Ontario County Converting Fleet Vehicles to Natural Gas

Oxford County in Ontario is shifting towards cleaner burning alternative fuels for its fleet in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Three of the County’s light trucks have been converted to bi-fuel CNG with another 15 trucks to be converted before the end of the year. In addition, Oxford County will become the first municipality in Ontario to have a CNG snow plow that will be clearing County roads next winter season. In researching the potential for operating dedicated CNG vehicles, it was determined a tandem snow plow would be the best application.

“Oxford County is putting the pedal down on a number of exciting initiatives this year when it comes to green vehicle technology,” said Melissa Abercrombie, Manager of Roads and Facilities, Oxford County Public Works. “So far, the reviews have been excellent on our compressed natural gas light truck conversions.”

The new fleet enhancements are projected to reduce the County’s CO2 emissions by to 1,706 tons in 2017. That will put the County fleet on track to achieve a 10 percent reduction by 2019.