SoCalGas assists with natural gas truck incentive pool

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), Los Angeles, has announced its efforts to help California fleets increase their number of heavy-duty natural gas trucks. The effort was part of a $21 million Proposition (Prop) 1B incentive pool administered by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), Diamond Bar, California.  SoCalGas representatives assisted on 400 Prop 1B applications in its service territory.  If all these applications are accepted and receive funding, SoCalGas customers will replace at least 400 diesel trucks with near-zero natural gas trucks.

The Prop 1B program is intended to reduce diesel air pollution from goods movement operations and achieve the earliest possible health risk reduction in nearby communities. Fleet owners seeking to replace diesel trucks may be eligible for up to $100,000 toward the purchase of a new natural gas truck.

While the current Prop 1B pool solicitation is now closed, another incentive pool available through the SCAQMD, the Carl Moyer incentive program, open to fleets that operate in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties until June 5. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District recently established a new grant incentive option for its truck voucher program that would replace existing heavy-duty trucks with the cleanest, ultra-low nitrogen oxide (NOx) 12-liter truck available.

"SCAQMD is appreciative of SoCalGas's efforts to help reduce harmful diesel emissions to help clean the air in the Southland," Wayne Nastri, SCAQMD executive officer, says. "Through technology advancement programs, industry, partnerships and incentive programs, we will continue to make substantial progress to reduce air pollution."

For the SCAQMD solicitation, SoCalGas customers submitted more than 150 applications, with many of these requests coming from fleets smaller than 10 trucks. The trucks are designed to cut smog-forming emissions by more than 90 percent compared to the cleanest heavy-duty diesel trucks. When the natural gas trucks are fueled by renewable natural gas, SoCalGas and SCAQMD say greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are reduced by 80 percent. Sixty percent of natural gas fleets in California are fueled with renewable natural gas and this number is expected to climb to about 90 percent by the end of 2018.

More than 225 applications were submitted to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and San Diego Air Pollution Control District from SoCalGas customers, which exceeded the $14 million in available incentive funding.

The transportation sector is responsible for about 40 percent of California's GHG emissions and more than 80 percent of the state's NOx or smog-forming emissions. Making the switch from diesel to near-zero natural gas trucks is vital to achieving the state's GHG reduction goals and cleaning the air around California's transportation corridors, SCAQMD and SoCalGas say.