Republic Services deploys 226 natural gas vehicles

Republic Services announced that 20 percent of the trucks it is adding to its fleet in 2010 are natural gas vehicles (NGV).

In April, the Company added 226 NGV trucks to 10 facilities in its Western region. Republic’s Allied Waste divisions in Gardena, Sun Valley, Anaheim, Long Beach, Pacheco and Chula Vista, California; Bellevue and Kent, Washington and Boise, Idaho received the vehicles.

The Company will support this major fleet upgrade by constructing compressed natural gas fueling stations at Gardena, Sun Valley and Chula Vista, California, and Bellevue, Washington. Clean Energy will facilitate the design and construction of the new fueling infrastructure.

The addition of 226 NGVs will bring the total number of Republic’s alternative fuel vehicles to more than 459 vehicles.

Of the 226 NGVs, 173 are compressed natural gas and the remaining 53 are liquefied natural gas. The terms liquefied and compressed refer to the method of storage on the vehicle. Traditionally, liquefied natural gas is stored as a cryogenic liquid in a single tank and compressed natural gas (CNG) is stored in multiple high-pressure tanks. Vehicle chassis are built by Autocar and the engines by Cummins Westport.