Propane is an excellent fuel choice for fleet vehicles, which have characteristics that make them ideal candidates for propane operation. Typical characteristics include:

• High fuel usage
• Significant emissions
• Urban locations
• Centrally fueled
• Fixed and/or limited routes
• Susceptibility to government mandates
• Special vehicle orders
• High public visibility

Fleet operators do not have to sacrifice performance for environmental friendliness. The power, acceleration, payload, and cruise speed of propane-fueled vehicles are comparable to those obtained with equivalent internal-combustion engines. In addition to its superiority in environmental benefits, propane is safe, readily available, and makes good economic sense.

Environmentally Preferred

At the top of the federal government's environmental agenda is the need to reduce air pollution caused by engine emissions. The use of clean-burning fuels is critical to achieving this goal. Propane is on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) list of federally approved clean-burning fuels. Furthermore, propane is contained in a sealed, pressure-tight system at all times, and there are no evaporative emissions. This eliminates a significant source of secondary pollution.

Propane is clean burning. Tests conducted by the EPA show that propane engines produce 60 percent less ozone-forming emissions than reformulated gasoline. Recent tailpipe emissions tests performed on Orange County (California) Transit Authority's propane buses showed they emitted 87 percent less total hydrocarbons, 50 percent less nitrogen oxides, and 40 percent less particulate matter than gasoline-fueled buses.

Safe

Propane is nontoxic and nonpoisonous, and has a very small flammability range (the lowest among all the alternative fuels). Propane vehicle tanks are tested to four times the normal operating pressures, and the tanks are 20 times as puncture resistant as gasoline tanks.