Elgin researching natural gas for vehicles

Converting Elgin's public works fleet to run on compressed natural gas would cost millions, but might be a worthwhile long-term investment if diesel prices increase, city officials said.

Public Services Director Greg Rokos said there aren't many examples of cities whose fleets run on natural gas, but a leader in the field is Kansas City, where Rokos worked before he came to Elgin last year.

"That's why we started looking into it - because I've used it before and it's an alternative," said Rokos, who's been researching the issue with the help of management intern William Stefaniuk.

There are also environmental benefits to doing away with diesel, he said. "CNG produces about 25 percent less greenhouse gases," he said. "It's a green solution and it has the potential of saving you money - it's a double winner."

The cost-benefit analysis is still in the preliminary stages, but there are several components to making the switch, Rokos said.

Elgin would need to remodel its public works facility at 1900 Holmes Road to store natural gas vehicles. That means removing electrical wiring, redoing the heating system and installing an air evacuation system, at a possible cost of $2 million to $3 million, Rokos said.

The city would also need a natural gas filling station, a cost of about $700,000 for a medium-sized station with so-called "fast-fill" pumps, Rokos said.

A fast-fill station can fill up a vehicle in three to five minutes, crucial for a fleet that must be able to run 24 hours a day. A slow-fill station, while cheaper to build, can take about eight hours for a fill, Rokos said.

A logical location for a natural gas station would be close to Interstate 90, easily accessible to vehicles traveling along the highway, he said.

"Elgin is strategically located to have a CNG station because the next station (for public fueling) from us is in Rockford and the next is Des Plaines," he said.

Ideally, the city would have three filling stations - one on the far east side, far west side and a central location, he said.

The city's public works fleet includes about 50 heavy duty trucks, which all run on diesel, and about 38 light-duty pickup trucks, most of which run on diesel, Rokos said. Converting a heavy duty truck would cost roughly $40,000, while converting a pickup truck would cost $8,000 to $12,000, Stefaniuk said.

Gasoline vehicles can also be converted into natural gas, but the city is focusing its analysis on diesel trucks, he added.

Diesel fuel, which cost just less than $4 per gallon last summer, is now as low as $2.55 per gallon in the Chicago area. Converting to natural gas, which costs about $2.50 per gallon, doesn't make sense at the moment, Rokos said. But if diesel prices go up, Elgin will be ready to take a serious look, he said.

"We have to wait until diesel prices start going back up, because you get the cost-benefit to do the work," he said. "It's a pretty big investment, so if it doesn't pay off in the long run, it's not worth doing."