Or, no fuel like an old fuel

B4T Editorial Staff

The race for the Next Big Fuel continues. Ethanol, early in the lead, has flagged. Algae, which looked like a late-arrival winner, has dropped behind. But coming up fast on the inside, in a field of dark horses, is maybe the darkest of all: propane. 

Could it be that someday, big rigs will run on the same fuel you use for your backyard grill? 

Not Just for Forklifts Any More
Propane has been used for decades as a fuel for forklifts. (And actually, we should take a moment to clarify that snappy lead-in. Barbecue grills are powered by propane gas. Vehicles are powered by liquefied propane.) Propane doesn’t occur in nature; that is to say, you can’t drill for propane. It’s a by-product of the refinement of petroleum or natural gas. This means that propane, even though it has to be manufactured, is plentiful since you can get it from either oil or natural gas. 

Propane is a logical fuel for certain kinds of uses. It doesn’t (or didn’t, times have changed) provide a lot of power, so it wasn’t good for trucks that needed to move fast or pull heavy; but for forklifts, which are essential for modern warehousing, it’s perfect. It doesn’t produce emissions, which would make warehouse air unbreathable. And, while it’s flammable, it’s not nearly the risk that gasoline or diesel is. In case of an accident, liquid propane evaporates quickly. 

It All Started with OPEC
Propane’s use as a truck fuel goes back to the gas crisis of the 1970s, when OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) began bargaining as a group and prices quickly escalated. The first (and for a long time, the only) company to convert from diesel was Schwan Frozen Foods. 

Time again for one of those little sidebar tales that are the Cracker Jack prizes of Blog4Trucker readers. Schwan, which is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise with 17,000 employees, began in 1952 in the storybook way often peddled by corporate histories, but which rarely exist in nature. 

Ice Cream Dreams
Marvin Schwan was an enterprising young man with a vision, selling the family-made ice cream to farm families in western Minnesota. One March day he packed up fourteen gallons of vanilla and chocolate and lots of ice into a “beat-up 1946 Dodge panel truck” and set off on a rural road. (Note: in these Horatio Alger tales, it is essential—whatever the future empire—that the truck be “beat-up.” Spanking-new won’t do. The truck must be bruised, dented and asthmatically wheezy. Why is this? Maybe because it contrasts nicely with the spirit and vigor of the young empire-builder. Maybe because it’s true. Whatever, American entrepreneurial mythology demands that the knight’s steed be as used-up as Don Quixote’s horse, Rosinate.) 

Long story short, Marvin Schwan hit a frosty goldmine. He soon had a second truck and a helper and history was born. Twenty-odd years later when OPEC struck in October of 1973, Schwan was a nation-wide business. Because it was family-owned (and still is, one of the largest proprietorships in this country), Marvin Schwan had more control of company operations than the average CEO. He looked into the future and saw his fleet of vehicles eating up cash as fast as they made deliveries. Marvin decreed that all the company’s home-delivery trucks be converted to LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) or in other words, propane. 

Schwan couldn’t do anything about his long-haul trucks, which delivered frozen foods to grocery stores. Propane couldn’t provide the horsepower they needed, but then and now, 75% of Schwan trucks run on LPG. Too bad that Schwan was the only large company that converted or we might not be in the fix we’re in today. When gas prices inevitably slumped (historically, cartels have never been able to hold together for long), the country went back to its gas guzzling days. “Peak oil?” We laughed. Oil would never peak, because we would never run out of oil! 

Propane-Powered Fleet
Marvin, the young man with a frosty dream, died in 1993, too soon to have the last laugh, although he sounds like the kind of good-hearted fellow who would have taken no pleasure in the pangs of those with shorter sight. Today, 4,500 of Schwan’s fleet of 6,000 trucks are propane-powered. Jeff Schueller, director of fleet maintenance, says even with the lower gas prices of the 80s and 90s, LPG has been a winner. “Every year, we do an analysis—diesel vs. propane—and operationally, the numbers always show that it’s just a more economical choice.” 

Schwan’s is no longer alone. Worldwide, there are now about 15 million over-the-road vehicles running on LPG. These are all light and medium-duty trucks. Propane has not yet become an alternative for long-haul vehicles. 

But that’s about to change. Find out how in the next exciting installment of The Next Big Fuel, coming next month! 

This story was drawn from articles in DC Velocity, Fleet Owner, Wikipedia and Schwan.com

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