N.C. Public Transit Fleet Switches 10 Vans to American-Made Propane AutoGas

Rowan County Transit System in North Carolina has converted 10 public transportation vans to clean, affordable propane autogas through Alliance AutoGas. The new propane-powered Ford transit vehicles will save taxpayer dollars and help improve community air quality.

“Propane autogas is domestically produced, it’s clean and it creates American jobs,” says Rowan County Transit System Director Gary Price, who was also impressed by the cost savings of using autogas. “Bottom line, I would rather have an American-made product and buy American-made fuel than send money overseas by continuing to rely on gasoline.”

Alliance AutoGas converted the Rowan County fleet vehicles to run on propane autogas and also installed an autogas fuel pump at the fleet’s home base to make refueling even more convenient. U.S. autogas fleets currently save around $1.80 per gallon versus gasoline; and because autogas is cleaner burning, these vehicles also spend less money on maintenance.

“We’re a grant-funded organization, which means we really have to do more with less,” says Price. “Switching to propane autogas was viable for our fleet because we’re able to use the fuel cost savings to pay for any initial conversion cost. Working with Steve Whaley of Alliance AutoGas has been a great experience because the Alliance program is a total package—they set us up with everything and gave us all the information we needed, from financing to fueling.”

Whaley says Rowan County Transit was able to convert their fleet vehicles to run on autogas and acquire the fueling infrastructure at their facility without any capital expense. “Without any outside grant funding or use of any county funds, we were able to provide Rowan County Transit a net profit in the very first month of operating on propane,” Whaley says.