoichiometric, L Gas Plus-based and NOx 2010compliant ISL G here today.

CWI on Page 5 • Emission Solutions, Inc. is offering the Phoenix 7.6L, a natural gas-fueled version of the DT 466. Full CNG and LNG installations are planned.

ESI on Page 7 • A study by the Tiax consultancy has found that, assuming the price of oil to be just $31 per barrel (a fond memory scant months after the study’s release), natural gas buses will be cheaper to run than diesels on a life-cycle basis.

Tiax on Page 10 • ShowTimes presents a special report from Europe on natural gas transit bus action.

Europe on Page 11 • Fab Industries has the knowhow and a new location to ease the installation of gaseous fuel systems—and Fab now handles engines too.

Fab on Page 13

Texas Welcome from Boone Pickens — Page 3

Publisher Kirk Fetzer Kirk@CTNPublishing.com 415-385-0987 at APTA Editor Rich Piellisch Rich@CTNPublishing.com 415-305-9050 at APTA Contributing Editor Jamie Knapp Photographer Mel Lindstrom Distribution Manager Jeri Fetzer Printed by: Digital Graphics, Inc. ShowTimes is published by Convention & Tradeshow News.

Advertising: 415-979-1414 Editorial: 415-896-5988 www.CTNPublishing.com ShowTimes produces live, daily news publications for events in the alternative fuels industry including: Clean CIties Conference & Expo, Electric Drive Transportation Association Expo, and National Hydrogen Association Expo. © Copyright 2005 by Convention & Tradeshow News.

All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Reprints available upon request.

Welcome to Dallas.

Your timing is perfect.

Oil and gas prices are rising, and those who believe the price per barrel of oil will ever fall back into the $30 and $40 ranges are increasingly in the minority. Demand continues to outpace supply.

Consider these facts: • In the Arab embargo back in the 70s, we were importing 25% of our oil. In the first Gulf War, we were importing 42% of our oil. Today we’re importing 57%. By 2010, we’ll be over 60%.

• Demand is growing globally. Take China. Ten years ago China used 3.4 million barrels per day. Today they are using 6.5 million barrels per day, and they are projected to use 11 million per day a decade from now.

• We are consuming more than 30 billion barrels of oil a year worldwide. The last time we found as much oil in a year as we consumed

natural gas engines was the mid ’80s. that meet 2010 clean • The Alaska pipeair standards withline used to be full, greater fuel efficiency running at 2 million and reliability. barrels per day. It Transit agencies now carries less that have made the than half that. switch to natural gas The easy oil has in recent years are been found. We’ve improving air quality peaked as far as proand realizing subduction goes, or it’s Texas’ own Boone Pickens stantial fuels savings right around the corner. What does this mean for through long-term contracts that transit operators? Continued up- lock in prices at reduced levels.

I encourage you to seek out those ward pressure on pricing. Couple that with increasing demands for on the front lines of the natural gas cleaner fuels and you are talking fueling movement. Talk to tranabout the need for real leadership sit managers from Los Angeles, and an expanded role for alterna- Sacramento, San Diego or Phoenix. tives. Maintaining the status quo is They will tell you what a difference natural gas is making in their operano longer an option.

The best fuel is natural gas. tions. It will be a conversation worth Engine technology has improved having. Have a great convention. dramatically. At least two major Boone Pickens is Chairman Emeritus manufactures here are offering 2007 of Clean Energy Fuels (Booth 5706).

Why Natural Gas for Transit? tanks and tubes and other hardware to make natural gas buses possible, even gas engine manufacturers, might otherwise be lost in a crowd of 800-plus exhibitors.

The natural gas bus stor y is getting lost too in the face of heightened attention to hybrids and a backlash against fossil fuels.

The fact is that fossil fuels are going to be with us a long time.

Natural gas, essentially methane, is four-fifths hydrogen. It’s a fundamentally cleaner fuel than diesel, and very arguably more domestic.

Got asthma? Kids got asthma?

Grandkids? Air pollution problems are far from solved.

And does anyone really doubt the reality of global warming?

For operators with more mundane concerns, the efficiency of natural gas engines Natural gas advocates say gas buses are is improving while the efficleaner, likely to see better economics. ciency of diesels is deteriorat-

We’ve under taken this special Natural Gas Transit Repor t at APTA’s Expo 2005 because the natural gas bus stor y is a stor y worth telling.

Why tell it here? Because this is the Big One, the once-ever ythree-years national public transit show, and it comes at a critical energy supply juncture.

Everyone here is aware of the spiraling cost of fuel.

A dozen natural gas and component firms, the companies that supply the gas itself and who supply the fueling equipment and

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

APTA EXPO 2005

Welcome to APTA 2005 Dallas, But Be Warned: ‘Easy Oil’ Is Over

ing. That’s because new add-ons will be necessary to bring diesel engine emissions down to mandated 2010 levels—down to the levels of natural gas engines displayed here this week and available early next year.

Diesel engines will be more expensive and the ultra low sulfur fuel they require will be more expensive too.

At the same time the NGV side is more responsive to operators’ needs. All three of the CNG tank suppliers here, for example, offer complete, bolt-in bus fuel systems or have partners who do so.

Yes, natural gas prices are rising. But globally, natural gas prices are expected to lag behind the price of oil by about 20 years.

And last month President Bush signed legislation giving a 50-centper-gallon price break to natural gas. Yes, it’s a story worth telling.

—Rich Piellisch, Editor

Where They Are...

Applied LNG Technologies Booth 4293

ANGI International Booth 5510

Clean Energy Booth 5706

Cummins Westport Booth 3773

Deere Power Systems Booth 1047

Dynetek Industries Booth 5002

Fab Industries Booth 1157

Lincoln Composites Booth 2034

NexGen Fueling/Chart Booth 4420

Structural Composites Ind. Booth 1759

Trillium USA Booth 3979

Westport Innovations Booth 3773 September 26, 2005

3

APTA EXPO 2005

CENTER STAGE

Clean Energy: Low Prices, Long Contracts Mitchell Pratt VP Business Development Clean Energy (Booth 5706)

price,” says DART maintenance VP Mike and, citing new offerings from Cummins Hubbell (see page 12). Clean Energy is trying to Westport (page 7) and John Deere (page 11), are convince Hubbell to go with gas for its next bus getting even better. Diesel is meanwhile getting buy, expected to be some 70 vehicles. more expensive—both the fuel itself LNG accounts for about 35% of which claims the title of largest and diesel engines as they are modified Clean Energy, to meet emission standards the new gas North American supplier of vehicular natural Clean Energy’s overall business, and is engines can achieve. gas, has a simple message for APTA Expo 2005: growing faster than CNG. Clean Hybrids? Pratt says diesel-fueled the company says it can deliver the cleanest pos- Energy is working to build its own hybrid buses cost approximately half a sible bus fuel at an advantageous price, and lock LNG plant in Southern California.

The 80,000-gallon-per-day unit, to be million dollars each, as compared to in that price for years. roughly $330,000 or $340,000 for a “We can offer transit operators very attractive built for easy expansion, is part of an Mitchell Pratt CNG bus (a premium of as little as long-term fixed-price contracts that others aren’t “aggressive” five-year growth plan including investment of $100 million 10% over straight diesel buses, and one that with outlined by Clean Energy president new engine technology may be covered almost and CEO Andrew Littlefair in fully by new federal incentives).

Washington last month.

“It’s really time,” Pratt says, “to take a fresh The plan includes 42 additional look and reconsider natural gas.”

LNG outlets, and 50 for CNG, augmenting Path to the Vaunted Hydrogen Future more that 160 in operaCould Be a Combination of Two Fuels tion already in the U.S. and Canada. Littlefair Clean Energy VP Mitchell (which several weeks ago said Clean Energy Pratt also reminds APTA opted for CNG buses instead Clean Energy provides fuel at the Sky Harbor airport in notched volume growth Expo 2005 attendees about of diesels) with HCNG made Phoenix to vehicles like this New Flyer employee shuttle bus. of 40%, to 46 million the nation’s commitment to with waste hydrogen from a necessarily able to offer,” says Clean Energy VP equivalent gallons, from 2003 to hydrogen, and that sooner or British Columbia chlor-alkali 2004, and that 2004 revenues Mitchell Pratt. later transit operators will plant. Clean Ener gy has Clean Energy was founded by natural gas topped $50 million. even designed a new dishave to invest in it.

Fuel volume is expected to master trader Boone Pickens, who is now “To get to that hydrogen penser to deliver a more chairman emeritus of the Seal Beach, Calif.- exceed 50 million gallons this year. future, transit facilities have consistent blend.

Above and beyond fuel provibased company.

“We’re a much less expento be upgraded to gaseous “We’re aware of the gas marketplace,” says sion, Clean Energy promises “a fuels,” he says. “Natural gas sive way to get to a near Pratt, “and work within that marketplace to pro- full complement of services.” zero-emission bus,” Pratt is a clean, reliable solution.” vide customers what they need.” Pratt is a That includes financing, and help Even more logical, to says. Using blends in internal co-chairman of APTA’s clean propulsion and with getting grants. “We’ll build hasten the advent of that combustion engines could and own the station,” says VP support technology committee. hydrogen future, Pratt argues, foster a market for hydrogen The company is in at least one case offering a Pratt, reaching out to agencies is the use of hydrogen-CNG while fuel cells develop, too. contract with fixed-price gas costs locked in for that are leery of natural gas.

Pratt was a key figure in blends, which promise to “There were a number of ten years, and is thinking of making the ten-year bring already-low CNG engine taking the natural gas transit properties that were early term a nationwide policy. emissions down even further. vehicle industry’s “pathwayRight here in Dallas, Clean Energy has won a adopters,” Pratt told ShowTimes.

Clean Energy is in the to-hydrogen” message to the new contract to supply liquefied natural gas to “Those properties struggled early stages of a project to National Hydrogen AssociDallas Area Rapid Transit, committing to a cap through the early adopter experipower buses operated by ation’s annual meeting in of 99.54 cents per LNG gallon for five years, ence.” Now, he says, engines are Vancouver’s TransLink Washington this year. with a three-year option. It’s “a very favorable more reliable and more efficient,

Tax Breaks Seen as Boon, But Not Real Soon Bills just signed into law by President Bush provide tremendous new incentives for natural gas vehicles. The energy law provides fueling infrastructure support, and it appears that as much as $32,000 per vehicle will be available for buses with the latest, 2010-compliant engines—enough to cover most of their incremental costs, effective January 1.

As tax breaks, however, all of the new rules are 4

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

subject to IRS interpretation. The real challenge is in the transportation bill’s 50-cent-per-gallon excise tax credit for alt fuels. Since it’s based on sales, there is some question of whether the credit applies to agencies pumping their own fuel.

Securing favorable interpretation is a key priority of the national NGV lobby, and at any rate the 50-cent credit doesn’t take effect until October 1, 2006.

September 26, 2005

Cummins Westport, Inc. is trumpeting its ISL G engine here, advising that the new 8.9-liter powerplant can meet year 2010 NOx emissions requirements now, and that the engine boasts efficiencies that rival diesel.

CWI’s ISL G is a stoichiometric fuel mix variant of the L Gas Plus, which was launched last year.

The ISL G is fitted too with EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) controls, and economical three-way catalyst.

The new CWI engine is rated at 250 to 320 horsepower.

“It’s targeted initially at transit and refuse,”says CWI marketing VP Jeff Campbell, who is representing the company at Booth 3773.

CWI’s pitch to transit operators?

Get a jump on 2010’s 0.02-gram CWI’s L Gas Plus is the basis for NOx requirements the stoichiometric ISL G. (which take effect in California in 2007), and save fuel too. “We get an improvement in efficiency with stoich, so we expect an improvement in fuel economy,” Campbell says.

“We intend to close the gap with diesel,” he told ShowTimes.

Particulate emissions for the new engine are at or below 2010 levels without a particulate trap, CWI says. “Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be at least 17% lower than the cleanest diesel engine available.”

“The availability of a high performance engine with ultra-low emissions bodes well in the fight against deteriorating urban air quality and climate change,” CWI president Hugh Foden said earlier this year, when CWI said it would develop the stoichiometric L Gas Plus successor with the support of DoE’s National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado. “Our solution should offer significant economic as well as environmental value to customers,” Foden said.

NREL was expected to put about $2 million into the project, which is also supported by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the clean

In League with Cummins CWI is talking up its natural gas engine line, with a decided emphasis on the new ISL G, at Booth 3773. The company is sharing its APTA display with joint venture parent Cummins Engine. CWI’s other j.v. parent is Vancouver’s Westpor t Innovations, which is developing heavy duty engines that maintain the sparkless, efficient diesel cycle but run primarily on natural gas.

air watchdog for the Los Angeles region.

CWI is also promoting the 8.3-liter C Gas Plus here, although that engine is to be phased out in North American markets and replaced by the new ISL G. The third horse in the CWI stable is the 5.9-liter B Gas Plus.

A modified version of the B Gas Plus, dubbed the B Gas International, is meanwhile finding favor in Asia. “It’s designed to be locally

APTA EXPO 2005

CWI to Meet 2010 NOx Rules Next Year manufactured in China and India,” Campbell says, using parts shipped for assembly by CWI. Dongfeng Cummins Engine and Cummins India are the licensees for the B Gas International for those markets.

Will CWI offer a B Gas Plus derivative using the technology in the ISL G? “The B stoich decision,” Campbell says, “is pending.”

TRANSIT NGV PROGRAMS ARE ON THE MOVE About 8000 natural gas-powered transit buses operate in urban and suburban settings across North America and hundreds more on order will deploy in the coming year. In fact, about one-in-four transit buses on order is specified to run on natural gas. That’s because CNG- and LNG-powered buses have a proven track record of clean, reliable and cost-efficient service at

Transit officials in NAAQS Maintenance and NonAttainment areas are deploying natural gas-powered transit buses to reduce emissions in order to help their regions meet air quality requirements and to reduce reliance on petroleum fuels.

more than 120 transit agencies and the list grows every year. Today’s natural gas-powered buses emit less NOx and PM than their “clean diesel” counterparts. In fact, while diesel proponents continue to struggle with complex and costly fuel and exhaust after-treatment strategies, many natural gas bus engines already meet 2007 emission requirements now and several Many transit agencies use light- and medium-duty sedans, pick-ups, vans and trucks in their “white fleets” for driver switch-outs, route supervision and maintenance duties.

manufacturers have engineered solutions to

meet 2010 requirements. To get the straight facts about natural gas-powered engines, vehicles and NGV fueling equipment and services, contact us.

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

Riders and drivers appreciate the fact that natural gas engines run quieter and cleaner than their diesel counterparts. Transit agency executives are finding that NGVs also cost less to operate because of lower fuel costs, less maintenance and longer engine life.

Clean Vehicle Education Foundation 6011 Fords Lake Court, Acworth, Georgia 30101

www.cleanvehicle.org September 26, 2005

5

APTA EXPO 2005

Lincoln Composites Gets Its Name Back Nebraska’s Lincoln Composites has its old name back: Lincoln Composites. The manufacturer of lightweight, all-composite natural gas (and hydrogen) fuel cylinders was purchased from General Dynamics on January 21 by Norway’s Hexagon Composites, which also owns the Norwegian tank manufacturer Raufoss.

Hexagon has reinstated the Lincoln name, and appointed longtime company veteran Bill Dick as president.

Lincoln is at Booth 2034 here.

The firm reminds Expo 2005 that its TuffShell brand tanks “have been a fixture in the transit industry for more than 12 years.” The aerospace-derived fabrication techniques and aerospace-grade carbon fiber used in their construction has allowed weight to be reduced so that busbuilders could place tanks on the roof, in turn allowing easy-toboard, low-floor CNG transit vehicles.

Lincoln module “By putting any- ready to wheel into where from three to position and mount seven tanks on the roof of the vehicles,” the firm

says, “manufacturers could fill their vehicles with the equivalent of 704 liters (186 gallons) of diesel fuel in compressed natural gas.”

Lincoln also pioneered material arrangements that make for exceedingly durable cylinders: “The structural integrity of the TuffShell tanks has never been compromised in any accident that has occurred in the field,” the company says.

“Lincoln’s tanks have been driven into overpasses, rear-ended by semi-trailers, and drug over concrete barriers,” says sales and marketing manager Brock Peterson. “The tanks performed as designed and still met the minimum burst requirement for a new tank.”

Lincoln also offers “fully integrated storage solutions” for CNG, with designs suitable for both roof and chassis mounting.

The storage modules include not only the requisite number of CNG tanks but all of the necessary valves, PRDs (pressure relief devices) and plumbing, including fill receptacles, venting, and fairings.

Lincoln says it’s sold more than 30,000 CNG tanks and hundreds of fuel modules in transit.

Fundamental Edge in H2?

Lincoln Composites has already begun preparations for what it says may be “the next phase of alternate fuel in the transit industry.”

In 2002, the firm designed, manufactured and successfully tested a 700 bar (10,000 psi) compressed hydrogen tank. In 2004, Lincoln says, a 700 bar TuffShell tank was tested by an independent testing laborator y and “passed all of the proposed requirements for high pressure hydrogen storage.”

An added plus for all-composite tanks?

High cycle life, which the company maintains is superior to that of competing tanks with aluminum liners. A test TuffShell tank, Lincoln says, has undergone 500,000 filling cycles to 6,250 psi with no leak or rupture.

(The term “all-composite,” or Type IV, connotes a CNG cylinder with a polymeric inner liner, generally a toughened version of highdensity polyethylene, wrapped with carbon fiber. Competing Type III tanks have metal liners, generally aluminum, likewise wrapped in carbon.)

NABI Delivers 1,000 LA Metro CNG Buses North American Bus Industries (Booth 2611) delivered its 1000th CNG bus to Los Angeles County MTA on August 8. There have been four separate contracts since NABI began supplying alt fuel buses to LA Metro in 1993.

NABI has by Expo 2005 delivered at least 30 of 200 60-foot articulated CNG buses to LA Metro for BRT (bus rapid transit) routes.

The Hungary- and Alabama-based company has also supplied 875 40-foot low-floor buses and 95 lightweight, 45-foot CompoBuses to LA Metro.

NABI says it’s produced more than 1,500 CNG vehicles of varying lengths for U.S. operators.

LA Metro itself has 1,530 CNG buses.

LA Metro vehicle technology director Mike Bottone and manager John Drayton accept plaque from NABI field service manager Craig Pruett (right).

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Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

September 26, 2005

France to Double Gas Buses France’s AFGNV has a deal with the French government to double its number of buses running on natural gas by 2010 to 3,200. France hopes to have 100,000 natural gas vehicles by 2010, up from about 7,400 this year. AFGNV is the Paris-headquartered Association Française du Gaz Naturel pour Véhicules. A natural gas bus operated by RATP in Paris is pictured.

Picking Up the OEM Slack Dallas-based BAF Technologies offers compressed natural gas versions of Ford and General Motors shuttle buses, effectively picking up the slack as the OEMs have discontinued their factory CNG models. BAF thus makes it possible for airport, hotel and other shuttle bus operators to use CNG for Ford E450s with 6.8-liter V-10 engines, and for GM C4500s and C5500s with 8.1-liter Vortec V-8 engines.

BAF has both U.S. EPA and California Air Resources Board certifications for 2005 with applications pending for 2006. “We currently have 100 buses scheduled for production through December 31,” reports BAF VP Bill Calvert.

“BAF projects that gasoline/diesel fuel cost and new supportive legislation will add additional incentives to look at the natural gas option,” he told ShowTimes. BAF, Bill Calvert, 214-231-1450; bcalvert@baftechnologies.com

California Transit Bus Battle Accusations are flying as The San Francisco Chronicle reported late in August that the California Air Resources Board is moving to tighten its dual-path strategy for cleaner transit buses—essentially making it harder for California agencies to buy new diesels as they update their fleets—at the behest of the NGV lobby.

The California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition insists it’s asking only for CARB to stand by its existing policy, which includes more stringent rules for buses than for trucks. The verbal mêlée includes accusations of improper contributions to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the part of natural gas vehicle advocates.

NGV advocates are in turn accusing the diesel lobby of mounting a deliberate disinformation campaign.

CNG Pioneer Is Here Mississauga, Ont.- and New York Statebased Orion Bus Industries, now part of DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses NA (Booth 1203) has manufactured more than 2,500 CNG buses “for transit authorities across North America,” reports VP Mark Brager.

“Orion pioneered CNG fuel systems for transit buses in the mid-80s and still accounts for a substantial percentage of the market,” Brager told ShowTimes.

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

Emission Solutions Launching A Natural Gas Version of DT 466

APTA EXPO 2005

SNAPSHOTS

Emission Solutions, Inc. is kicking off Approvals are expected as soon as a new line of dedicated-natural gas September 30.

ESI plans an engine swap program vehicle engines.

The first of the new ESI line, aimed whereby existing 466 engines can be at Class 5 to Class 7 short-haul vehi- exchanged for the Phoenix 7.6L, cles, including small transit buses, which has a nearly identical footprint.

The program will include full will be the 175- to 265-horsepower Phoenix 7.6L. It’s a spark-ignition installation of either liquefied or comvariant of the popular DT 466 engine pressed natural gas tanks and lines, as from International (Navistar), a well as a two-years parts-and- labor warranty “and a full complement of straight-six powerplant. optional maintenance ESI’s Phoenix version services.” emits just 0.7 grams of “Support is crucial,” NOx per brake horsesays ESI VP Jim Cole. power hour, even with a “We see tremend e t e r i o r a t i o n f a c t o r, dous potential for the s a y s t h e McKinney, ESI Phoenix 7.6 in Texas-based company. It short-haul transportathus easily meets the U.S. tion and distribution EPA’s 2007 requirement of the Phoenix 7.6L applications such as 1.2 grams.

Tests at the Southwest Research school buses, food and beverage fleets Institute in Austin have certified and in the municipal work truck sector Phoenix 7.6L NOx emissions of just where this engine is so well suited,” 0.513 grams. Non-methane hydro- ESI president Jim Moore says in carbon and particulate emissions were a release.

ESI is based just 30 miles from here, pegged at 0.059 and 0.009 grams per in McKinney (north of Plano). brake horsepower hour, respectively.

Emission Solutions says it is filing Emission Solutions, VP Jim Cole, for both U.S. EPA and California 972-369-0099; fax 972-369-0091; Air Resources Board certifications. jimcole@emissionsolutionsinc.com

Los Angeles Stands by Alt Fuels Los Angeles County has had an alternative-fuels-only bus policy since 1993 and, after a failed bout with methanol, that policy has come to mean all compressed natural gas.

The agency stands by the policy, says Richard Hunt, now general manager of LA Metro’s San Fernando Valley division. The agency operates some 2,045 buses, all but 515 of them CNG-fueled. Los Angeles has a new alt fuel to test now however, in addition to potential trials of a hydrogen

NABI Metroliner

CNG blend (page 8): the agency is looking to evalutate six gasoline-powered New Flyers with ISE hybrid drives, as California has deemed gasoline an alt fuel for buses.

A Natural Gas Bus Plug from APTA “Transit systems are leading the way in the development of cleaner, more fuel-efficient transit vehicles,” APTA said in promoting the Dallas convention two weeks ago.

“More than 8,000 clean-burning natural gas-powered buses are now on the road,” APTA said, “along with

700-plus hybrids. More than 80% of the nation’s bus fleet is now powered by ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.”

APTA extolled new diesel emission technologies, as well as security advances, devices to let transit passengers access the Internet, and better fare collection methods.

September 26, 2005

7

APTA EXPO 2005

SNAPSHOTS

LA Metro Eyes HCNG Trials

AC Transit will unveil hydrogen fuel cell Van Hool at 11:30 here today (Booth 5739).

The Gaseous Fuel of the Future: Hydrogen Buses on Display Here Think what you will about hydrogen, the fuel has political momentum (hence money) and the indisputably desirable potential of someday, maybe, allowing for zero-emission transportation.

Because hydrogen is a gas, requiring different types of shipping and storage and dispensing hardware, and valves and regulators and high-pressure tubing, all similar to that used today for millions of natural gas vehicles, natural gas is seen by many as the likeliest route to volume hydrogen use.

There are several hydrogen-fueled buses here, featuring both zeroemission fuel cell technology and almost-as-clean hydrogen internal combustion engines.

An AC Transit bus by Belgium’s Van Hool, outfitted by ISE Corp with an electric drivetrain using fuel cells from UTC Fuel Cells (Booth 3052) is being unveiled here today. The bus has com-

pressed hydrogen fuel tanks by Structural Composites Industries (Booth 1759), integrated by Fab Industries (Booth 1157).

The unveiling is slated for 11:30 today at the display of Van Hool’s North American distributor, ABC Companies (Booth 5739).

AC sees fuel cell technology not only as a way of achieving zero emissions, but as a way of increasing bus ridership over the long term. Buses are super-quiet and early results show excellent fuel efficiency. AC says its diesel Van Hools are proving extremely durable too.

San Diego-based ISE is showing a hybrid hydrogen internal combustion engine bus, with Ford Triton V-10 engine modified for hydrogen, at Booth 3135. The HHICE bus is in the livery of SunLine Transit, which operates in the Palm Springs area.

Dynetek Talks Up Cylinder Systems Dynetek makes Dynetek Industries Type III (indicating is promoting not a metallic inside only its Dynecell liner) CNG and brand compressed hydrogen cylinders natural gas and with thinwall aluhydrogen fuel cylinders at Booth 5002 Multi-cylinder systems from Dynetek m i n u m w r a p p e d with high-strength here, but entire fuel are designed for easy installation. carbon fiber. storage systems for both low- and The firm notes that the aluminum high-floor transit buses.

Calgary-based Dynetek, which is a liner’s thermal properties make Type public company, says that the tank sys- III tanks more suitable for fast-fill tems are “assembly line-ready for operations.

Robb Thompson is Dynetek presidrop-in-place installation,” and are designed for ease of access for mainte- dent. Vehicle systems business manager Mairi Serpas is here. nance and cylinder inspection.

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Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

Los Angeles County MTA is mulling a proposal to replace 8.5-liter Series 50G natural gas engines from Detroit Diesel with 11-liter powerplants from Nevada’s City Engines on four 40-foot buses. Two will be tested with an eye to meeting 2007 NOx standards on compressed natural gas. The other two, in an effort to drive emissions even lower, will be run on a 70/30 blend of CNG and hydrogen. One of LA MTA’s Trillium USA (Booth 3979) fueling stations for CNG would be modified to supply the HCNG blend, says San Fernando Valley GM Richard Hunt. The 11-liter City Engine is based on a diesel block from Korea’s Doosan (formerly Daewoo). City Engines COO Neal Mulligan will describe the engineering work at a Technology Showcase presentation here at 2:15 today.

Biogas for Buses Pasadena, Calif.- and Denver-based WestStart-Calstart is one of the few organizations actively promoting biogas in the U.S. Biogas is natural gas (primarily methane) derived from municipal waste streams or agricultural sources, including agricultural waste. Biogas is being used on an ongoing volume basis in Sweden, where one plant, in Linkoping, provides fuel for 67 transit buses. Calstart late last year issued a 52-page report on biogas activities in Sweden. Calstart, Brad Rutledge, 626-744-5600; brutledge@weststart.org

No Disputing the Momentum New York City Transit and its MTA affiliate are believed to be close to a decision on a supplier of 364 more hybrid electric transit buses, with an option for 525 more. Natural gas advocates maintain that the 869 hybrids will likely cost approximately $430 million, whereas the same number of CNG buses would cost about $290 million—leaving ample funds for investment in CNG fueling infrastructure.

Candidate suppliers are Orion Bus Industries with series hybrid drivetrains from BAE Systems, and New Flyer with parallel hybrid drivetrains from General Motors Allison.

New York City also operates more than 400 CNG buses, and will buy more when vehicles based at its CNG fueling outlets come due for replacement.

Rare Birds: CNG and Hybrid ISE Corp, a fast-growing provider of hybrid electric drivetrains (Booth 3135), expects to build at least one CNGfueled hybrid bus for testing in San Diego. CNG-fueled hybrid electric buses (some now being upfitted with improved drivetrains from Colorado’s UQM Technologies) have been plying the downtown mall in Denver for five years. The Los Angeles International Airport has several similar vehicles.

September 26, 2005

Trillium USA Has a Brand New President Mark Barton President Trillium USA (Booth 3979) “Trillium’s principle market will remain transit,” says Mark Barton, the Salt Lake City-based company’s new president.

Trillium USA provides compressed natural gas fuel and full fueling services, targeting large fleets: Los Angeles and New York City are among its bus customers, with four installations for LA Metro and two for NYC Transit.

Trillium handles the equivalent of about 2 million gallons of fuel per month, 95% of it for transit customers.

Full service is the key to Trillium’s transit strategy. “No agency has the internal resources to build and operate reliable CNG fueling infrastructure costeffectively,” Barton says.

“It’s not about building a station as inexpensively as possible. It’s about building a station that fuels vehicles every day

Gauges at the Gleason Depot in Brooklyn, N.Y.

without headaches and ongoing involvement by agency management. The bigger costs that aren’t quantified when a station is built are the service and maintenance costs. Building on the cheap causes higher

costs over time.

“That’s why we believe in the public/ private partnership approach that includes the station design, construction, maintenance, and even financing,” Barton says.

“The fuel provider is motivated to look beyond initial installation costs and take into account life cycle costs over the full life of the contract. With this approach and a sound partner, you get a better product over the life of the contract.”

CNG faces a clean-bus challenge from better diesels operating on low sulfur fuel and from hybrids. But as Barton sees it, “The jury is still out on the ability of the diesel engine manufacturers to make an engine that is clean enough to meet future emission standards.

“Hybrids show promise but the initial costs to purchase the vehicles is very high and the technology has not produced the fuel economy necessary to make up for the initial cost.”

Hydrogen?

“The politics are moving faster than the practicalities,” Barton says. “Technology is coming along, but still needs development and it still isn’t in the price range where agencies can deploy reliable, affordable products on a wide scale. Hopefully, the lessons learned over the past 20 years from our CNG experience are not forgotten and they can be applied to a developing hydrogen market. Done right, hydrogen can be an important part of our future.

“All of these technologies are more complicated than the diesel bus of the 1990s,” Barton says. “They are more expensive, require more training to maintain, and they utilize technologies that need to be shown to be reliable over time.

Not one of these technologies has been around for a full bus life cycle of 12 to 16

APTA EXPO 2005

CENTER STAGE years so we don’t know how well they will hold up over time.

“CNG has been around a long time,” Barton says. “CNG technology is proven and the costs are predictable.”

Barton’s Got Some Big Shoes to Fill And some big equipment to maintain, too.

Mark Barton took over as Trillium USA president just this month following the resignation of Jan Hull.

“I follow big footsteps,” Barton told ShowTimes on the eve of Expo 2005.

“Not only is Jan well known and respected in the industry, but internally he was seen as a fantastic leader. He set Trillium on the right course. He will be

missed at Trillium. [But] the rest of the team remains in place, so operationally there won’t be any disruption.

“It takes a tremendous ef for t from our employees to of fer a ser vice that is 100% reliable,” Barton says.

“Anything less than that just isn’t acceptable and so far we have delivered. We have to stay focused on that mission.”

Fuel Prices? They Can Rise When transit operators contract with Trillium, “compression costs are fixed for the life of the contract,” says company president Mark Barton.

“Our customers know what they’ll be paying for operation and maintenance for the contract term.

“As for fixing the gas commodity costs, I see trading on the

futures market as just a step above legalized gambling.

“Making good bets and runningCNG stations are two different skill sets.

“We choose to focus on the latter,” Barton says. “But Trillium has always been able and willing to help agencies connect with reputable companies that provide hedging and similar solutions.”

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

NexGen Fueling’s LNG Hardware NexGen Fueling (a unit of Char t Industries) is promoting equipment for liquefied natural gas.

NexGen handles both LNG fueling station equipment and onboard tanks for buses and other vehicles—more than 5,000 are in service in North America

(including 183 DART buses here in Dallas), Europe, Asia and Australia.

NexGen pioneered inground tanks at fueling stations and onboard inspection of vehicles’ LNG tanks. Klaus Emmer and James Turvey are at NexGen’s Booth 4420 here.

September 26, 2005

9

APTA EXPO 2005

Natural Gas Is Found to Be Competitive With Diesel If Oil’s Priced at $31/Barrel An oil price of just $31 per barrel—likely a fond memory from here on in—will probably be high enough to make natural gas buses competitive with diesels on a lifecycle cost basis when new emissions regulations take effect in 2010, finds a study by Tiax.

The Tiax study was commissioned by the California Natural Gas Vehicle Partnership. Its findings indicate that diesel’s cost advantages over CNG and LNG may well be over.

“NGVs could be markedly more affordable if crude oil prices remain high,” the CNG buses like this DC Metro New Flyer may soon become Partnership said in trumpeting the study cheaper to operate than diesels.

It was assumed that stoichiometric natural gas two months ago.

Tiax analyzed the lifecycle costs of 2010 nat- engines would have 95% of the fuel economy of ural gas and diesel vehicles. Tiax devised lifecycle their diesel equivalents in terms of power ratings. cost models accounting for expected vehicle, Oil prices, Tiax found, are the largest variable. fuel, and operational and maintenance expenses, The Tiax model predicts that future natural including fuel consumption. gas transit buses will be less expenAnalysts varied several factors: sive to operate than future diesels crude oil cost per barrel, perwith oil at $31 per barrel (the centage of NGVs in the national fleet, choice of figure is far lower for some trucks). diesel exhaust gas aftertreatment system, price of “NGVs will have a significant average annual natural gas versus diesel, price of LNG versus lifecycle cost advantage in all applications if the CNG, engine cost, and fuel economy. crude oil price hits $60 a barrel,” which was the

highest price considered, states a study summary. The price of oil briefly topped $70 per barrel during the Hurricane Katrina crisis.

A key factor is the cost of bringing diesel engines in line with stringent NOx emission standards slated to come into force in 2010.

“The cost of the diesel exhaust gas aftertreatment (EGA) system could give NGVs a price advantage in each of the applications if diesel EGA system costs are on the high end of our predicted range,” Tiax said. But the study also found that, “despite significant challenges,” enginemakers may come up with competitive diesels.

“There is significant uncertainty regarding the cost of natural gas and diesel heavy duty engines in the future,” Mike Jackson of Tiax said at a DoE NGV Technology Forum in Washington last month.

Jackson said the study findings are important because diesel has until now enjoyed a cost advantage.

Tiax, Mike Jackson, 408-517-1560; jackson.michael@tiaxllc.com; www.tiax.biz

The transit bus sector has been and continues to be an important market for natural gas vehicles. While buses normally contribute only 2-5% of overall pollution, the majority serve urban areas where the per-person exposure to emissions, and particulates (in particular) is of growing concern worldwide.

While the diesel bus industry continues to tout improvements in bus emissions and a narrowing gap with NGV emissions, NGVs continue to be the “clean bus” benchmark.

What’s more, the increased cost of new diesel fuels and technologies should make for an increasingly strong competitive edge for NGVs in urban transportation, where market share is already quite good: • Worldwide there are approximately 122,400 natural gas buses.

• France has a national fleet of some 1,600 natENGVA chief Jeff Seisler ural gas transit buses, and recently Gaz de France, along with the French government and other private sector interests, pledged to double this by 2010. From 25-30% of all new buses in France are natural gas.

• Other big European natural gas bus users are: Italy with approximately 1,600; Germany with 1,100; and Sweden with more than 550, many running on biogas (see page 8).

• Other worldwide users of natural gas buses, where public transport is critical to personal mobility, include China, with nearly 47,000; India, with more than 10,000; and Russia, with more than 4,600—and major plans for Moscow CNG buses.

NGVs are perceived by European officials to constitute a clear path to hydrogen, which is why the European Commission has set a goal of 10% replacement of transport sector petroleum fuel with natural gas by 2020 (2% by 2010).

If realized by the European Union, the EC goal could result in 200,000 natural gas buses throughout Europe 15 years hence. Since almost all the European bus manufacturers offer NGV models, there should be no shortage of everimproving CNG (and LNG) technologies.

Capitalizing on the momentum of the Target 2020 policy in Europe, the European Natural Gas Vehicle Association will be sponsoring a major political and press event in Brussels on April 25, 2006, followed by ENGVA’s 12th Annual Conference April 26-27. Leaders from the EC, European Parliament, the United Nations and from national and local governments will be on

APTA EXPO 2005

Europe Takes Natural Gas Very Seriously hand to describe their experiences and the longer term role of the natural gas vehicle in Europe and beyond.

The meeting theme, Poli-Techs, will demonstrate links between laws, regulations, standards and technology.

—Jeffrey Seisler Czech-built Ekobus has a B-Series engine from Cummins Westport (Booth 3773).

Jeffrey Seisler is the Executive Director of the European Natural Gas Vehicle Association, which is headquartered in the Netherlands.

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

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September 26, 2005

11

APTA EXPO 2005

FLEETS & FUELS CNG Buses for Vancouver TransLink The TransLink (Vancouver) board has overruled a recommendation by staff and decreed that the agency shall go with compressed natural gas buses, not diesel. “Diesel is diesel,” Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell insisted at a board meeting in July. “It is still an unclean fuel,” he said. The TransLink report found that CNG would be cleaner than diesel, but could cost somewhat more.

(August 1)

Far-Flung Cummins Westport

One Way? Natural gas advocates have an answer to that question. And DART says that when diesel hits $2.18 per gallon, its 183 LNG buses will be cheaper to operate.

DART’s on the Fence About LNG, 2007 Rules Seen Changing That DART’s fuel comparison formula, Dallas Area Rapid Transit may or may not go with natural gas for its next he says, by necessity takes in the 25% purchase of some 70 buses, but will efficiency penalty the agency’s seen for certainly look at gas again after new operating its LNG buses.

DART has 183 LNG buses out of a emissions rules take effect in 2007.

The argument for new diesel buses total fleet of 759. All the LNG buses (a request for bids is expected to go are from the old NovaBus of Roswell, out this fall) is that DART finds N.M. Of the 183 buses, 45 of the vehicles have Detroit Diesel its current diesel buses to Series 50G engines and the be about 8 cents per mile rest have Cummins L10s. cheaper to run than its liqBoth of those engines uefied natural gas buses—a have been discontinued. substantial sum given that (Cummins is at Booth the agency logs some 35 3773 here, promoting not million miles per year, says only its conventional diesel agency maintenance VP DART’s Mike Hubbell engines, but new and more Mike Hubbell.

LNG became economical in efficient natural gas engines via the January as diesel prices rose. But Cummins Westport, Inc. joint venture.)

“I’d be happier if they were cheaper DART incurred an LNG price hike of to operate,” Hubbell says of his LNG nearly 66% in June, when a three-year vehicles.

They have shown excellent contract with Applied LNG Techemissions performance however, and nologies (Booth 4293) ran out.

Hubbell says he anticipates looking at DART had been getting LNG LNG again when tougher NOx limits from ALT for 60 cents per gallon, take effect in 2007.

Hubbell says. ALT couldn’t continue “In 2007 all bets are off,” he says, that price, and DART’s new deal with noting that he expects to be in the Clean Energy (Booth 5706) sets a cap market for some 500 vehicles by of 99.54 cents per gallon—”also a very 2010—at which time NOx limits get favorable price,” Hubbell says—but far more stringent than 2007. far higher than he’d enjoyed for the DART has meanwhile fitted 365 of three years prior to June 2005. its diesel buses with Cummins M11 “The bogey point for us is right around $2.18” per gallon of diesel, he and ISM engines with low-pressure told ShowTimes. “The highest I’ve EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) hardpaid is $2.02.” DART’s new contract ware for a 40% reduction in NOx with Clean Energy is for five years, emission, and with particulate filters.

Hubbell notes too that DART uses with a three-year option.

“We’re going to see favorable ultra low-sulfur diesel, which it specs at a maximum of 15 parts per million. pricing,” Hubbell predicts.

12

September 26, 2005

A consortium of seven Bangladeshi bus operators is taking 30 buses powered by Cummins Westport, Inc. 5.9-liter B-series CNG engines, CWI says. The buses are built by China’s Chongqing Yutong Coach and IBH Motors of Bangladesh. Up to 120 are to be delivered by the end of November. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took delivery of her country’s first CWI-powered bus on July 1. CWI (Booth 3773) reported too that 103 more of its 8.3-liter C Gas Plus natural gas engines are powering buses for two agencies in the San Diego area.

(July 18)

Exit NABI’s Lightweight CompoBus North American Bus Industries (Booth 2611) has discontinued its lightweight CompoBus, in part because the FTA has declined to extend NABI’s “Buy American” waiver for the vehicles. Cost was a big factor too.

(February 28)

Foothill Transit Is Going All-CNG Foothill Transit, the Los Angeles area’s second-largest fixedroute carrier, is converting its entire 300-plus vehicle fleet to compressed natural gas, and has contracted with Clean Energy for a $3.1 million fueling station in Irwindale, supplementing an even larger one in Pomona.

(February 14)

Clean Energy LNG in California Clean Energy (Booth 5706) has spent more than $35 million in support of NGVs, and has a 5-year, $75 million strategic plan to more than double its California fueling stations and build the state’s first LNG plant.

(January 3)

You Too Could Be This Well-Informed What Fleets & Fuels readers know and when they knew it.

Always replete with real-world contact information, phones (24 times a year) and e-mails for key players.

Fleets & Fuels 560 Fourth Street San Francisco, CA 94107 415-896-5988 dispatch@fleetsandfuels.com

www.fleetsandfuels.com Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

John Deere is best known for tractors and other 2,500 U.S. school buses. off-road vehicles and, perhaps as an afterThe firm with the familiar green thought, for school buses. tractors is already reaping What’s less known is that all benefits in the transit bus of Deere’s on-road engines sector, notching well more are fueled by natural gas, than 300 orders via at and that the company is least three OEMs. It is making a concerted push launching the larger 6090, into the transit sector with which will be offered in a a new and more powerful wide range of power ratengine. That new engine is ings, not only to meet being shown for the first impending federal regulations but t i m e e v e r h e r e a t A P TA to allow it to power buses plying Deere’s 8.1-liter 6081 engine Expo 2005. more demanding transport routes.

Deere (Booth 1047) pledges to meet 2007 “We’re looking to get into the 300-horseheavy duty vehicle NOx requirem e n t s t h i s power range,” says one Deere man. y e a r a n d 2 0 1 0 ’s f i v e - t i m e s - more-strinThe deep history behind the 8.1-liter 6081, gent requirements in time for 2007 vehicles, Deere says, will ease the market introduction of doing the latter with a 9.0-liter 6090 engine the 9.0-liter 6090, which is to be available to that will eventually replace its 8.1-liter 6081 meet the EPA’s 2010 (and California transit bus workhorse.

2007) standards late this year.

Deere first publicized the new engine this past Projects for the 8.1-liter 6081 in transit include: spring at the Clean Cities convention in Palm • 22 New Flyer buses in Bakersfield, Calif.; Springs, releasing the news to ShowTimes and to • 55 New Flyer buses for MARTA in Atlanta; • 24 New Flyers for Omnitrans in San Bernardino; ShowTimes affiliate Fleets & Fuels.

Waterloo, Iowa-based D e e r e P o w e r • 100 Orion VIIs for DC Metro Washington, D.C.; Systems began a careful, methodical introduc- • 4 Orion VIIs for the student-operated Unitrans tion of its natural gas-fueled, 8.1-liter 6081 agency at the University of California, Davis; and engine in late 1994, and has since seen the pro- • 122 Deere 6081-powered ElDorado buses gram, which included 1.6 million miles of tests, for the Sky Harbor International Airport result in deployment of the engine on some in Phoenix.

ANGI International Offers Turnkey CNG

APTA EXPO 2005

Deere Ups the Gas Bus Ante

ANGI International brings more than 22 years of experience to the natural gas transit, having star ted with CNG vehicle conversions in 1983. The firm was a pioneer in packaged CNG fueling installations and remains one of the few “exclusively dedicated to providing highly integrated turnkey NGV refueling solutions.”

ANGI says it was the first to offer an electronic sequencing dispenser in the U.S. market. The firm did its first non-U.S. job in Egypt in 1997 and has since branched to Venezuela, Mexico, China, Brazil, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and, most recently, Eastern Europe.

Recent and current work in the U.S. includes a new facility in Santa Clarita, Calif., an upgrade in San Diego, and new CNG facilities for Pacific Gas & Electric in Fresno and for Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. The initial Georgia Southern buses will be run by Atlanta’s Cognisa Transportation.

ANGI operates of out of a newly renovated facility in Milton, Wisc.

The company is represented by Tim Boyle at Booth 5510 here.

Fab Moves from Fuel Systems To Engine, Tranny Installations Fab Industries (Booth 1157) not only branched from Alabama to California this past year, but has graduated from the installation of natural gas fuel systems to the installation of alternative fuel engines, and vehicle transmissions.

Fab is best known for installing compressed natural gas systems for North American Bus Industries (Booth 2611), as NABI’s Alabama facility is just a few miles away from Fab in Anniston. Buses are towed to Fab and driven back to NABI the same day, says Fab VP George Kalet.

Fab also provides fueling system installations services for New Flyer. It handles liquefied natural gas too, and in fact claims the first-ever roof-mounted LNG fuel system, supplied by Taylor-Wharton, for New Flyer buses for Big Blue Bus in Santa Monica, Calif.

Scenting opportunity, Fab said earlier this year that it would expand to California. It has started by acquiring AFV Fleet Service, in Rancho Cucamonga, just north of Ontario. AFV brings the engine installation expertise that’s already

allowing Fab to take Schwarze street sweepers that are supplied as “gliders” and fit them with 5.9-liter B Gas Plus engines from Cummins Westport, transmissions—and fuel systems using CNG tanks from Structural Composites Industries (Booth 4656), its customary supplier.

The firm has at least three California customers for the sweepers, vehicles Kalet notes are often bought by transit agen- Fab’s roof-mounted LNG system for New Flyer buses operated by Santa Monica—the Big Blue Bus—marks an industry first. cies as well as municipalities.

AFV is also installing engines modified by includes 30 Metroliners, which are 60-foot articDallas-based BAF Technologies for propane ulated vehicles. They are the first of an order for operation, as well as propane fuel systems, in 200 for the Orange Bus Rapid Transit line.

Fab works with hydrogen too, and can take ElDorado shuttle buses, Kalet reports.

Other Fab transit work includes fuel installa- credit for the compressed hydrogen fuel systems tions for NABI buses for Valley Metro (for on buses displayed here by ABC/Van Hool and Phoenix) and California’s Foothill Transit, and ISE Corp (see page 8).

COO Jeff Scott is representing Fab here at for Los Angeles Metro, which recently took delivery of its 1,000 NABI CNG buses. The tally Expo 2005. Steve Adams is president.

Natural Gas Transit Report • Convention & Tradeshow News

September 26, 2005

13

Transit Showcase Presentations Showcase B — Monday, September 26 2:15 – 3:00 pm, Expo Floor HCNG is the path to the Hydrogen Economy Presented by: Mark Bar ton, President, Trillium USA and Neal Mulligan, Chief Operating Officer, Collier Technologies HCNG is a blend of hydrogen and natural gas fuels. It has demonstrated emissions levels below the 2007 heavy duty NOx standard of 0.2 g/hp-hr and is an economical and sensible way for transit users to take the next step forward on the path to the hydrogen future.

Collier Technologies has developed the "City Engine" for operation with HCNG or CNG. They will present data from engine development to illustrate the benefits of hydrogen/natural gas blended fuel.

Trillium USA is a leading provider of CNG fueling services to transit agencies and will discuss the implications of adapting current CNG facilities to dispensing HCNG.

Showcase A — Tuesday, September 27 2:00 – 2: 45 pm, Expo Floor The Pathway to Hydrogen: How Transit Agencies Can Build the Bridge to the Future Presented by: James Orsulak, Account Manager, Clean Energy 23% of all new transit buses on order are powered by natural gas instead of diesel fuel. This presentation will showcase the impact of this new technology and how public / private partnerships are being used to implement the most successful natural gas transit programs. Discussion topics will include engine and fuel reliability, vendor accountability, improving air quality and fuel costs in the face of continually escalating and unstable diesel prices. Presentation will include three short case studies on Foothill Transit, the Fort Worth T, and the City of Mesa.

UPCOMING MEETINGS CALENDAR

APTA EXPO 2005

APTA Expo 2005

October 4-6, 23rd National Natural Gas Vehicle Conference. Nikko Hotel in San Francisco.

Organized by CVEF, the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation. Timed to immediately precede the League of California Cities convention at San Francisco's Moscone Center October 6-8. CVEF, Stephe Yborra, 301-829-2520; mobile -446-2584; syborra@cleanvehicle.org; www.cleanvehicle.org November 8-10, BusCon 2005, the Mid-Size Bus Equipment & Technology Show. Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Bobit Publishing, Mark Naylor, 310-533-2521; fax 310533-2511; mark.naylor@bobit.com; www.busconexpo.com December 6-8, EDTA 2005, the Electric Drive Transportation Association Conference & Exposition 2005, organized by the Electric Drive Transportation Association. Vancouver, Canada.

EDTA, Kara Elsden, 202-408-0774; kelsden@electricdrive.org; www.electricdrive.org; www.edtaconference.com January 18-21, 2006, Motorcoach Expo 2006 in Tampa, Fla. United Motorcoach Association.

UMA, Mark Miller, 703-934-4700, ext 107; uma@cmgexpo.com; www.motorcoachexpo.com February 4-8, 2006, Third Annual National Biodiesel Conference and Exposition. San Diego.

National Biodiesel Board, Jenna Higgins, 573635-3893 or toll-free 800-841-5849; fax 573-635-7913; jhiggins@biodiesel.org; www.biodiesel.org February 22-24, 2006, CHDV 2006, WeststartCalstart Clean Heavy Duty Vehicles Conference.

Co-hosted by the U.S. Army National Automotive Center. San Diego. Calstart, Monica Alcaraz, 626-744-5655; fax 626-744-5610; malcaraz@weststart.org; www.calstart.org

April 25-28, 2006, 12th annual meeting of the European Natural Gas Vehicle Association.

Brussels. ENGVA, Jeff Seisler, +31-23-554-3050; fax +31-23-557-9065; info@engva.nl; www.engva.org April 30-May 3, 2006, 2006 Bus and Paratransit Conference organized by the American Public Transportation Association. Anaheim, Calif.

APTA, Gloria Smith, 202-496-4818; gsmith@apta.com; www.apta.com June 9-12, 2006, Michelin Challenge Bibendum international environmental vehicles competition. CERAM circuit in Mortefontaine and Paris, France. Includes a symposium on sustainable mobility in Paris on Monday June 12.

Michelin, Lynn Mann, 864-458-4698; lynn.mann@us.michelin.com; www.challengebibendum.com

Next UITP...

May 21-24, 2007, 57th UITP World Congress in Helsinki. Includes the UITP Mobility and City Transport Exhibition. UITP is the Brussels-based International Association of Public Transport.

UITP Word Congress co-sponsors include Helsinki City Transport and the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council. UITP, Maristella Angotzi, +32-2-663-6664; fax +32-2-660-1072; maristella.angotzi@uitp.com; www.uitp.com

Next APTA...

October 6-8, 2008, Expo 2008, tri-annual trade show of the American Public Transportation Association and APTA annual meeting. San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif.

APTA, Renee Battle, 202-496-4840; fax 202496-4324 rbattle@apta.com; www.apta.com

Here’s how transit operators can Win Win Win with Natural Gas. Prices — Natural gas prices are consistently lower than diesel.

And Clean Energy, the nation's largest provider of natural gas for transportation, can make long-term, fixed-price fuel supply contracts to protect further against fuel price inflation.

WIN

Efficiency — New natural gas engines are vastly improved and the recent TIAX Report reveals that Life Cycle Costs for natural gas are better than diesel when oil prices exceed $32 per bbl — and keep getting better after that.

WIN

Environment & Health — Natural gas-fueled buses ordered today for 2007 delivery will meet 2010 EPA standards, which provides the cleanest, most stable technology for years to come.

WIN

The question is no longer “Why natural gas?” — but “Why not!”

To get a copy of the TIAX Report or to learn how Clean Energy can help you Win Win Win, call Mitchell Pratt, Vice President— Public Affairs and Business Development for Clean Energy, at (562) 493-2804. Or email mpratt@cleanenergyfuels.com.

Clean Energy is the largest provider of natural gas for transportation in North America with a broad customer base in the transit, refuse, shuttle, taxi, police, interstate and intrastate trucking, airport and municipal fleet markets.

562.493.2804 www.cleanenergyfuels.com