Oklahoma Goes On A CNG Pickup Buying Spree

The Governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, is leading the charge to put CNG vehicles into government fleets, authorizing the purchase of 256 Ford F-150 CNG pickups. Though the trucks cost about $6,000 to $9,000 each to convert to CNG, the cheaper price of natural gas means the state could start seeing cost savings after just three years.

Depending on the day and location, CNG can cost as little as $1.07 a gallon these days, though the average price is between $2.00 and $2.50 a gallon, which is still a savings of about $20 per full-tank of fuel. Multiply that by 256 trucks over about a decade of service, and you are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel savings. Fallin, a Republican who is part of a 22-state coalition to bring CNG vehicles to state fleets, also paid some lip service to saving the environment. However, her record on environmental issues speaks for itself.

With the jury still out as to whether CNG vehicles are actually better or worse for the environment (at least as far as I’m concerned), the main benefactors here are Ford and fracking companies. Not exactly the best of company I like to see my favorite automaker keeping, though if the savings projections do pan out, Oklahoma taxpayers might see their annual contribution decrease an imperceivable percentage.

Source: Ford