Ford will offer natural gas version of popular F-150 pickup truck

Ford Motor Co. plans to start selling its popular F-150 pickup truck with an option of running on natural gas or propane fuel.

While Ford already makes the option available in some of its commercial vehicles, this will be the first compressed natural gas, or CNG, model sold by the automaker that has considerable retail sales. Ford sells about 70,000 gasoline-powered F-series trucks every month. Its sales top all other vehicles in the U.S.

While Ford says some consumers will probably order the CNG model, most of the customers will be businesses.

“Businesses and fleet customers have been asking Ford to make F-150 available with CNG capability to take advantage of the fuel’s low price and clean emissions,� said Jon Coleman, Ford’s fleet sustainability and technology manager. “With the money saved using CNG, customers could start to see payback on their investment in as little as 24 to 36 months.�

There will be a considerable upcharge to turn an F-150 into a natural gas-powered truck.

Ford will charge an extra $315 for CNG/LPG engine prep from the factory. Then the customer will have to pick a Ford-approved contractor to supply fuel tanks, fuel lines and unique fuel injectors. That will run $7,500 to $9,500, depending on fuel tank capacity.

More businesses are looking at CNG models for their fleets because of cost savings that accrue during the lifetime of the vehicle.

Ford said that natural gas sells for the equivalent of about $2.11 per gallon of gasoline and is as low as $1 in some parts of the country. That’s a big savings over regular grade gasoline, which this week is averaging $3.63 a gallon nationally.

Natural gas prices also tend to be less volatile than that of gasoline. That’s because most of the natural gas used in the United States is produced domestically.

Another benefit is that the burning of natural gas produces results in 30% less greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.

Automakers have been reluctant to get into producing mass-market natural gas vehicles because they are worried about consumer demand. Ford does not sell a CNG passenger car in the U.S., in part, because the gas tanks take up so much room. “It makes packaging hard,� Alan Mulally, Ford’s chief executive, has said previously.

Of the major automakers, only Honda, which sells a CNG version of the Civic compact sedan, offers a natural gas car in the U.S.

Another problem is the availability of filling stations. However, Southern California has among the most natural gas filling stations of any metropolitan area.

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