MOUNT VERNON — Suppose there was a way to increase your diesel truck’s mileage by as much as 50 percent? Or to cut the cost of fueling your gasoline-powered vehicle by one-third? Would you check it out?
If you didn’t say yes immediately, you haven’t experienced the pain of stopping at a gas station recently.
In these days of high gasoline and diesel fuel prices, truck drivers and fleet operators are looking for ways to save money. If they can get more miles per gallon of fuel, or run on cheaper fuel, they can cut costs and increase profits. And if the fuel results in a cleaner-burning, longer-lasting engine that requires less maintenance, that’s even better.
There is a fuel that will do all these things. It’s been around a long time, but only in recent years has technology combined with economics as a practical alternative as a motor fuel.
Actually, propane has been used as a transportation fuel since 1912 and some 4 million vehicles around the world use it, making it the third most commonly-used fuel behind gasoline and diesel fuel, according to the Ohio Propane Gas Association. According to the association, “propane holds 86 percent of the energy of gasoline so more volume is needed for the same range as gas, but it is competitive on a cents per mile basis.”
